Chapter 28-Nightengale
Skyfire tossed her particle canon from hand to hand like she was playing with a ball and not a dangerous weapon. Despite the serious nature of her mission, she was walking on sunshine. Why? Because a certain someone (who was totally into her by the way) was partnered up with her, and her alone. The perfect opportunity to score a first base initiative. The ground bridge popped into existence and from it came Lifeline, who looked anything but happy about her mission. Skyfire stood up straight and saluted her.
"Hey, doc. Ready for a second date?" She asked smoothly.
Lifeline sighed. "Skyfire, please remember that we are on an important mission. At least try to take this seriously."
Pfft, I'm always serious, doc. I'm just better at hiding it than you." Skyfire huffed.
"And don't call me doc! My name is Lifeline, use it!"
"Whatever you say, sunshine." Skyfire changed into her jet mode and flew into the air.
Lifeline gnashed her teeth together in agitation. She could already feel a headache coming on just from talking to her. The medic transformed to vehicle mode and drove after Skyfire, following the coordinates and driving into the forest.
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"So…you have any hobbies?" Skyfire asked over the comm. "I like flying, exploring, and-"
"Skyfire, please, can we not do this right now?" Lifeline sighed. She grunted as she drove over a sharp rock that scratched her underside. The forest wasn't exactly a place for an emergency vehicle like her to safely traverse without getting scratched up.
"Sorry, just tryin' to lighten the mood. It's not good going into a mission so tense." She said, flying low above the trees to see her. "You gotta to relax more. You're too tense."
"And you're too lax. This is a mission, not a date." Lifeline pointed out. "So could you do me a favor and keep watch for any Cons before they blast us apart? That would be great."
"Ha! Like they know we're here." Skyfire scoffed and increased her altitude. "We just need to lay low. There's nothing to worry about yet."
As if to prove her wrong, a sudden explosion of white flames erupted right next to Lifeline's path, almost making her crash into a tree. Skyfire cursed and leaned to the right to avoid the next white arrow came down on her from above. Above them, the dark shape of Nightshade descended upon them like a bird of prey, sunlight glinting off her black armor as she fired her missiles at Lifeline, seeing that she was the weakest of the bunch. There was no theatrics, no taunting, just a quick defeat before continuing with her mission. Nightshade really wasn't in the mood right now.
Lifeline screamed as another missile hit the ground near her wheels and made her tip over. She transformed mid-roll and took cover behind a tree, drawing her blaster. Nightshade circled around for another strike, but Skyfire was on her tail shooting at her rear.
"Try fighting someone who can fly, glitch!" Skyfire yelled, firing her plasma cannons at the Con.
Nightshade broke off her attack on Lifeline to escape Skyfire's assault. The Autobot ace maintained a fair distance from Nightshade as she chased her across the sky, no letting up in her assault. Nightshade had no chance to fight back, as slowing down to transform would mean getting hit directly. Skyfire was an egotistical loudmouth, but she knew her stuff about aerial combat.
Increasing her speed, Nightshade changed into her beast mode's secondary form, her wings fixing into place and her head and talons sliding into connections to make her form look more like a bestial stealth fighter. She zigzagged through the sky, flying upwards so that the sun was on her back. Skyfire maintained her pursuit, ignoring Lifeline's calls for her to come back.
"You ain't runnin' from me, Ms. Turkey." Skyfire grunted. She knew what the Con was doing-keeping the sun on her back to blind her. Too bad it was a predictable maneuver. What she didn't expect, however, was for Nightshade to come descending upon her with her in bipedal mode with her swords drawn. "Slag!"
Skyfire also transformed to fight her, but Nightshade was faster, slashing her across the chest before she even finishing changing. Skyfire recovered and drew her arm blade, slashing at Nightshade's head, but the Con cut into her shoulder instead. The Autobot leaned back and shoved her feet into Nightshade's face, dousing her head in white hot flames from her boosters. Nightshade hissed and flew back, drawing Gandiva and pulling back the string just as Skyfire took out her particle cannon.
Back on the ground, Lifeline covered her eyes as a bright explosion lit up right over her head. The deafening boom was enough to make her audio receptors fill with static for a moment. She looked up and saw two figures falling from the massive smoke cloud like meteors.
"Skyfire!"
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The first thing Skyfire saw upon awakening was Lifeline's beautiful silver face, which was good. Then she felt the sharp pain in her back and the headache pounding in her skull, which was bad. Worse than that hangover from losing that drinking game with Blurr, and that was saying something.
"Are you an angel?" She asked dreamily.
"How can I be an angel if I have no wings?" Lifeline said blandly. "Stop squirming, I'm trying to fix your wing."
"My wing?"
Skyfire realized that Lifeline was welding up a deep cut along the base of her right wing. She also felt that her boosters were also damaged, though not as severely. When she asked what happened, Lifeline's lips turned down in a deep frown.
"You and Nightshade blew each other out of the sky and nearly scrapped yourselves. We're sitting in the crater you made upon crashing."
'That explains the lack of grass stuck in my servos.' Skyfire thought.
"I've been fixing your wounds for the last fifteen minute while waiting for you to wake up. I have no idea where Nightshade is, but I doubt she's in better condition." She went on.
"That's a win for us, I guess." Skyfire sighed. "What's the damage, doc?"
"Nothing serious, but your thrusters are almost shot and your right wing was just barely hanging onto your back when I found you."
"Can I still fly?"
"Yes, a little, but-" She jumped back when the former Seeker shot back to her feet.
"So we're good then. Sweet!" She exclaimed, but then doubled over when she felt her back ache again. "Ow…"
"You're definitely not good, you dunderhead!" Lifeline shouted. "You just fought Nightshade by yourself when you know she excels at close combat. She could've killed you with that bow."
"But she didn't." Skyfire pointed out.
"Don't try to turn this around. You never should've engaged her!"
"So I should've let her use you for target practice instead? No way, sister. That's not how this mate rolls!"
Lifeline crossed her arms. "I can take care of myself."
"Yeah, but you're my partner and it's my job to keep you safe." Skyfire replied and then added, "And vice versa."
Flashpoint sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Look, you can't fly right now, not in your condition. The best you can do is boost jumps, but try to force it any longer and you'll rupture your fuel lines and blow yourself up."
Skyfire wanted to protest, say that she could fly even in the worst conditions, but the serious look in Lifeline's eyes stopped her. First rule of combat was to always listen to the medic. If the doctor tells you not to do something, you obey without question. Your life was in their hands and it would to do make their job harder than it already needed to be.
"Fine," She grumbled. "I'll keep my boots on the ground. But how are we going to reach the panel without my wings?"
Flashpoint smirked and collapsed into her vehicle mode. "I'll use my wheels. You run."
Skyfire gaped at her as she drove into the forest, leaving her in the dust. She sighed and grumbled angrily about cocky four wheelers as she jogged after her partner.
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Nightshade pushed a chunk of oak tree off her and hissed in pain when she tried to move her wings. The explosion was like a concussion bomb had detonated in her face and everything ached. She heard a metallic screech and Songbird flew onto a low hanging branch.
"Mistress, are you alright?" Songbird asked.
"Just give me a second." She said, waiting for her senses to return before standing up. Wouldn't look very dignified to fall over from dizziness.
Songbird gasped as she saw Nightshade's bent left wing. "Your wing…"
Nightshade winced as she wiggled the damaged appendage. "Looks like I'm running from here on out," She grumbled. "Damn Autobot. If it's not Starscream, it's the Autobots' fragging wingman."
"Mistress, I just saw the Autobots heading towards the panel. The flyer you fought seems to have been downed."
"Really? Wonderful," Nightshade smirked. "That makes my job easier. Songbird, keep an eye on them and tell me how close they are. I'll join you shortly."
Songbird bowed her head. "Yes, mistress."
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Skyfire had never felt so stupid in her life. She was a flyer trying to catch an ambulance on foot. It wouldn't have been too hard if the damn trees didn't get in her way. Not to mention those damn roots that kept tripping her. And if one more branch smacked her in the face…
"How are you doing back there?" Lifeline called back to him. Skyfire could hear the grin in her voice.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." Skyfire muttered. "Kick a girl when she's down."
"Think of this as getting some much needed physical training in." She laughed.
Skyfire wanted to be mad at her, but hearing her actually laugh for the first time made it hard to be really angry. She had the luck lady (or whatever the humans called her) on her side for being partnered up with Lifeline. Darren said it best, hot nerds were awesome!
Her reverie was interrupted when another branch hit him in the face. Cursing loudly, she tore it off the tree and threw it to the ground, crushing it underfoot. "That's it! I'm sick of these bloody trees!"
"Skyfire, it's not that serious."
"No, I'm gonna teach these overgrown ferns a lesson!"
She went to kick the tree, when it suddenly exploded in her face, sending shards of bark and leaves into her face. Lifeline immediately spun around and transformed, running towards Skyfire. She screamed as an arrow shot over her head, and destroyed the tree on her left. Skyfire stumbled back, slamming her head into the tree behind her in her shock.
"Wow, didn't know that the trees here were so lethal." Skyfire remarked. Lifeline ducked for cover and whacked her leg.
"We're under attack, you moron!" She yelled. "I think it's Nightshade!"
Skyfire peeked around the tree and saw a large, dark shape sprint through the trees like a shadow. When she saw it stop and look at her with two dark violet eyes, Skyfire grabbed Lifeline and rolled away as the tree she was hiding behind was vaporized by another arrow. She pushed Lifeline behind another tree and took out her particle cannon.
"Stay close to me, Lifeline." Skyfire said. She fired her cannon in the direction the arrows were coming from and forced Nightshade out into the open. As she was shooting at the Con, she didn't notice Songbird flying at her from above until the Minicon changed into her weapon mode and fired a plasma beam at her. Lifeline pushed Skyfire out of the way, taking the beam to the chest while retaliating with a blast from her own blaster. Songbird screeched and flew away. Lifeline grinned at Skyfire.
"No, you better stay close to me." She replied.
Nightshade jumped out of cover and fired another arrow before running deeper into the forest. She transformed to beast mode and forced herself to ignore the pain in her wing as she flew low to the ground. Songbird powerlinked with her to give her some much needed energy to make the trip.
"You're not getting away!" Skyfire shouted and began to transform, but Lifeline whacked her in the head with her gun. "What the hell, Lifeline?"
"Don't give me that! Did you forget about the dangers of flying in your condition?" She growled. "You'll explode faster than a faulty diode!"
Skyfire sighed and holstered her cannon. "What do we do now, then? Run after her?"
"We don't have any other choice. If she gets to the panel before us, this mission's lost." Lifeline shrugged.
Skyfire looked at the still smoking spot on Lifeline's chest where she was hit by Songbird. "You're hurt."
"It's nothing. A superficial wound." The medic said.
"But-"
"Skyfire, undo concern for women also breeds contempt from them." Lifeline replied and changed into her vehicle mode. "Now come on. We're losing daylight."
Lifeline drove off into the forest, leaving Skyfire to sigh before running after her.
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Nightshade forced herself to fly all the way to the panel's location. It led her to the edge of the forest, where the trees gave way to a rocky landscape full of rock formations and a steep cliff face. She transformed and let Songbird separate from her.
"Is this the place?" She asked.
"Yes, mistress." Songbird nodded. "Right on that small cliff near the anvil shaped boulder. I think it's buried in the rock."
Nightshade climbed her way up the Cliffside and ran her scanner along the surface. The device indicated that the panel was definitely buried deep in the stone, subject to the elements that erected the pillars. Standing over the spot, she nodded to Songbird, who transformed into her weapon mode and plugged into her arm. Channeling the power of her Minicon, Nightshade fired a powerful beam into the rock, keeping it centered on a single spot. She burned through the stone and didn't stop until she could see the panel inside. Nightshade cut the beam off and picked up the stasis panel, dusting it off.
"Mission accomplished." Nightshade smirked.
Her victory was ruined when an energy blast slammed into the cliff under her. She scrambled back before she could get dragged down in the landslide, but the emerald green form of Skyfire leapt over the edge and slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. Nightshade kicked her off and got to her feet. She noticed that her hand was empty and looked down to see that the panel was gone!
Skyfire saw the panel lying behind her and smirked at Nightshade. "Looks like you dropped the ball, Nightshade. Not your proudest moment, huh?"
"Shut up, you cur!" Nightshade growled, drawing her swords. Skyfire summoned her bayonets and got ready.
A cool breeze washed over them as they waited for the right moment to attack. They were still as statues as they waited and waited, not even twitching. When the faint sound of a rock hitting the ground echoed throughout the plain, Skyfire charged forward.
Nightshade blocked her opening slash and spun around her follow up attack. Skyfire stabbed her blades upward and left a faint scratch on Nightshade's chest before jumping back to avoid the sword thrust at her chest. All Seekers were trained in bladed combat, which Nightshade was familiar with having worked alongside Seekers of her own, so she countered Skyfire's attacks easily.
But Skyfire knew this too. When Nightshade leapt at her intending to behead her with a double bladed strike, Skyfire did the unthinkable and ran at her. She used her bayonets to force Nightshade's swords apart to leave her open to a strong headbutt to the face that made Nightshade stagger back. The Con fell to one knee clutching her face as a crack laced across one of her optic lens. Nightshade felt cold fury as she saw a crack run across her vision.
"I'm going to make your death nice and slow, you little harlot." She hissed.
"You have to catch me first." Skyfire rolled her shoulders. "You may be good, Nightshade, but I've been known to shatter expectations."
Nightshade growled and charged into Skyfire, leaping up and slamming a knee into her face. They both went flying off the cliff and crashed to the ground. Skyfire got to her feet, but was suddenly attacked by Songbird, who started shooting at her from the air. Seeing her distracted, Nightshade took out Gandiva and fired an arrow. Skyfire was able to dodge the arrow, but the explosion it caused blasted her off her feet and onto her side.
"Scrap that hurt." She grunted, rubbing her left arm that took the brunt of the explosion.
Nightshade walked up to her and pointed a sword at her face. "That's the problem with you Seekers. You think you're so tough even after getting beat down. Surrender now and I won't tell everyone how I kicked your ass ten different ways."
Skyfire chuckled and gave her the finger. "Get fragged."
Nightshade scowled and pulled the string back, but two laser blasts hit her in the back. She fell over and spun around to face her attacker-Lifeline.
"Skyfire!"
"Lifeline?" Skyfire gaped. "I told you to hang back!"
"You good for nothing glitch!" Nightshade powerlinked with Songbird once again and pointed her targetmaster at the medic. Skyfire jumped up and grabbed her, pulling her down to keep her from shooting.
"Grab the panel!" Skyfire yelled.
As Lifeline made a run for the tiny object, Nightshade pulled her arm free and slammed her fist down on Skyfire's head repeatedly. The Autobot flyer maintained a strong hold on the Con, but her strong punches began taking its toll on her cranium. Her sharp fingers dug into her head and visor, almost blinding her.
Seeing Lifeline get closer to the panel, Nightshade punched Skyfire hard enough to push her back and gain some freedom to fire her pistol into her shoulder. Skyfire's shoulder exploded painfully in a shower of sparks and energon as she fell back in pain, still weakly holding onto her. Songbird detached from Nightshade's arm to scratch at Skyfire's face to get her off.
Nightshade got to her feet and pointed Gandiva at Lifeline. Skyfire saw her let the arrow loose and smacked Songbird out of the way to jump up. She activated her damaged thrusters and flew up as high as she could. Lifeline, stuck between a rock and certain death, knew that this was it for her.
Nightshade smiled as she saw both Autobots become engulfed in a plume of white flames and energy that boomed like thunder. She spat out a wad of energon and limped over to the panel. Picking it up, she scooped Songbird into her arms and called the Nemesis.
"This is Nightshade, send me a ground bridge." She called, looking at the column of thick smoke rising into the air. "I have what I came here for."
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'I need to stop waking up like this.'
That was Skyfire's first thought as she woke up after falling unconscious for the second time that day. It was high noon now, and the sky was a bright blue devoid of clouds. Her body was numb once again, but still operational, so that was good at least. Save for the lack of a right arm, and leg…and wing. Yeah, she was in bad shape. She tried to move, but she couldn't even feel her remaining limbs. What the hell?
"I disconnected the neural pathways to your limbs so you can't move." Lifeline's subdued voice told her. "So don't bother."
But she was still able to move her head, and she craned her neck to see Lifeline sitting by a tree. She had some badly burnt armor in some places, but nothing serious. She looked okay, save for her expression.
"What'd you go and do that for?" Skyfire asked weakly.
"To keep you from doing something stupid again. Like jumping in front of an arrow that blows holes through mountains." Lifeline growled. "What's wrong with you? You could've been killed!"
"But it would've been totally worth it." She chuckled.
"No, it wouldn't. We've lost the panel and you almost died."
Flashpoint stared at her, her mouth hanging open and grabbed her head in frustration, growling and grumbling. Skyfire watched her lose her composure for a few minutes before finally calming down.
"You done rage quitting, Lifeline?" He asked. Flashpoint just sat by the tree, head buried in her knees. "Lifeline?"
"Why?" She asked softly.
"Why what?"
"Why are you so interested in me? I'm not all that pretty, so don't try that excuse with me. I'm not some second coming of Elita-1! I can't compare to any of the others on my team and I'm certainly no famous medic like Ratchet or Pharma!"
"Because I have a thing for femmes who can put me in my place." Skyfire answered. "Seriously, that strict, authoritarian thing you got going on is hot."
Flashpoint shook her head. "You're an idiot, Skyfire."
"And you're gorgeous, Flashpoint." She replied.
She couldn't keep the smile off her face when she called the Ark. "Ratchet, we need a ground bridge."
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Ratchet, Sparkplug and Comettor stood at the ground bridge as Skyfire and Lifeline entered the room.
"You two look like scrap." Comettor said.
"Nice to see you two, little bugger." Skyfire grumbled.
"Lifeline, take Skyfire to the medibay. I'll be with you shortly." Ratchet sighed. As the two Autobots left the room, Ratchet turned to Sparkplug. "Any word from Bulkhead and Annie?"
"Nothing yet. I'll try calling Annie up-" Sparkplug was interrupted by Bulkhead's panicked voice from the comm terminal.
"Sparkplug, get us back to the Ark! NOW!" Bulkhead roared.
"Bulkhead?" Ratchet ran over to the terminal. "What happened?"
"JUST BRIDGE US OUT OF HERE! ANNIE'S HURT!"
Ratchet quickly changed the coordinates on the ground bridge and fired it up. A tense few moments passed when they saw Bulkhead and the damaged Enyo flying out of the portal, crashing to the floor. Those present stared in horror when they saw the smoking hole in Bulkhead's back and blood leaking from Enyo's ruptured cockpit.
"No…" Ratchet gasped.
