Chapter 26

His femme was breaking.

The decepticon had her body in his hands and was twisting and squeezing her frame. She was strong, the strongest femme he'd ever known, but she could do nothing. Her claws were scraping over Cyclonus' hands. Her tail thrashed and her wings creaked and shifted, bent and snapped in places to fit the shape of a great fist. She grew weaker with every passing second, the shrill cries of her shattering body were sharp and frightening. They cracked through the air like thunder.

Grimlock was charging, the muddy earth shook and trembled beneath him. His jaws hurt but the pain was nothing. They were opening, ready to crush and tear. He roared, ducking in beneath the bigger mech's hand to clamp his jaws down around his large thigh. His dentals dented armor, but couldn't break through. Grimlock shifted his weight and clenched his jaws until his cheek gears were groaning in protest.

Cyclonus snarled angrily, threatening, "I will crush her, dinobot. I will grind her frame to dust!" He tried stepping back but Grimlock held him in place. With one more tight squeeze, Grimlock's dentals punched through the thick plate and started to rip deep gouges. He twisted his huge head and wrenched the protective plate free and bent down to shove the sharp edge of the plate into the mech's knee, all in one motion.

Cyclonus nearly caved. An enraged shout left him as he staggered back. Grimlock pursued, lip plates raised. He swore, "I will bleed you out before you can!" His spark was raging, so full of anger and fear that he felt as though it'd explode in his chest. All he could do was fight. His frame was sore, his joints creaked, but he couldn't stop. Grimlock stalked after Cyclonus as the decepticon continued to retreat, a heavy limp in his stride. "You will let the femme go!"

"Watch me, Grimlock." Cyclonus shifted his optics to the squirming femme and shifted his grip. Grimlock rumbled threateningly and increased his pace. His wide strides carried him into the lake, desperate to reach her.

Cyclonus lifted Grimlock's femme in one hand and raised the other to her dangling legs. She had stopped struggling and her body was slack. Her head was tilted back with optics offline. Her body still seemed to jump when the decepticon squeezed, then shattered both legs. The sound of her frame breaking was the loudest Grimlock had ever heard. The world seemed to tilt around him, but he kept going. Cyclonus started pulling, trying to tear the limbs from her frame.

But Cyclonus wasn't watching Grimlock.

Grimlock hit the mech like a train, head bowed so the thickest, hardest part of his helm made contact with the mech's gut. The bigger mech rasped loudly, optics widening. His hands opened, and the red femme tumbled out of his palms and towards the ground. Grimlock shoved Cyclonus back until the mech was knee-deep in water, then planted himself between the mech and his femme. Grimlock pushed open his jaws and roared, the sound pulling from deep in the core of his body. His frame strained, but he managed to slide back a step and whip his head downwards. His dentals closed around the plate lodged in Cyclonus' knee and ripped it free.

Cyclonus yelled in pain and staggered. Grimlock dropped the armor then went for the bare thigh. He crunched down on unprotected protoform and cables. Hot energon filled his mouth and spilled down his jaw. Hands fell down to grasp his shoulders, but Grimlock could not be removed. He held on, determined. Cyclonus had sealed his fate the moment he hurt the femme.

Grimlock was going to tear him down and destroy him.

Voices called out behind him. Grimlock ignored them once he realized that they belonged to the puny little twins. Focusing on bringing Cyclonus to the ground, Grimlock shifted his weight and swung his hips in a way he remembered seeing Sundance do when she was trying to take out a larger opponent. The effect was instant. Cyclonus stumbled and began to lean to one side. Grimlock tightened his hold and began to shake his head back and forth, ripping apart the mech's leg.

A fist beat down on Grimlock's back. A jolt of pain shot through him. Another fist between his shoulders, and he was forced to let go and retreat.

Cyclonus moved back as quickly as he could, grasping the mangled remains of his thigh. Grimlock shook himself then started forward again-

"Grimlock!" The twin named Sideswipe shouted.

Grimlock thought to just ignore the small mech, but decided to at least see what was wrong when he heard the urgency in his tone. The water rolled against his legs, and he turned his heavy head to look.

Both of them were in the water a few paces behind Grimlock's tail, and were crouching in the mud with varying expressions of worry and anger. They were reaching into the green water to grasp something red and bent. Sideswipe stuck his arms in all the way up to his shoulders, searching, then came back up them wrapped around the femme's top half. The mech turned his head and continued, "Shes in bad shape, Grimlock!"

Grimlock couldn't hear him. He could only stare for a moment, trying to understand. The rage had died down in his spark, like a snuffed out flame, when he saw her. Bent and broken. Lifeless in the way her frame draped over their supporting limbs. His first reaction was irritation. He hated any other mech touching her. Then it quickly went away, and there was a sudden cold emptiness. Water running off her frame was streaked with energon and glowing faintly. Sunstreaker got a hold on her legs and lifted them next, very gently, and ran his optics over her body.

"Pits," He hissed, "slaggin' decepticons."

Grimlock snapped back to attention when he sensed Cyclonus move. The mech was still retreating, dentals bared. Grimlock took a step forward but stopped when Sunstreaker called, "Let him go, mech."

"We need to get a hold of base and have her bridged back now," Sideswipe added.

Grimlock looked back at them then swung his head back up to watch Cyclonus. The mech was crouching down awkwardly, preparing to transform and take off. He was slow, and he wasn't paying attention. Grimlock growled and began to walk towards him.

"Fraggit! I-I can't get a hold of base!" One of the twins exclaimed, voice tense with panic, "What the pit is going on?"

"Optimus isn't responding."

"Grimlock!"

Grimlock kept walking. Cyclonus was only a few steps away. One more bite, on the face, and the mech would be done.

"Shes leaking energon everywhere."

"No one's answering! What, did everyone just decide to take a fraggin' vacation?!"

"If no ones answering...something happened. Optimus wouldn't ignore a comm. from an autobot. And Red Alert...tight-aft never leaves the gate."

Cyclonus was transforming now. Grimlock felt the splash of cold water on his chest as he went deeper into the water. His optics burned angrily as he closed in.

"Primus, of all things..."

"Shes offlining. Shes...not gonna make it."

Grimlock stopped, stilling as the words hit him in the spark. He watched as Cyclonus shoved off into the air and finished shifting forms. The decepticon shot off without so much as a word, but Grimlock found that he didn't care. He started to turn around, optics seeking.

The twins had brought her to the bank, where she was resting in a mess of mud, water, gravel, and energon. Sideswipe was leaning over her, one hand under her head like he was trying to keep her comfortable. The mech vented heavily, "Primus, not now. Come on, Sunny-D. You've made it through the pit and back. Galvatron couldn't take you out, but one of his lackeys can? You're better than this."

Grimlock walked.

"We can't do anything," Sunstreaker snarled, "none of us have medical training."

"Can't we seal some cables or something-"

"With what?"

"I don't know! Pit!"

Grimlock stepped up the bank and out of the water. The twins looked up at him when he came to tower over them. His optics fixed on her, and he waited, hoping that she would online any moment to say something snappy at him.

But, like before when she had been taken by the seekers, she remained as she was. Grimlock moved, shoving the twins away from her with his bulk pointedly, and tucked his nose beneath her body to partially lift her and push her further up the bank. Once he got her out of arm's reach of the two and out of the mud, he settled down and stretched his neck out to carefully rest his chin over her chest, one of the less damaged parts of her body.

Behind him, the brothers argued quietly.

"What do we do?"

"Pit if I know!"

"Well-try comming Optimus again!"

Grimlock clenched his jaw when he felt energon begin to pool beneath them, and lifted his head again to look down at the femme. His spark clenched painfully. "I don't know what to do," He said without thinking, pushing his nose against one of her wings gently. The metal that made them up was surprisingly thin, almost soft to the touch. He breathed in her scent, "stay with me."

Grimlock tensed when her body seemed to tense. Her chest rose with a painful rasp of air. He leaned closer, watching her face plates. "Femme."

"...Grim...?"

Grimlock touched his nose to her cheek, "I'm here."

"You're still here."

"I already told you," He rumbled, "I won't leave you."

He wiggled and laid his head down next to hers, rumbling softly when he felt her claws touch his throat cables.

"I can't feel them."

Grimlock tilted his head towards her to eye her, "Can't feel who."

But she was already fading back into stasis, body stilling again. Grimlock edged closer, ignoring the twins when they approached.

"Grimlock."

"What." He growled.

"We can't just sit her and do nothing," Sunstreaker dead panned, "someone needs to go back and find a medic."

"And find out what the hell is going on," Sideswipe added.

"Go then." Grimlock said, glaring at them when they stepped closer.

"...Primus, just...just don't let her go without a fight, alright?" Sideswipe started, "we've known that femme since she was a sparkling...her creators would go insane without her."

"I won't let her go." Grimlock swore, "now go. Move fast. Get help."

They nodded and turned to rush to the road where the transformed and sped off. Grimlock lifted his head again to look at the femme, then stretched his neck out to press his chin to her shoulder and drag her closer. "You will survive." He said, "and you will come back stronger."

Flashback came back online feeling like a mountain had collapsed on top of him. His systems started up slowly, painfully, and as the minutes passed, he started to realize things. One, he was pinned. His body was slanted, sharp debris was pushing up into his back plates and denting his leg armor. Second, was how heavy his body felt. Then, third, how much heavier the weight on top of him felt. He vented softly, the simple movement causing a jolt of pain to shoot through his chest plates and down to his lower back.

He didn't have to run the scan to know that he was in bad shape.

Pit spawned luck...He winced, then reached through unnaturally strained bonds. They were almost completely closed off, and he nearly panicked until he felt a very brief moment of awareness from his sister's end. They were still alive, but probably in the same position he was in or worse. What happened?

Flashback blinked his optics online. When he saw nothing but darkness, he offlined them again and focused on trying to gather his thoughts. His processor felt scattered, turning over things way too slowly. Lethargic. Experience told him that it was because he had just hit his head a little too hard. He'd dealt with it before, so he didn't worry about it too much.

They were in New York. They had arrived in Central Park, were walking...past the pit Driller had come out of, past the building Ash and the humans had been hiding in...then a decepticon. A big mech, with an ego. A trap. Fuck, it was a trap.

That didn't explain what happened to his brother and sister.

Flashback tried to reach for them again, and when he couldn't, he went for his creators instead. They grabbed at him immediately, both wrapping themselves around his spark like an impenetrable shield. A bit of tension eased out of him. Primus...

His father beat his mother to the questions, 'Pit, Flashback! What happened?! We thought we'd lost you!'

His mother wasn't far behind, 'Where is Sundance and Backlash? What happened to them? Are you alright? Who did this?'

'I don't know,' Flashback began, 'all I know is that we split up. Decepticons were attack in two different places. Optimus sent Sundance one way, and brought me with him. Backlash stayed behind at base to keep an optic on things. We're walking through Central Park and some big purple bastard pops up, runs his mouth, then flies off telling us to 'watch our step'.'

'...A trap,' His mother murmured.

'Yeah. I tried to get everyone to just hang out and come up with a plan, but Optimus told us to go after the 'con. Figures that he was the one that triggered it.' He scrunched his faceplates, remembering the shake of the earth and the screeching groans and rumble of a collapsing city. 'Underground explosives, probably planted in the sewer system under key parts of the city's structure.' Pit, I'm starting to sound like 'Lash.

His spark squeezed at the thought. Backlash. Sundance. He hesitated, then continued, 'I...I don't know what happened to Sundance and Backlash. I guess they went down after us.'

'...I can't reach Optimus,' Demona stated suddenly, 'all of you fell?'

'Yeah, the explosion was...freaking huge.'

'Are YOU alright?' Jolt said forcefully.

'I think so. I'm pinned down but I'm still functioning.'

'We're on our way.'

Flashback tensed, 'What?' He onlined his optics again when the weight above him shifted. He pulled away from the connection, but not entirely, and tried to wiggle loose when the weight on one of his legs became unbearable. More shifting. Rock rolled and groaned. Dust fell down to slide down his armor.

'Flashback!' Jolt tried, 'son, what-'

'Somethings happening,' Flashback opened his mouth and tried to speak. All that came out was hoarse croak. Clenching his dentals, Flashback forced himself to move. He did as much as he could. More debris fell away. The load got lighter. Light broke through the chunks of concrete. Flashback wrenched his frame hard, and pushed the gap open wider with a strained vent.

Above, large hands reached down and grasped his wrists and pulled him out. Flashback shuttered his optics before the light blinded him. He managed to gasp out, "Thanks, man, pretty sure you just saved my aft."

"Don't be so sure."

Flashback went rigid at the voice that greeted him. His head snapped up, fixing wide blue optics on his savior. The purple decepticon was grinning back savagely. His hands tightened around Flashback's wrists, restraining them before he could jerk free and reach for his guns. He yanked Flashback closer, bringing them face to face.

Flashback glared, "Listen, mech. I'm a straight kinda guy, and I don't kiss on the first date-"

"Your mouth keeps getting you in trouble, doesn't it?" The decepticon chuckled, "relax, kid. I like fresh meat, but I prefer femmes. You and your brother are hardly worth it, but that sister of yours..."

Flashback snarled, baring his dentals, "Don't even slagging think about it!"

"Oh, I have. In detail." The decepticon laughed, standing up and pulling Flashback with him, "she would be very fun to break."

Flashback snorted, "She'd strip your armor and burn your spark to ashes before she ever let it happen."

"Well, considering that my proverbial partner in crime has crushed her frame, I'd say she wouldn't have much of a choice."

Flashback stilled, optics widening. His spark squeezed with dread. "You...he what?"

"You heard me."

"What the pit do you sick bastards want with us!" Flashback snarled, "Primus, we get kicked off the planet for thirty years, come back, and everyones out to get us!"

"Quit your whining! Shockwave doesn't like loud house guests. He'll rip out your voice box if you keep this up."

Again, Flashback paused. His voice lowered to a suspicious tone, "Just what exactly are you going to do with me?"

"Shockwave is feeling creative. He needs a new canvas to practice on."

"Oooooh frag no," Flashback ground his dentals, "theres no fucking way I'm going-"

"So loud..." The decepticon interrupted, "even for me. I guess I'm gonna have to shut you up the hard way."

Before Flashback could realize what was happening, the mech had shifted him into one hand and had brought his other fist up right into Flashback's throat. Pain exploded through him, jarring him down to the core of his frame. Flashback gasped, body bowing out. Something inside of his throat cracked and sparked.

"And while we're at it...I really don't want you to wiggle around and fall while flying." Flashback was thrown back against something hard and solid. His helm made contact and splintered. The pain turned into a searing agony, and suddenly he had no feeling in his limbs. His optics dimmed. He struggled to hold on, but stasis came crashing down on him. He barely felt the flare of his creator's rage when he fell into darkness for the second time.

"All attempts to contact Optimus have failed." Red Alert said gravely, walking into the shadows. His blue optics were tired and dim, "as well as the attempts made to contact the others that went with him."

Ratchet bowed his head, pressing his hands to his helm, "Primus..."

"And Sundance?" Hotshot offered hopefully, "What about her and Grimlock?"

Red Alert shook his head. It was answer enough. The yellow mech vented sharply and turned away to return to his pacing, "Pits! We should have been prepared!"

"How?" Prowl spoke up, narrowing his optics, "we had every possible resource at our disposal. Optimus wasn't here, but several of our best were. We were prepared. We tried to face the siege like it was a standard decepticon attack, and thats where we failed. We have absolutely no knowledge of how to defend ourselves against these burrowers. That in itself was made painfully clear today. The only mech who could defend himself properly in such conditions was Backlash."

"How did he get hit, anyway?" Hotshot asked abruptly, "slaggin' mechs damn near impossible to see when he moves."

"He fell defending us from Shockwave," Red Alert answered with a hint of exhaustion in his tone.

"Then we're just...doomed." Hotshot paced faster, shoulders hunched and optics narrowed, "how did this happen? Why did this happen?"

Prowl shifted, taking weight off of his freshly patched knee, "Backlash spoke to Shockwave. He said something about using the decepticons to lure out Optimus and some of his most capable warriors, and then sending in the burrowers on base because we couldn't read their signatures. Deception, distraction, division he called it. He figured it out."

"So this was all just one huge attack."

"Basically."

"How could we not see this coming?"

"Because we became comfortable in a time of peace," A new voice started. The mechs raised their optics as Jetfire squeezed himself into their little cave. His black armor was already dusted in red, even though they'd only been taking refuge in the Grand Canyon for a few hours. As soon as the burrowers had overrun the base, they had been forced to abandon it, safe room and all, and come here, dragging the weak and the injured with them. Jetfire had been among one of the mechs doing the dragging since he had sustained less damage than most of the ones caught in the halls when the attack happened.

Jetfire's optics were narrowed and bright, "And we are all to blame. We've allowed ourselves to grow soft." He grasped the grooves in the red wall around them, "this is why we failed today."

"Okay, so what-we just let them keep base? Run away like scared sparklings?" Hotshot started, throwing his arms up in the air.

"Theres nothing we can do, Hotshot," Red Alert corrected, "we have to wait here until we can gather our forces."

"Jetfire," Ratchet started without turning towards the mech, "are the younglings and femmes safely hidden?"

"Safe and hidden." The Seeker fixated on the medic, "how are the wounded?"

"Arcee will survive. She'll suffer from heavy scarring, but she's functioning. Mudflap and Skidz are in the same condition. I've done all I can for Hound, Wheeljack and Beachcomber, but they appear to be stable."

"And Backlash?" Hotshot asked.

Ratchet hesitated, "I...I have done all I can for him, as well."

"Is he stable?"

"...At this point, no." Ratchet shuttered his optics, "he had already lost a great amount of energon when Prowl and Red Alert brought him to me. I have sealed his wounds but we are without energon stores, and very few autobots available for donation."

"We're in bad shape," Red Alert murmured.

"I have seen worse," Jetfire said, "autobot resilience has always been a great frustration to the decepticons. Where is it now? We must devise a plan and a way to execute it. Bollocks, we can't stay hidden in this pit forever."

"I...am not sure on our next course of action," Prowl said slowly, "I don't want to make a decision without Optimus, but times are dire, and there is a chance that he has fallen."

"Its a position we've been in before," Ratchet said, "Optimus has already fallen once."

"And who made the decisions then?" Prowl asked curiously.

"It was a group effort, but most of it was accomplished by Demona."

"Who is absent."

"Unfortunately."

Jetfire watched the exchange quietly before raising his optics. His gaze brightened, and he said softly, "And there is the resilience I'm looking for."

Ratchet paused, raising an optic ridge at the mech, "What in the pits are you going on about now?"

The sound of feet almost stumbling on gravel reached him. He tensed and turned when he realized the sound was coming from behind, further into the wall where he had the injured laid out. His optics widened. The others straightened abruptly, equal expressions of shock on their faces. Hotshot recovered first, a laugh leaving him, "I knew you couldn't stay down!"

Ratchet vented sharply, "Backlash! Primus, youngling! What do you think you're doing?!"

Backlash was leaning against the wall, a slight frown on his face plates. His visor was down and dim, and he had one arm lowered to press to the wide hole in his side. Backlash looked over all of them before focusing on Ratchet when the medic started towards him. Backlash started, "I'm fine. I ran a thorough diagnostic on all systems and everything is functioning alright. As long as I do don't strain myself, I'll be fine."

Ratchet paused, "You shouldn't even be online right now."

"I've suffered much worse. This is nothing compared to my first run in with a burrower." Backlash's optics raised to Jetfire, "do you have any aerials in the air patrolling?"

"Skyfire," Jetfire answered.

"Good. These rock walls will be difficult for most burrowers to tunnel through, so if they do come here, it'll be above ground." Backlash shifted again, allowing himself to lean a little more, "Flashback and Sundance are both down, so I imagine that their teams are as well."

"Do you know what happened?" Red Alert pushed.

"No. All I know is that there was only one decepticon at each scene, and that one of them, the one Sundance fought, was Cyclonus."

"What do we do?" Hotshot asked.

"We wait."

"What?" Prowl blinked at him owlishly.

"We wait," Backlash repeated. When they kept giving him looks, Backlash pushed away from the wall and walked further into the 'room'. Even with his injuries, he kept his back straight and his steps even and quiet. "Have you ever heard of the Battle of Thermopylae, Prowl?"

"...No. Should I?"

"It was my favorite story as a sparkling, where a small army of Greeks stood up against the Persian Empire. Leonidas, king of Sparta, and his men blocked the only road the Persians could pass. A mere handful of warriors defending their home put the march of over a million invaders to a screeching halt for seven days, and when the Greeks were betrayed by one of their own and a hidden path to their rear was revealed to the Persians, Leonidas held his ground in one of history's greatest final stands."

"I've seen that movie," Hotshot said, "don't they all die, though?"

"Excluding that bit," Backlash said, sending the mech a look, "I have a feeling that either Cyclonus or Shockwave will pursue us while our forces are scattered and take out whats left of the autobots. We wait, build up a stronghold in a place they can't get around, and make our stand."

"What about base?" Red Alert questioned, looking at the mech carefully.

"Base is lost for now. Until you autobots have had some sort of training on how to defend yourself against the burrowers, a head on attack is out of the question."

"And just how are we going to get that kind of training?" Prowl asked, raising an optic ridge, "you're in no shape for sparring, Backlash."

Backlash stopped walking, meeting his gaze, then looked up. Curious, the others followed. Hotshot tensed and cursed quietly under his breath. Viral was carefully crawling down one of the slanted walls of the canyon, visor down and dentals bared in frustration when she slipped and slid.

Backlash said, drawing their attention, "Watch her, the way how she moves. Teach yourself to follow it. We'll talk about actual combat once you get used to being around one."

"What if she attacks us?"

"I don't think she's interested in attacking anyone anymore," Backlash said quietly, turning to retreat back into the temporary med bay to rest. Viral was immediately drawn to his movements, and altered her course to follow with a round of soft, almost friendly chatter.

THE MEGATRON GENE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, ALLOWING MEGATRON'S DECENDENTS TO RANDOMLY AND UNEXPLAINABLY RECOVER WITH UNNATURALLY BAD INJURIES LONG ENOUGH TO GET UP, LECTURE, AND WALK AROUND WITH A MASSIVE HOLE IN THEIR SIDE. IT ALSO MAKES THEM IMPOSSIBLE TO KILL.

Argh. Didn't think this was ever going to end. These next few chapters are going to kill me, I swear.

Um...the last part...no bueno. Not happy with it, but I'll deal. Battle of Thermopylae(300), is one of my all time favorite stories, right up there with Spartacus and his slave rebellion. I kinda mixed up the actual historical description and the one for the 300 movie, which is also one of my all time favorite movies, because they're both pretty awesome.

Bah hahaha. Viral following Backlash around. Thats gonna go over real well with everyone.

THANK YOU FOR READING. Much love! Tell me what you thought!

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