Chapter 29
"Jolt!" Optimus called as the young medic rushed past, moving as fast as his legs could carry him, "Mech, slow down!"
"Sundance has been taken!" Jolt shouted back, slowing down enough to turn sideways to look him in the optics, "The Hunters have her!"
"WHAT!" Ironhide roared, spinning away from his conversation with Chromia. Jazz was on his feet in half a second, "When?"
"A few minutes ago!" Jolt answered, "we need to go, now!" Then the mech was around the corner and gone, headed straight for the base exit.
"Optimus, we can't just-" Ironhide started.
Optimus interrupted, "Ironhide, Jazz, stay here and keep things in order."
"I hate to say it, but you'll be needin' some back up, Prime," Jazz said slowly, "those hunters are a han' ful."
"Demona is on her way now," Optimus explained, tone grave. He could still feel the burning wrath of his adopted creation, the way how it twisted and turned inside her spark. It worried him deeply. She hadn't been this enraged since...He cut his thoughts off, turning his processor on the femme's creation instead. "There won't be a need for back up when she arrives."
She was closer now, over half way to base. He could feel the pull of their bond strengthening with time. For a moment, he considered staying behind to wait for her. Then he remembered that Demona was still his fastest soldier, especially when one of her own was threatened. If anything, she'd pass them on the way to Sundance's aid.
So, he started forward, running with his long legs to catch up to the medic that was already folded down into his alternate and speeding through the doors.
Grimlock lifted his massive head, cold optics narrowed as they fell upon the racing forms of Prime and the red femme's mech creator.
He could feel the earth trembling beneath his splayed toes. A steady roar echoed across the sands, the sound of snarling engine that would put even Sunstreaker to shame. Beneath it, Grimlock could hear the deeper rumble of Prime's engine.
The smaller mech was in a panic, revving his engine and pushing his frame as hard as he could and almost leaving their superior behind. The king of the dinobots watched them vanish over the dunes, then tilted his head slightly when the wings of his smallest soldier flapped overhead.
Swoop came down in a perfect spiral to land, much to his disgust, on Grimlock's shoulders. Swoop locked his claws around the larger's thick armor, and said cheerfully, "You wouldn't believe what I just heard!"
"Speak," Grimlock rumbled.
"Our pretty little femme has been taken hostage," Swoop started nonchalantly, hunkering down when Grimlock straightened abruptly, "Easy, boss!"
Again, the beast turned his optics towards the mechs, although they were far away now. He clenched his jaws, massive dentals glinting in the light of the rising sun. His spark was tense in his chest, tight and angry. He couldn't explain why and he didn't quite care-all he knew was that someone needed to suffer, and that she needed to be safe.
He snarled, "Where."
Swoop shrugged, "Follow the others."
With a loud growl, the dinobot lunged forward. The ground shook beneath his steps as he charged, following the energon signatures of Prime and the blue medic.
Swoop spread his wings and let go, taking to the air. He flew abreast of Grimlock, easily keeping pace.
Grimlock opened his jaws and roared, his rage echoing across the sands. He swore in his spark-someone was going to die today.
When Sundance woke, the first thing she was aware of was pain.
A frame-deep, agonizing, cold pain. Easily worse than the time Starscream had torn through her when she was fresh into her second frame all those years ago. Her processor spun slowly, painfully, working to restart the rest of her body. Her internal clock told her that it had been hours since she'd fallen inside the Hunter's base.
She almost wished she'd stayed unconscious.
Sundance tried to online her optics, but nothing happened. Her face was numb, she could neither feel nor control the plates along her lips and around her optics. Then she remembered-that bastard Brandon had shot her blind.
Sundance let out a shuddering breath, feeling empty and shattered. She managed to move, and something cracked loudly, almost deafening. New alerts appeared in her processor. New wounds to add to the ones she already had.
"You're awake."
Sundance tensed at the voice, but made no effort to answer or even face him. She was simply too tired, simply in too much pain. So she laid there, completely defenseless. The Hunter's prey, when all a long she had believed herself to be a predator.
An unbearably hot hand passed over her face and she shied from it, managing to slide her head away a few inches with the screech of metal grinding over concrete. The man chuckled, "I see you've still got some life in you, beast."
She tried to form words in her vocal processor, but it, too, was frozen. Useless. Like the rest of her. What...happened...
"I hate to say it, but it's almost painful seeing you like this. To think that you had scattered all of my trained men across the desert when you popped out of the ground like some demon right out of a nightmare, all strength and bite. Not anymore though. No, you're just as useless as that girl in the cell is. Just as broken. Just as fragile."
You've made the worst mistake of your life. Sundance wanted to tell him, my mother might just peel you like an orange and eat you. Dad might, too, but mom gets creative when she's pissed off.
The hand was there again, this time on her chest, over her pale spark. It was the most uncomfortable feeling in the world, every inch of her screamed to pull back, to get up and move. She tried, tensing the cables and wiring in her legs to rise or even scoot over, but nothing seemed to respond to her.
"You know, you all could have avoided this if your leader had given us some of your technology. We're in great need of it, and when he refused to hand it over after we'd invited you to stay on our planet, he made a lot of enemies. I'm his worst."
She heard him move back. Other people walked around. Her spark squeezed, feeling small and dim in her chest. She finally managed to curl her claws, but they were stiff and slow to respond. She reached for the liquid fire inside, only to find it gone. Snuffed out.
Panic rose up inside her. On instinct, she tried to move her wings, to spread her feathers, but they were gone, also. And so was the call of the sky that usually sang in her spark.
Empty. She was empty.
And Primus, it was horrible.
She was jerked from her thoughts when some kind of machine in front of her came to life. Her panic grew, and she tried to move again, to pull away.
"Now I'm being forced to take the technology for myself. That's how you ended up here, dragon. Today, I learn your species' secrets, starting at the heart." He said, suddenly close to her face. He was whispering, right into her audios. She managed a small snarl.
The machine moved closer. Almost every human present pushed against her neck, pushing her head away from her chest. It was then that she realized-
It was a saw. A big saw. And it was coming right towards her chest.
Sundance jolted when she felt the serrated blade slice through the face of her chest armor. Through the frozen pain, a searing, white hot agony shot through her. The hands shifted from her throat to her head when her entire body managed to curl. Her jaws spread wide in a sheer cry. The saw fell back before pressing forward again, this time at a different angle, crisscrossing the first cut and penetrating deeper.
'Hold on, Sundance!' Her father shouted, taking firm hold of her frightened spark, 'we're on our way!' Sundance screamed.
Hope you enjoyed.
Sundance and her family, the hunters, and the story belongs to me. Transformers does not.
