A/N: Lots of stuff happening! Lots of strange stuff, lots of bad stuff and lots of really bad stuff. As always I appreciate constructive criticism and I love all of my readers who have stuck with Rachel and Jazz through all their ordeals! Please Rate and Review and guess what is going on and what is going to happen next! Thanks to all my reviewers so far! You've been truly wonderful to me and my twisted story!!
Story Arc 5
Chapter 38 - First Contact
Hook grumbled as he rolled towards the back lines of the battle, cursing Megatron the entire time. At the edge of the destruction that his horde had caused, he transformed and surveyed the mayhem with a wicked smile. Thick plumes of soot black smoke billowed into the afternoon skies from all over the human city, punctuated with explosions from human fuel depots. The engineer opened a comlink with Mixmaster, "I need you to radio the others and have them come to your position. You know what needs to be done. The containers are under the monitors."
"And what about you?"
"I will return shortly once I 'repair' Soundwave." The green and purple mech smirked into the radio. "Just get the others prepared."
There was an evil laugh over the comlink. "Message sent and they are on route."
Hook's optics fell on the offline communications officer. "Good. Time to start phase one."
The engineer walked over to the still mech and pushed him over onto his back with a foot. Soundwave's optics were dim but he was still functioning. A shame really, he thought to himself. Even if the dark blue mech was outdated in his optics, his creator had done a decent job and with a few upgrades, Soundwave could be turned into a valuable asset. Hook kneeled next to the mech, opening an access panel and assessing the damage. A slight frown crossed his face; something had actually fried some of the main circuitry that lead from Soundwave's CPU. His body obviously had not finished its self-repairs and had ultimately failed today. The frown turned into a smirk as he replayed the conversation between him and Megatron earlier.
"Awareness? The horde is a mindless mass. Their programming is to attack everything that moves."
"Soundwave has identified four of them with basic sentience."
"Soundwave is malfunctioning if he thinks there is sentience among the horde."
"Did you believe that you and the rest of the Constructions could actually overthrow me using the horde?"
"Awareness and a coup? Is your CPU on the fritz, Megatron? There is no programming for awareness in the horde and if there was, I definitely would not have wasted my creation on your petty machinations."
"Watch your mouth, Hook. Or I will shut you down permanently."
"Empty promises, Megatron. You need me functional to keep your inept army of glitches working."
"Why are they exhibiting awareness?"
"There is no programming for sentience. Sentience comes from the spark and only from the spark. The horde can only be controlled by the devices. Soundwave is fritzing if he thinks he's found sentience among the horde."
Yes, he had been fritzing from the amount of damage in here. Maybe next time they would listen to him about making sure their self-repair systems had finished. If there was a next time.
Megatron was a paranoid fool to think the horde were an attempt to overthrow him. The egotist warlord had nothing to fear about the horde, Hook's smirk turned into a vicious grin. No, he had bigger problems to worry about... Much bigger problems. Problems that will teach that arrogant warlord not to insult a true artist's creations.
The engineer quickly repaired the fried wires and recalibrated the communications officer's circuitry. If Hook had been in a generous mood today, he might have fixed more than just the wires. But he was on a strict schedule and he would be needed back at the small field hospital shortly. He took three phials and an atomizer out of subspace. The first phial was punctured and Hook sprayed the contents over the dark blue mech. He did the same with the other two phials and smiled wickedly as a maroon mist rose from Soundwave's body and diffused into the air.
The engineer finished the repairs and brought Soundwave back online. The dark blue mech sat up and looked around somewhat confused by the situation. "Explain current settings."
"You let something fry your circuitry. I would hope that you will listen when I tell you next time to allow your self recovery systems finish repairs."
The red visor flashed as the communications officer looked at the engineer; there was something Hook wasn't telling him. He stood up and looked around for Megatron, "Restoration appreciated."
Hook stood up as well, still smiling at his 'patient', "Now if you'll excuse me. I'm needed back at the field hospital. Bonecrusher is inbound with injuries."
Soundwave turned to face the green and purple mech, "Constructicons were not required for this mission."
"Who said he sustained injuries from this?" Hook gestured animatedly to the destruction around them.
Soundwave reached out psychically to the engineer, now certain that he was hiding something from him.
Hook frowned at the dark blue mech as his firewall detected the attempt to breach his thoughts. "Now, now. That's not very polite, Soundwave, especially since I just repaired your injuries."
The probe stopped and Soundwave took to the air, leaving an amused engineer standing alone amidst the destruction.
Hook opened the comlink to Mixmaster. "Phase one completed. How soon before the others arrive?"
Mixmaster's amused voice answered back over the link, "Longhaul and Scavenger are here, Bonecrusher and Scrapper will be here in seven thousand astro-seconds."
"Good." Hook rubbed his hands together. Perfection personified was within his grasp... Finally.
----
Bluestreak ran down the street, dodging through the myriad of abandoned vehicles and destroyed buildings. The human F-15 jets had laid waste to the area and a few bodies from the horde were strewn around. The sorties were passing overhead more often and shadows for the two mechs were becoming harder to find. The young gunner did not dare to look back in fear that the horde he had seen earlier was following him. He shifted Prowl's weight on his shoulders; the Tactician had not spoken in awhile and Bluestreak worried that Prowl had gone into stasis shock. He had to get Prowl to Ratchet soon, "Just hang on for a little longer Prowl, we've got to be getting close to the others."
The human F-15's made another pass and Bluestreak was unable to hide completely in the nonexistent shadow of a ruined building. The jets turned around abruptly and started to fire at the two Autobots. The young gunner put his head down and ran faster, wishing there was some way to get away from the planes. "We're not the bad guys, why can't you go find some of those things to shoot at or even a Decepticon to go bother." He muttered loudly.
There was a large building up ahead with a parking garage. Bluestreak ran faster; if he could just get Prowl in there, then maybe the F-15's would leave them alone. But luck was against them, and while just a hundred feet away from the large structure, the jets flew overhead and bombed the building. Concrete, metal and what few cars had been left inside blew outwards at them as the whole garage came tumbling down. Bluestreak skidded to a stop; one hand touching the pavement as he struggled to avoid the larger chunks of concrete and keep Prowl on his shoulders. The air was thick with dust and debris, and he used the lack of visibility to their advantage. He dodged northward up the street and through a handful of alleys until he found one that was suitably dark.
The jets were circling the sky above, searching for the two mechs. Bluestreak knelt down and set Prowl up against the wall before he slumped next to him on the ground. He coughed trying to clear his air intakes of the dust while keeping his optics on the strip of sky above the two buildings. The jets kept making passes overhead and the young gunner prayed to Primus that they wouldn't start bombing the other buildings.
It was late afternoon and unless the jets had to land to refuel or there was going to be a total solar eclipse, they would be stuck in the alley until dark. Prowl's one good optic was very dim as Bluestreak gave him a gentle shake, "Prowl?"
The Tactician didn't answer him.
The young gunner put his hand on Prowl's chest; he could barely feel the Tactician's internal systems running. Bluestreak started to panic, if he couldn't get Prowl to Ratchet soon… Don't think like that. There has to be something he could do to help Prowl.
"What would Ratchet do? What would Ratchet do? Come on, think! What would Ratchet do!?" He started to babble to the listless form next to him.
"Okay. Okay. Prowl has lost a lot of energon, right? So. So. So…" Azure optics lit up, "Ratchet would give him an infusion! But…" Gray hands gestured animatedly in frustration. "I don't have any energon… Wait." He rummaged around in his subspace a moment before pulling out a red canister. "It's not the same that Ratchet would use, Prowl, actually it's some of the stuff Sideswipe makes in his room and hides from you and Red Alert, and he gave me this to tryout awhile ago, but I was about to go on duty so I didn't have a chance to try it, and then I completely forgot about it, but I guess we're lucky that I still had it, right?"
He opened the canister carefully and winced; it even smelled strong. "I don't know if this will work, Prowl. I'm hoping it will, because, well, we're running out of options. I want to get you to Ratchet, but the human's are making that impossible right now, and unless they give up searching for us and go blow up some of the horde, we're kinda stuck here."
He took Prowl's chin and tilted the Tactician's head back. Very carefully, he poured some of the strong smelling drink into Prowl's mouth, hoping that his idea would work. There was no reaction, and what sliver of confidence Bluestreak had dissolved quickly. "Please, Prowl. Don't die on me."
He took a stiff swig from the canister and grimaced; the stuff was very strong. Bluestreak tried again to feed some more of the homebrewed energon to Prowl, "Come on, Prowl."
There was a small splutter from the Tactician. "…What is… that?…It's awful."
Bluestreak grinned, "It's some of Sideswipe's homebrewed energon." He took another swig and made a face. "It is awful and we can tell Sideswipe that it's not one of his better brews, but we can do that later, much, much later."
He held the canister up for Prowl to drink again. The Tactician grimaced from the taste but let Bluestreak feed him some more of the foul brew. "Where are we?"
The young gunner looked back up at the sliver of sky between the two buildings above them. "We're stuck in this alleyway until the humans give up trying to bomb us, I tried to stay out of their sight, but they've bombed out most of the city trying to get the horde, and, well, there isn't many hiding places for us, because we're so big, you know, and I found a parking garage that I thought would be a great place to hide in, but they bombed it and we just barely missed getting hit by the building as it blew up."
"Your radio still doesn't work?" Prowl sounded very weak and tired.
"No. I keep trying it but… And my GPS still hasn't come back online. Ratchet is going to have to fix that I'm sure, but that can wait until you're fixed." Bluestreak stopped speaking for a moment and looked at the red canister in his hands.
"I wanted to get you back to Ratchet, Prowl, and I really tried to, I even got us away from the horde for a few hours… Do you want some more? We've still got most of the canister left and we should probably finish it now, no matter how bad it tastes, because… Well, I think we're going to be stuck here at least until it's dark, I can still carry you, Prowl, but… I don't want you to go into stasis shock, or… or worse."
Prowl managed a small choking laugh, "We definitely need to tell Sideswipe to get a better recipe."
Bluestreak's optics brightened and he held the canister up for Prowl again. "Yeah, we do. This stuff is awful."
----
A set of blood red optics watched the two mechs inside the alley. It had taken shelter under a collapsed brick wall, trying to stay out of sight from the mechs and the noisy things above. It tilted its head to one side, curiously watching the two; the stronger one was helping the weaker one. Why hadn't it destroyed the weaker one? Didn't it want to be strong?
There was the unmistakable sound of metal scraping across pavement, and the mech that was hiding under the wall ducked down. It didn't feel like fighting right now; it wanted to watch the two in the alley more.
They skirted along the sides of the broken buildings: one large mech and five smaller ones. All optics were constantly moving, some on the sky above with the rest scanning the area around them. The smaller ones were making noise, babbling to each other and the larger horde. The bigger one stopped suddenly, its optics narrowing on the brick wall.
The horde hiding under the wall growled, this was his territory and he wasn't about to share. It would fight all six of them if it had to, but a fight would chase the two in the alley away, and it didn't want them to leave.
The larger mech held its hand back, sheltering the smaller ones that grouped around its legs. Optics widened with fright as they saw what had stopped the larger mech.
Why hadn't it killed the smaller ones? Didn't it want to be stronger? The mech under the wall growled again, the mech wouldn't allow them to kill it.
The optics of the bigger mech scanned the area quickly before falling on the dark alley. It narrowed its optics and stared the horde under the wall down. Had it destroyed the two mechs they were following? It growled low and guttural, challenging the solitary mech.
The horde ignored the group and the challenge; all it wanted to do was watch the two in the alley.
The bigger mech tilted its head to one side, confused why this one didn't want to fight. The ones around its leg chittered softly, with one grabbing the nearest mech and pulling it onto its shoulders like they had seen with the others.
The horde under the wall looked at the smaller ones and recognized what the move signified. It raised its head slightly and gave a low and awkward warble acknowledging the others; they were looking for the two mechs in the alleyway. If they wanted to watch the others, it would allow it. But if they made any moves to harm the two, it would attack.
The smaller mechs started to move to the one under the wall, until the bigger mech put its hand out and stopped them. It eyed the one in hiding carefully, wary that it would harm the little ones. Its optics narrowed again and it sent out a picture of the two mechs, limping together and then the one carrying the other.
The hidden ones optics widened in confusion at the image; the psychic connection the larger one made frightened it. It realized it was no match for the bigger one and the others, so it tilted its head up showing its tender neck in submission and cawing softly in defeat.
The larger mech put its hand down and the smaller mechs scooted over to the fallen brick wall, slipping in around the hidden mech and chittering in greetings to it. The six under the wall now, peered into the alleyway at the two sitting mechs, watching the stronger one hold something up for the weaker one. Blood red optics widened and narrowed as the small group watched the interaction. Suddenly, the two mechs laughed and the noise startled the group, causing a few to duck their heads down in fear while stunning the others.
The larger mech, who hadn't sought shelter with the smaller ones, stood passively out of sight of the alleyway. The smaller mechs who had invaded the hidden ones spot, were sending a flood of images back and forth to each other and the bigger mech, and showing the different angles of what they saw to the group. The one that had been hidden was caught up in the exuberance of the group and found it could send images to the others as well. The questions about why the stronger mech was helping the weaker mech had vanished and it found a new sense of curiosity in watching the two laugh and interact.
One of the smaller mechs screwed up its face and chirped strangely. The others looked at it as it tried the chirp again and then managed a weak laughing sound. Optics widened and the whole group started to chirp-laugh under the brick wall. The once hidden horde turned and looked at the larger mech who just nodded as a sudden image flashed into its mind. Instead of being a lone fighter, the larger mech showed it that it was now part of the group, an accepted part with the smaller mechs. It tilted its head to the side and sent a welcoming image of the others around it. They were not lone horde trying to destroy everything; they were a unit like the two mechs in the alleyway. They were one together. Not alone… Together.
----
Optimus Prime and Ironhide were stuck moving slowly down the streets as they followed the drying trail of energon. The human F-15's were passing overhead more often now, and there was the near constant sounds of explosions coming from all around them. The two were caught in vehicle form for the most part, but with all the bombing happening around them now Optimus allowed Ironhide to blast a path through the streets.
They had not seen any trace of the two Autobots and only a few corpses of the horde scattered about. Rachel had set up a constant telemetry lock for them to follow Bluestreak's signal across the city. They had been six clicks away, but somehow the young gunner had increased his pace, and they were losing ground. There still was no signal from Prowl.
"Th' kid is gunna run himself offline at this pace, Optimus." Ironhide was losing patience at the whole situation. Blue was lost in the city, probably scared out of his mind and now running from whatever the big thing Rachel said was between them, and they were stuck in their alternate forms trying to chase him down.
"We'll find him before then. Once night falls we will be able to travel faster."
"He could end up torn apart by then. Sumthin' spooked 'im bad enough t' start runnin'."
"Have faith in Blue, Ironhide. Yes, he is young still, but he's a smart kid."
"Ah ain't sayin' that he ain't. Ahm sayin' this situation could make anyone panic."
The F-15 fighters swarmed the sky ahead of them, and there was a huge explosion that seemed to take out an entire city block. Optimus Prime looked at the telemetry from Sky spy; Bluestreak's signal had come to a stop. The Autobot leader transformed and started to run towards the explosion that now sent audio shattering echoes down the street. Ironhide was on his feet in an instant and matching Optimus' long strides.
"Bluestreak's signal stopped moving the same time that explosion happened." Optimus yelled to Ironhide.
The Weapons Specialist had his cannons out and clearing a path for them in seconds as they barreled towards the collapsing buildings. More F-15's screamed overhead and the pair dodged in and out of the broken buildings trying to stay out of their sights. The explosions took out more than just one city block; smoke and plumes of dust and debris filled the air. Water mains had burst and were shooting water high into the sky.
Optimus and Ironhide slid to a stop as another sortie flew past them, dropping more bombs into the buildings. They took cover inside a destroyed structure while the planes swept the area. Bluestreak's signal was coming from just outside the area, but still underneath the F-15's sweeps. The thing that had been pursuing the young gunner had stopped as well. It was nearby Bluestreak's position, a little too close for Optimus' comfort.
Ironhide shook his head, "Slag it, Optimus. We're trapped 'ere until those jets either leave or night comes… an' we got a few hours before that happens."
The Autobot leader was quiet for a moment as he looked at the blackened sky that covered the western part of the city. "Ironhide? Do you have any flares on you?"
"Yeah. Ah got a couple. Why?"
"I have an idea."
----
The F-15's were still circling the area as the two sat hidden in the hallway drinking. "You were carrying me on your back?" Prowl didn't sound as weak as he did before Bluestreak fed him the foul homebrew.
"Yeah. I thought we were being followed and in one of the alleys we ducked into, there were horde, I got one, but then more showed up, so I picked you up and ran, but the human F-15's had taken out most of the city and I couldn't find us another good hiding spot and they saw us. So I kept running while they tried to shoot at us and then there was the parking garage but they blew it up and they almost got us too, but I ran through all the dust and found this alley and… Well, now we're here."
Prowl nodded as he took another disgusted sip of the foul energon. "You should have left me behind and worked on getting yourself back to the others."
Bluestreak's optics went wide in horror, "No! I wouldn't have left you, Prowl."
One dim optic regarded the young gunner for a moment, "Remember what I said to you before? 'Self-preservation, panic and the fight-or-flight instincts are prevalent in most sentient races'? You would have traveled faster by yourself instead of carrying me."
"I wouldn't leave you! You're my friend and I- I just couldn't leave you alone in the city…especially with the horde and the Decepticons. They would have torn you to shreds."
Before Prowl could argue further with the young gunner, a flare shot across the sky… and then another, and another.
"Someone is nearby on the ground, Prowl." Bluestreak's azure optics widened; he wasn't sure if he should be worried or happy. It could be another Autobot or it could be the humans. Normally Bluestreak wouldn't have had a problem with the humans; some of his good friends were human, after all. But in the situation they were in right now, he was fairly sure that any humans that found him and Prowl would not be the friendly type.
The flares had drawn the attention of the F-15's and the sky above the two mechs was cleared of the fighters. Bluestreak stood up and offered his hand to Prowl, "Now's our chance, Prowl. Let's get out of here before those F-15's come back."
"I'll just slow you down-"
"I said I'm not leaving you." Bluestreak leaned down and pulled the resisting Prowl to his shaky feet.
"Blue…"
"Prowl… Shut up." Bluestreak grinned as he hoisted the Tactician back onto his shoulders. "We are getting out of here. I still have to get you to Ratchet and if necessary I'll carry you there kicking and screaming. Ratchet would have my skid plate if I left you behind, Sunny and 'Sides would never speak to me again if I left you behind, because then they'd have no one to pull pranks on, other than the rest of the Ark, but they like pranking you the best because it's funny when you get exasperated, and you're my friend and I'd never forgive myself if I left you here alone in this awful city."
Prowl managed a small smile and stopped fighting the determined young gunner. "Ironic that you would tell someone to 'shut up'."
Bluestreak smirked as he got them to the end of the alleyway and peered out into the late afternoon gloom. There still wouldn't be many shadows for them to hide in, but if they kept moving forwards, then they could get to Ratchet that much quicker.
The human F-15's had moved to where the flares had come from; hopefully, they would try to rescue whoever had sent out the flares. Bluestreak stepped out of the alley and had only taken a few steps down the broken sidewalk, when he saw something large shift behind the destroyed buildings across the street. He froze and pulled their only gun out of his subspace; his sharp optics scanning the area for what had moved. He took a few cautious steps further down the walk, his optics sweeping the other side of the street. There was another swift and fleeting movement, along with the crunch of footsteps in rubble; they were being watched. The young gunner took a few more steps forwards, he didn't want to fight the horde right now, and his main priority was to get Prowl help.
There was the sound of footsteps moving in the rubble again, but there was also the sound of two vehicles coming towards them. He ducked into the next building while still keeping his optics on the other side of the street; until he knew if the vehicles were friend of foe, he had to protect Prowl from the horde and the humans. The sound of the engines came closer and Bluestreak hid as best he could in the faint shadow the building allowed them.
A large black truck with a familiar red emblem on the grill came screeching around the corner, followed by a blue and red semi truck. The young gunner whooped loudly, "Prowl! Look! It's Optimus and Ironhide!"
The two were transforming as Bluestreak ran out into the street. "Oh wow! I am so glad to see you guys. I knew someone would come find us. Didn't I tell you Prowl? They were looking for us!"
Ironhide took Prowl from the young gunner's grasp before Bluestreak could finish jumping up and down in joy. "Y' look like th' Unmaker used y' fer a doormat, Prowl."
The Tactician raised his head and gave a level look to the Weapons Specialist, "You should have come sooner. We would have shared some of the worse homebrewed energon Sideswipe ever made."
Optimus clapped Bluestreak on the shoulder, "Let's get you two over to Ratchet before the human fighter jets come back."
The young gunner stopped suddenly, narrowing his optics and raising his gun quickly; something scuttled around in the rubble across the street. Ironhide had passed Prowl to Optimus and his cannons out and powering up as a part of the burnt out wall tumbled down. Three sets of optics scanned the area and Ironhide muttered as his sensors picked up on the moving forms, "Horde. Seven o' them an' one's a big guy."
As if on cue, the large mech moved out of its hiding spot, blood red optics on the four Autobots, and a large clawed hand covering its face.
The black Topkick didn't wait for the mech to attack and opened fire. The horde turned its head to one side, still using its hand to shield its face. The wall behind it couldn't handle the stress of the one-sided fight and toppled over, revealing the smaller mechs that had taken shelter behind it. They screeched and dove for cover behind the larger mech with some protecting their faces with their hands. The large mech stood its ground, not moving in the barrage of bullets that flew past its head.
Optimus watched the odd behavior of the mech as he steadied Prowl; these things weren't even trying to fight back. "Stand down, Ironhide, Bluestreak."
"Huh?" The young gunner stopped firing but kept his optics on the large mech.
Ironhide took a minute before he stopped firing but kept his cannons raised, "We 'ave t' take 'em down before they attack, Optimus."
Bright blue optics looked at the small mechs cowering behind the larger one, who was now slowly and carefully lowering its hand. A few of the smaller ones peeked out from behind the ruined building and the thick legs of their larger companion. The four Autobots and the seven horde stood watching each other silently; one group with weapons raised, the other in defensive positions. Optimus handed Prowl back over to Bluestreak and took a step forward. The larger mech of the horde did not move, its blood red optics keeping a guarded watch on the four, especially the black one with the noisy weapons.
Optimus took another step forwards, which elicited a hiss from Ironhide, "What are y' doin', Optimus? Its jus' waitin' fer y' t' get close enough t' attack."
The Autobot leader took another slow and cautious step forwards; he was curious as to why the horde were acting so strangely and he didn't want to spook the mechs. He held out his hands in a non-threatening way, maybe these drones weren't given the same programming that the others had.
The larger mech slowly dropped to all fours and bobbed its head. This new mech wasn't shooting at them. He and the black one were much bigger and stronger than the others and they hadn't attacked the weak and small mechs. It carefully pulled one of the smaller ones from behind its leg; the smaller mech yelped but quieted quickly when the bigger one warbled at it. Two sets of blood red optics watched the group of four carefully as the larger mech slowly picked up its smaller partner and placed the mech on its shoulders. The mech bobbed its head again and warbled awkwardly to the group of four.
"It's- it's mimicking how I carried Prowl…" Bluestreak gaped at the two horde and their odd behavior.
"Well Ah'll be a Decepticon's creator." Ironhide lowered his cannons slightly. He was just as surprised as the others at the strange behavior, but still not convinced that it wasn't a ploy to attack them.
Optimus bowed slowly to the two horde and the larger mech carefully bowed back to him. The smaller mechs that had taken refuge behind the larger one started to chitter animatedly and moved out of their hiding places. The sudden movements of the horde made Ironhide raise his cannons, which resulted in the smaller ones shrieking and diving for cover again.
"Stand down, Ironhide." Optimus said quietly to the Weapons Specialist.
"Ah don't trust 'em. They're up t' sumthin'."
"Maybe, maybe not. Let's just see what they do."
The larger mech let its small partner slide off its shoulders and into the safety behind its back; it was going to protect the smaller ones like the three mechs in front of it were protecting the wounded one. It bobbed its head and warbled again as it tried to communicate that it did not want to fight with them.
The sky rumbled signaling the return of the human F-15's. The six smaller horde shrieked and scrambled into the ruins of the buildings, while the larger mech bowed once more to Optimus before following the others.
Ironhide picked up Prowl and the three Autobots ran into the shelter of the building that Bluestreak had hidden in before. The jets flew by overhead and Optimus watched the other side of the street, as the horde darted in and out of the rubble for shelter. He was disgusted by the thought that the Decepticons were using such creatures for weapons of destruction. But then again… According to Prowl, these mechs were the same beings that he had seen dying in the halls of the Decepticon base. It seemed Megatron found a way to save those mechs from death only to enslave them as drones. He somehow had their CPU's ripped out and their sparks destroyed, leaving only the most banal instincts behind. It was beyond cruel and sadistic to use his own soldiers in such a way, and it sickened the Autobot leader.
He thought about what they had just witnessed and wondered if they would see the small group again.
"Optimus to Ratchet. We've got Bluestreak and Prowl."
"You were supposed to call back sooner." The grumpy medic scowled over the comlink. "How are they?"
"Bluestreak is fine. Prowl has some major injuries, his right leg is badly damaged and he has lost a lot of energon."
Ratchet cursed loudly, "How slagging long will it take for you to get here?"
"We're in a badly ruined part of the city and having to dodge the human F-15's right now. Depending how long we can make it through the streets without drawing attention to us… maybe just after dusk."
"Have Prowl shut off most of his main systems so he doesn't go into stasis shock. I don't suppose either you or Ironhide brought spare energon in your subspace?"
"Prowl had shut off most of his systems and Bluestreak fed him a can of Sideswipe's homebrewed energon."
"…. And they're both still functioning?" Ratchet had that foreboding eerie calm in his voice.
"Yes. Although, Prowl did joke that it was the foulest tasting drink he had."
"I'll have words with him when he brings his sorry aft in."
"Rachel was able to find the Twins?" Optimus couldn't hide the spark of hope in his voice. Finding four of the five missing was a good sign.
"Yes, but Sunstreaker is damaged, puncture wound through the neck."
"Are they nearby our position, Ratchet?"
"No, they're in a different part of the city. They'll have to make it back on their own, before we have to fall back." The hard as nails medic couldn't hide the worry in his tired voice.
"Any word on Jazz?"
"None."
Optimus rubbed his temples; losing any mech was difficult but in this fight everyone was needed. The fate of Earth, Cybertron and the universe was dependant on the Autobots now. "How are you holding up?"
"We're dug in pretty tightly, but if the Seekers come our way, we'll be slagged."
"How are we doing against the horde?"
"We've had plenty come our way. How about you?"
"We just had a very bizarre encounter with them, I'm appalled at what Megatron did to these mechs."
"What do you mean, Optimus?"
"It was almost if they were trying to communicate with us, two of them mimicked how Bluestreak carried Prowl. And the biggest one in the group of seven was protecting the smaller mechs. I've never seen drones do anything like that before, which makes me believe that they aren't drones, but what is left of actual living mechs."
Ratchet was quiet for a moment, "… We had something like that happen as well. One of them tried to communicate to Rachel, I think she has some connection to them, but I'll be slagged if I know how or why."
"Maybe these mindless machines aren't quite as mindless as we first though."
"Pfft. You saw what they did to everyone in that fight. You can't tell me thinking beings would do that to another being, Optimus."
"Can't they? We are still in a war with the Decepticons, Ratchet. They try to do the same thing to us every time we fight them."
"Yes, but not on this level of cruelty." Optimus had hit a nerve with the medic.
"Agreed. We'll try to talk more about this later. Just try to survive until we get there. Optimus out."
----
"How much farther do we have to walk in this fragging sewer?" Sunstreaker asked again. Wounded or not, he still had a way of being a pain in the aft.
"We're almost there. Quit whining and keep moving, if those fires beat us to the exit we'll be stuck in here longer." Sideswipe looked back over his shoulder; he thought he heard scraping noises in the sewer behind them, noises that were too loud for just rats to make.
"What are you looking at? That's the twelfth time you done that in the past few astro-seconds."
"Keeping count with how many times you ask when will we get out of here." The red warrior gave a level look to his twin, "Did you power down your systems to conserve your energy?"
"Now you're starting to sound like Ratchet." Sunstreaker frowned back. "What's up, 'Sides? You're acting jumpy. Do we have horde behind us?"
Sideswipe looked straight ahead, "No. Just keep your feet moving and shut your vocal processor. You need to conserve energy."
"Whatever, Ratchet." Sideswipe was lying and he knew it. The golden warrior put a little more pressure on the wound in his neck; reserving energy or not, he wasn't about to let his brother fight alone.
The two warriors kept moving in silence; Sunstreaker had fought off help from his brother as they searched for an exit from the sewers. Sideswipe fought the urge to turn and look when he heard the scraping again. It had to be the horde; they must have fallen into the sewers with them. The noises were coming faster as they neared the exit Rachel had found for them. Sideswipe's audios were on hyper-alert as he tried to get an accurate count of how many were behind them, but that was proving somewhat difficult due to the tunnel and the echoes it was creating. "We're almost there Sunny, just a little further."
The golden twin had noticed awhile back that his brother was tense and had guessed that they were being followed. He had also picked up on the scraping noises and figured that the things behind them would attack when they tried to leave the sewer. "How many are there, 'Sides?"
Azure blue optics narrowed but he kept staring straight ahead, "At least two, maybe more. I can't tell from the echoes."
"Gotcha."
There was a large sewer grating up ahead that spilled the late afternoon gloom into the dark tunnel. They were in luck and made it before the fires had engulfed this part of the city. Sideswipe pulled out his sidearm and readied it; the scraping noises were very close to them now. "You get out of here. I'll take care of them, Sunny."
"You're slaggin' kidding me, right? I'm not leaving you down here with them."
"I can take care of myself, Sunflower. Now get your aft up there before I bodily throw you out of this stinkin' sewer."
Sunstreaker growled as he pulled his sidearm out of subspace. "You can't even throw a good insult, what makes you think you could throw me?"
There was a loud scrabbling sound behind them and they turned in unison and fired at the two large mechs that appeared out of the dark. The shots lit up the sewer enough for the Twins to see the creatures; filthy claws and faces smeared with the grime of the sewers and the energon that had dripped from Sunstreaker's wounds, screeching as they leaped at the warriors.
Fangs sunk into the golden warrior's injured hand, opening the wound and spilling more energon onto the ground and splattering the monster. It squealed in glee as it grabbed Sunstreaker's other hand simultaneously, deflecting the shot that was meant for its disgusting face. The warrior growled and tried to kick the beast off of him; but the thing held on tightly and managed to rip open the wound in his hand further. "Fraggin' Pit-spawned piece of slag! Get off of me!" He slammed the horde into the wall trying to shake the thing off. Blood red optics fritzed with each hit, but its fangs dug in deeper as it drank as much of Sunstreaker's vital fluids as it could.
The horde on Sideswipe had somehow managed to crawl up on his head, claws outstretched and trying to dig at his face. With the firearm useless, the red warrior tried to grab at the thing and pull it off. He heard his brother yell, and a quick glance saw the other horde ripping into Sunstreaker's wounded hand. In pure hatred at the horde for attacking his brother, Sideswipe punched upwards at the beast on his back, catching it just under the chin. It reeled for a moment before digging its claws into the soft metal of the red warrior's face. Two strong hands pulled the two clawed ones off as Sideswipe threw the beast onto the floor where he put a heavy foot on its soft neck. One violent yank rid the beast of its head and Sideswipe dropped the twitching body quickly. He wrapped an arm around the neck of the horde on his brother and brutally ripped the thing's head off.
Sunstreaker leaned against the dank wall of the sewer holding his bleeding hand to his chest plate and panted, energon spilling freely down his body. The battle had also caused the wound in his neck to open a bit further as well. Sideswipe picked up Sunstreaker's sidearm and blew the sewer grate off. He then grabbed his brother and pushed him towards the exit, "Out of here now, Sunflower."
He helped his brother out and them climbed out of their filthy prison as well. The fires that were engulfing the city were closing in on them. Sideswipe quickly checked his GPS and put his arm around the golden warrior's body, wincing as he saw the amount of energon and fluids pooling around his brother. "It's all east now. Shut down all of your non-essential systems and lets put as much distance between us and the fire."
"No arguments from me, bro."
----
He followed the small group that ran through the streets. The oddly behaving mechs knew he was following them, as they would look over their twisted shoulders and screech to the others. In all his years as a fighter he had never seen anything like this, and as he pursued the group, he couldn't help but think that this was probably the same scenario that had played out on Cybertron when the Decepticons pillaged cities. Granted he wasn't firing at the fleeing group, but it did fill him with disgust.
Up until an hour ago all the horde he had come upon had tried to kill him; but this handful had backed away from him, had tried to protect themselves and one had even tried to block his attack. Jazz was at a complete loss to explain why the horde drones had acted that way.
He kept one watchful optic on the skies above, still not entirely certain that an unseen puppet master wasn't controlling this group, as he trailed behind them. The tiny group of eight ran like their lives depended on it, scrambling and scraping over the wreckage of vehicles and destroyed buildings. Jazz continued to chase them openly through the streets knowing that he would probably lose them if he tried to follow more covertly.
There was the roar of F-15 fighters above and the already spooked mechs screeched and scattered. Jazz cursed as he dove for cover inside a wrecked building, photon rifle in hand and optics on the skies above. He'd have to take down the Seekers before he could try to recover the trail of the strangely acting horde. His finger was on the trigger and ready to knock the first Decepticon buzzard out of the air when the first sortie of human F-15 fighter jets flew overhead and bombed the area. Buildings down the city block blew up, sending a concussive blast of concrete and dust billowing over the street. So much for finding the horde now.
Jazz left the confines of the structure he had taken shelter in and ran through the edge of the debris cloud. Staying in an area under fire from above wasn't a good idea. He dodged back and forth across the streets, his stealth programs running at full force while he ran from the targeted area. Another round of bombs were dropped off to his right that shook the pavement and he heard the painful howls of the horde; the humans had found the strange group and obviously attacked them. The ground under his feet rocked again, threatening to knock him over. He was still too close to ground zero and he needed to move faster. He transformed quickly and shot a path clear for him through the rubble and streets. All hope of finding the horde was gone, best he could do now was find the others. Live to fight another day.
Another round of bombs blew the buildings out next to him, and he swerved to avoid being crushed by the falling structures. He couldn't seem to get away from the human fighters. Jazz ran a fast diagnostic check on his image-warping and radar jamming programming; everything was working properly, so why was he attracting the human fighters?
The billowing dust cut visibility to zero, and only by millennia sharpened reflexes was Jazz able to swerve around a large roadblock. A large green and purple roadblock. He spun around and transformed quickly, dodging back into the clouds of dust. Devastator! What was he doing this far into the city? Through the murky air, Jazz saw the gestalt raise a massive hand and pluck one of the human F-15 jets right out of the sky. He crushed the fighter like it was a thin sheet of aluminum and tossed the flaming wreckage away. Vulcan cannon fire penetrated the air as the jets attacked the giant Combiner while he swatted at another jet.
Knowing he was going to regret this, Jazz aimed with pinpoint precision and shot at the gestalt's hand as it tried to pull another plane out of the air. His aim was true, and the giant Decepticon roared. "Show yourself, coward!"
A volley of photon blasts rang out over Devastator's chest… and did no damage.
Slag! The gestalt has the nanites! Jazz loved a battle with difficult odds, but right now he felt like he just signed his death warrant. How was he supposed to fight a giant mech with the indestructible nanites?
Devastator stomped on the ground near where Jazz was as the cloud was dissipating, shaking the pavement heavily. "Come out now or I pluck all the birds out of the sky." And as incentive, he grabbed another jet and obliterated it; dropping the fiery remains by its massive mish mashed feet. The jet exploded and the blast knocked Jazz to the ground, disabling his image-warping program. The gestalt saw Jazz in the fading dust cloud and grinned maliciously, "One little Autobot thinks he can stop Devastator?"
"Everyone's got t' have a goal in life, y' know?" Jazz quickly aimed and fired a barrage from his photon rifle at the mech's face.
The giant laughed as the blasts left scorch marks on its metal skin. "I have the nanites, little Autobot. Your weapon is ineffective against me."
"Y' don't say." Jazz growled as he dodged a large foot that threatened to squash him. He grabbed two shaped concussive explosives from subspace and ran at the gestalt. Devastator may be bigger but he was very slow, and Jazz easily skirted across the ground, arming and slamming the two explosives on the giant metal foot. He took off in the opposite direction as his internal chronometer counted the seconds down.
Devastator had looked down between his feet wondering what the Autobot had done when the explosion went off, knocking the Decepticon off kilter and crashing into the ruined street below. Jazz didn't even wait for the dust to settle as he aimed and shot at the giant's face again. Only the softer metal that made up the face, neck and hands of a mech were the vulnerable spots, and Jazz took full advantage to exploit the situation.
Devastator laughed and got up to his feet, "Nice trick, little Autobot. But I have a much better one." The giant grinned like an idiot as he pulled two guns from subspace and aimed at Jazz. "You'll like this trick a lot."
Jazz ran between the gestalt's legs. He was much faster that the Decepticon and was confidant that he could avoid any shots fired in his direction. But he needed a plan on taking down the mech; he couldn't let Devastator attack the human fighters. Concrete and asphalt rained over the ground as ill-aimed shots tore up the street, and Jazz transformed quickly driving through the giant feet of the mech. "Follow me, big guy. Let's see if y' can shoot straight."
"Already running away, little Autobot? But I haven't gotten to show you my trick yet." Devastator turned and lumbered down the broken street after Jazz; the gestalt firing at him with only one of his weapons.
Looks like his 'trick' is the other gun. Jazz dodged through the destroyed and burnt out buildings and dragged the Decepticon away from the human F-15's. That's it, keep on chasing me. Hopefully the humans would take the hint that they were ineffectual against the gestalt and go back to fighting the horde elsewhere. He checked his GPS as he caught sight of a sign that said he was nearing the Columbia River. Jazz smiled to himself; it looked like it was time to put a damper on Devastator's day. "Run, run, run as fast as y' can. Y' can't catch me, cuz I'm the Jazzy-man."
"I don't need to catch you, little Autobot." Another sortie of jets tried to attack Devastator and the gestalt plucked the nearest F-15 right out of the sky and chucked it at Jazz. The plane exploded when it hit the ground causing him to swerve on the broken road and dodge right into… a shower? Devastator's laugh rang out in the air as he stopped running. "Like my good trick, little Autobot?"
A squirt gun was a good trick? Jazz spun around and drove back through Devastator's legs, trying to get the lumbering giant to chase him again. He ran a figure eight around the gestalt's feet as the Decepticon ripped a large chunk of partially burnt wall off of a still standing structure. "Come on, ugly. Now's not th' time for a snack."
The Decepticon lifted up one heavy foot and brought it down with a crash near Jazz. The ground shook but Jazz stayed the course, still taunting the giant mech. Devastator got tired of trying to follow the Autobot's movement and dropped the piece of wall right in front of him, catching Jazz's right rear fender and spoiler… and crushing them.
He yelped half in surprise and half in pain as he tore clear of the debris and transformed. What the slag happened!
Devastator laughed loudly as he pulled up another chunk of concrete, "Good trick, huh?" He took aim and tossed the concrete at the slightly stunned Jazz. The piece shattered near him, sending a shower of debris into the air. As Jazz put his hand up to shield his face from the fragments of the wall he noticed energon dripping down his leg through a good-sized gash in his armor. Devastator kept laughing as he brought his weapon up and took aim at Jazz, "Good bye, little Autobot."
Jazz transformed quickly and sped off down the street dodging the stray shots from the gestalt. Jazz winced as he drove over the torn up pavement of the street, the vibrations of his tires over the ground making the gash in his armor ache. That spray gun had somehow nullified the nanites in his armor. Couple that with the fact that now Devastator was nigh invincible meant that the whole Autobot force was on the road to being completely slagged.
"Rachel? Can y' patch me through t' Optimus and Prowl? We've got a big problem."