Chapter Four: Final Battle
Megatron smacked the large human, causing him to sprawl on the floor at his feet, dazed. Worthless beings. He pointed his fusion cannon at the other three humans staring at him with startled yet defiant faces.
"Grovel for my amusement," he demanded, his voice leaving no doubt that he would blast all three into ashes in one shot if they did not do as he ordered. He doubted they would make the smart choice and live. These three were trouble; these three had tried to get the evidence to clear the Autobots name. And the one in the wheelchair, despite his obvious disability, had tried to contact the Autobots through Teletran-One.
Yes, he would like it very much if they gave him any little excuse to blast them. They were too annoying to be left alive for very long. The three merely stared up at him and made no move to get on the floor and beg for mercy. As he had known they would not. The one in the wheelchair jutted his chin up in rebellion. Megaton's red eyes narrowed as he surveyed the trio. So be it.
But before he could trigger the cannon, the other young human whipped his head around towards the wall.
"Do you hear that?" he asked his companions, excitement lacing his voice. Puzzled, Megatron looked up as well. The older human seemed to know what the young one was talking about though.
"...It sounds like..."
All three of them spoke, excitement packed into one word.
"Autobots!"
Now that Megatron was listening, he heard what the humans' ears had picked up. The sound of ground vehicles, lots of them. Then one that sounded all too familiar came to a halt outside the window, and an unforgettable voice called out.
"Megatron!"
"No!"
* * *
With the Decepticon air force busy fighting human jets and the ground forces hesitant to advance, Dusty had been able to slip around them and find a suitable elevated ground. It wasn't quite a hill, but his view of the battlefield-to-be was good enough. As he settled to the ground on his belly, he saw several Terran vehicles pull to a halt outside the power plant. They were led by semi truck.
And let the show begin.
It didn't take Megatron long to react. There was a breath of a pause after the semi pulled to a halt. A blast from inside breached the power plant's wall and the Decepticon leader stormed out into the open. Using his scope, Dusty could see surprise mixed with utter hatred on the Decepticon's face.
The large Decepticon was obviously exchanging words with Optimus Prime, but Dusty was too far away to hear them. Then Megatron called his army, and as they came to his side, the Autobots transformed out of their vehicle modes.
The two forces seemed to measure each other for a moment, as if waiting to see who would be first to flinch. Then they scrambled for cover and a flood of deadly energy filled the air between them.
Sunstreaker, you idiot, get to cover, Dusty urged the yellow Autobot mentally. The shiny yellow Autobot was firing blast after relentless blast at the Decepticons, unflinching under their return fire. You know, cover. Like, dive behind that boulder before you catch one. The twin was a pain, but Dusty wished no Autobot injury. Besides, he was a fine warrior when not preoccupied with his looks.
A red and black blur tackled Sunstreaker and both of them went flying behind the large boulder, Sunstreaker waving his arms and legs in protest until an explosive projectile made confetti of the space from which he'd just been removed. That's right, Dusty remembered. You can afford to be a little reckless when your brother's around to yank you out of trouble.
Dusty let his scope and optics roam the battlefield, checking on both friend and foe. The Autobots had the upper hand at the moment, so he held his fire and waited. A movement caught his eye; he panned the scope in time to see Starscream slam to the ground, one shoulder blackened by a glancing shot.
The Air Commander staggered to his feet and made his way back to Megatron's side. Dusty shook his head at his stubbornness. You know, Starscream, you just got shot standing exactly there a moment ago. Why not move so you won't -- oh, nevermind.
He shook his head again as the red and white Seeker caught not one but two blasts in the chest and was thrown back even farther than before.
See what I mean?
The Seeker was no great threat at the moment. Dusty went back to scanning the battlefield as something started nagging at the back of his mind. The dynamics of the conflict were about to change... he felt it, not knowing why or how.
Alert, Dusty scrutinized the Decepticon ranks, trying to understand what his intuition was telling him. What was it? There was nothing except... No! There! The six Constructicons had gathered together, and it wasn't hard to figure out what they were going to do next.
Urgency flashing through him, Dusty trained his rifle on one of the green robots and fired.
* * *
Megatron felt rather than heard the impact; Dusty's rifle was far too quiet to be heard above the roar of battle. Had he not been an alert and experienced warrior, the Decepticon might have dismissed it as just one more weapons discharge among many. The cry of the victim drew his attention immediately.
He twisted to throw a glance behind. Longhaul was on his knees, clutching a shoulder shredded by a lucky blast from the Autobot ranks. There was no way he would be able to transform and merge with that kind of damage.
No matter, Megatron thought as he turned his attention back to the Autobots before him. Longhaul was an arm; even missing an upper limb, Devastator would still be able to form and crush the Autobots. Even as he risked another backward glance, the remaining five were going through their preliminary transformations to create the mighty gestalt.
He had barely gone back to exchanging shots with Optimus when he realized that none of the Autobots currently battling his forces could have caused Longhaul's injury. He made it a point to be familiar with Prime's warriors and their weapons of choice, none of which had that particular damage signature. It could only have been --
Another shriek both cut his thought short and confirmed it. Hook was down, sprawled motionless where another precision shot had dropped him. Now missing both arms, Devastator stood uncertainly as a scatter of Autobot fire bounced off his armor.
There was that quiet report again as a round impacted against Devastator's chest joint. The confused gestalt took a step back as two more projectiles exploded against his chest. They weren't piercing his heavy armor, but neither were they bouncing harmlessly off as was the laserfire. Megatron cursed so volubly that Thundercracker spared one hand to cover the audio receptor nearest his leader. That son of a retro-rat sniper was trying to take down the Constructicons before the gestalt could wade into battle!
He warmed instantly to the idea of crushing the unseen Autobot with his bare hands; as distance made that impossible, he settled for redoubling his attack on Optimus instead, snarling with rage. Devastator could shrug off the long-range shots despite his missing parts. There was still time to turn the tide against the Autobots.
The ground shuddered beneath his feet with a finality that could not be ignored. Devastator had tripped over his own feet and broken apart. Even as he watched the Constructicons stumble to their feet, another shot spun Mixmaster around and put him out of action.
Without the gestalt, Megatron knew he had to pull out, and the faster the better. There was no point in letting his warriors sustain any more damage, or indeed in waiting for the sniper to single him out again.
"We've lost the advantage!" he cried, activating his foot boosters. He climbed into the air, swearing to himself that Prime would get what was coming to him. The rest of the Decepticon army was quick in following its leader's example, pausing only long enough to gather up those too injured to transport themselves.