Mikaela and Barricade circled each other like battling wolves.
Off to the side, Trina stood, shaking so badly that Optimus – much to the annoyance of the guards – knelt down and stroked her back with one finger. Megatron was watching the ensuing battle, lips pulled into a grim line.
Barricade lunged first. His talons scraped Mikaela's chest plates and she fell back, flailing madly, managing to connect her foot with his stomach. Then, as she righted herself, she readied her weapon and raised it above her head.
The ancient steel metal sliced through Barricade's arm as she brought it down, fending off one of his furious onslaughts.
Roadrunner, she gasped. Roadrunner! I need your help!
Oh, really?
Yes! Please!
Ah, well. If you die, I die. Get your knees bent, arms tucked. Don't let him get behind you or under you, keep him in your line of sight.
Mikaela did as she was instructed, bending her knees slightly.
On your toes! She barked.
Barricade came at her once more, and Mikaela stepped to the side, parrying a blow from his fist before ducking under his arms and swiping his legs out from under him.
Score!
It's not over yet, Mikaela told her.
Barricade was picking himself up off the ground when Mikaela tackled him, gripping his shoulders and bashing his head against the floor so hard that the concrete cracked, little chips flying.
He spat out globs of energon that splattered against Mikaela's cheek, his talons flailing madly, the sharp tips sliding up Mikaela's armor and slicing through the tubes and wires.
Blue liquid seeped from Mikaela's fingers as she stumbled back, Barricade having kicked her in the stomach. Her back pressed against the wall as he grabbed her once more, thrusting his knee into her torso, jarring her tanks.
I told you not to let him get the upper hand! Roadrunner wailed, and with each blow, Mikaela felt her receding deeper and deeper into her brain. Let me take control of you, like last time! Let me take control!
No!
I can help you win!
Help me win, but this is my body, and my mind, Mikaela grunted, hooking a fist into the side of Barricade's head. The mech spun like a top, each little strand of energon seeming to hang in the air for a moment, and then splatter against the ground. Mikaela readied her blaster, aimed, and then blasted Barricade in the stomach.
She saw Fisher dive to the side as he tumbled over the creature and into the wall, shrieking like a madmech.
Please be dead, please be dead, please be dead….
Mikaela saw one grimy talon grip the ground, and then he threw himself over the creature, over Fisher, into Mikaela's rigid form.
His chest was smoking, crackling, popping, but it didn't matter. They rolled in their own puddle of energon, Mikaela doing everything she can to get him off her. Roadrunner's shrieks and bellows didn't help her cause, though.
She managed to wriggle out from his grip and bound towards the wall, pressing her back against is, seeing Barricade turn, his chest dripping energon.
His deformed mouth pulled upward in a smile and he charged like an angry bull.
Mikaela rolled against the wall and he ended up running, heedless, into the concrete.
There! Stab him!
Mikaela thrust her sword but it dug into concrete, not Barricade. The mech had stumbled back and was coming at her again, grappling with her face and chest.
She elbowed him in the jaw, and then, using her slim, lithe figure as an advantage, slipped under his spread legs to come up behind him.
He turned, and got a fist in the face.
His form slammed into the wall, slumping down like raindrop. Trina gave a cry of appraisal and Optimus looked impressed, Megatron quirking an optics ridge.
Energon dripped from Barricade's lips, his optics blinking on, and then off.
Finish h-
Roadrunner was abruptly cut off when he reared upward, suddenly, talons thrusting into Mikaela's abdomen.
The pain was shocking.
It was like a million needles, stabbing and stabbing and stabbing and….she couldn't think. Couldn't focus. Up was down and down was up and whatever she did, any movement, any breath, was filled with agony.
She screamed. Roadrunner screamed.
"Shit!"
She spat out and rammed her head against Barricade's, feeling him slack off. She pulled herself away from him, his talons coming loose and spewing that foul thick, liquid blue substance than ran in a steady stream down the floor. She doubled over, clutching her abdomen, feeling Barricade's fist flying forward.
But she was too weak to block the blow….too weak to….
One. Two. Three. All blows to her head, and Mikaela felt one optic go dark. The other was blinking rapidly, Barricade's face shifting in and out of view, dark, then light, dark, then light, dark…..
Light.
His next punch must have secured the feed because his face was normal again, smug, satisfied. He was limping slightly but still able to grip her throat and fling her across the room so she skidded, leaving a trail of blue in her wake.
She landed on her back, staring up at the shifting ceiling.
"This is not a game for fools," he hissed, finally forming his gun and approaching Mikaela, aiming it downwards. "This is not a world for fools."
Mikaela spat and the energon splashed against his cheek. One hand was secured tightly over the gaping wound in her stomach, the others sifting through a puddle of blue to try and find something, something to save her.
This is it, Roadrunner said sadly. We've lost.
No. We've only just begun.
"Optimus, Megatron," she commed. "Get ready to run."
No rely. He was too bust staring at the scene before him, the guards aiming the shock-sticks at their sparks, and in one case, heart. Megatron seemed to get the inference, though, and nodded ever so slightly.
Fisher was standing, his hands in his pockets, oblivious.
The creature was watching with mock fascination.
Barricade aimed the gun downward, at her spark, saying, "You had your chance, Mikaela Banes. And you threw it away."
Mikaela felt the familiar charge of energy, the hum and his weapon got ready to fire….
Now! Roadrunner cried.
She arched her back and threw her legs up into the air as hard and far as she could, lashing out with a well-aimed kick to his wrist. The three shots he fired were wild, all over the place, streaking against the wall above Trina's head.
Plaster and rock rained down. A massive slab fell and crushed the guard watching Trina, and she whooped, cocking her gun and rushing forward.
Another shot missed Optimus by inches, but the sheer blast knocked the guard off his feet, his weapon clattering to the floor. Optimus stepped on it and threw himself into the fray.
Megatron's guard had gotten the full brunt of the blast, and there was nothing left.
Barricade stared with horrific amazement.
Because of that, he missed Mikaela's sword as it buried itself right in his spark. She twisted it sharply and the mech, energon flying from his lips, optics wide and bulging, clawed feebly at Mikaela before his head lolled back and he went silent.
Mikaela pulled out her sword, letting his body fall to the ground, and stared at Fisher.
He was watching her with wide eyes.
He bolted.
"I got him!" Trina shouted, streaking down the hallway after him. Mikaela made a move to follow, but stopped as the creature gave a bellow of anguish.
Megatron stopped and stared, but Optimus kept on running.
"Prime!"
Optimus threw himself atop the creature, and buried his swords in its back. The monster reared upward and bellowed so loudly that chunk of rock and dirt and dust fell from the ceiling, Megatron waving at hand at Mikaela.
"Go! Get Fisher! Kill him!" He joined Optimus, leaping atop the monster and wrapping his arms around its neck. "Run!" He bellowed. "Run!"
Mikaela ran.