Apocalypse Game

A/N: Okay, last chapter was a bit corny with the lame dialogue betwixt Megs and Fowl. But that was just a filler chapter, and things like that don't happen ever. Right.... oh yeah... the quote that Yoda used about ya got to have heart, that was used by Frankie Sinatra... just thought you'd like to know.

Chapter Eighteen

We all stood around the circle, and I led the group in a prayer, most of them were willing to do it because they realized that we were going into something hazardous that most of us wouldn't make it alive.

"God in Heaven, we stand before you in our humbleness, praying that somehow in all this turmoil that war and battle, and death and destruction can be avoided," I prayed, "We also pray for those who've been lost to us already before the heat has begun, we just pray for them as they are now in the right place with you and we pray that we may be able to come out alive with your blessing."

I looked up and a lot of people were silently weeping, I waited for a few minutes while others said a silent prayer, then I said "Amen."

"Alright people," I said, "we have half an hour before Q blasts the pond-portal and I want all those who are staying here to return to the house, the rest of you get to the armory and gear up, we're taking the ship through the Looking Glass."

Everybody left to arm and gear up, now that the Calhoun and his people were coming it was going to be a lot easier for us to do this, Galactus, Q and Lady Q, Soleta and Burgy and Moke and Xyon, Chakotay and Seven would stay behind as they were not exactly warrior type material, but with the crew we had we were okay.

It took only Twenty minutes and we were ready, the Excalicon was poised and ready to go through the pond, the ship had about twenty drop ships(Shuttle's) with loaded weapons that when used in conjunction with another ship can cause as much damage as much as a tactical atomic bomb, they could hold up to twenty-five people, I wouldn't be using the shuttle, I would be using a pair of large wings that looked like something out of Artemis Fowl, that Holly used(little did I know that these things were from a fairy world that Holly's grandsires were from) and I would be dropped out of one of the shuttles during entry so as I could help clear air problems.

We all boarded, I was armed with what would be on my suit, basically Excalibur, and a whole bunch of guns. I had a suit that had a N field in which I could store stuff, and my guns were all stored there. My wings would have a couple of rocket launchers and a mini-cannon which I could control from the wirings on me, I stepped in the shuttle Dark Doom on it looking like a robot weapon's system; Commander Shelby was piloting and looked up as I entered, "Well," she said, "Maybe the aerials might just surrender when they see you drop out and start strafing."

"I wish it were that simple Shelby," I said, "But the aerials are known for being the deadly version of the ground crew and they fight deadly, so we need to fight fire with fire."

"All personnel prepare for drop."

That was Calhoun on the com as he and Tiberius prepared the ship for Portal Drop, all shuttles were ready and waiting to launch as soon as we hit airspace on Cybertron

There was a bump then the red alert signal and all shields went up, the shuttles ran out of the ship like a rat out of a burning house, there was a little turbulence and then I dropped down. The Aerial Vehicons hadn't noticed us yet and so I ran a diagnostic on my suit and I was 100 and ready, then the Orion's Belt got blasted and I turned on my radar.

"This is Fly-boy to all shuttles; turn to the right and head straight," I said, "The aerials are launching long range energy blasts, and I'll try and draw them out."

I flew in and started targeting, these aerials were slower then their counter parts, but they made up for it in targeting prowess.

"Attention," I said over all com-units "This is the Chosen One here to take down Megatron; all combatants will henceforth surrender or be destroyed."

I think the aerials were laughing at me but I wasn't sure, I fired off a couple of rockets and a round of cannon fire; it took out two, but they came out after me as planned."

"Chosen One to all shuttles," I cried, "Execute Omega One!"

Three ships lined up per unit and fired away, the aerials went out like a telephone pole after a storm. The whole kit and caboodle of them went out in an instance like they never existed.

"This is Ground's Crew to Fly Crew," crackled a voice over my com unit and most likely over the others, "We are under heavy fire from ground forces numbering more than us, we need help!!!"

"This is Flyboy to Commander Shelby," I called over the com, "I'll go down and help take care of the ground forces."

"John," Shelby called, "Wait for at least one of us to go down and help you."

"No can do Shelby," I said as I angled downward and begun my decent, "They requested and I am answering."

She didn't answer and so I knew that she didn't feel like arguing with me. I finally found a roof top where I could land and figure out where I was, as I looked across the cyber-landscape and saw it as bleak as a war torn country, then I heard a scream. I looked down to see a few of my comrades being boxed in by tank Vehicons, it was about 10 Vehicons to 4 of mine, and it was Mara, Bell, Siegel and Si Cwan. I could tell they were injured and if I didn't do something soon, they wouldn't be alive much longer.

"Damn," I muttered to myself as I pulled out a couple of guns, "Why do I always end up playing the rescue type?"

I leapt down off the roof and hurdled straight down with guns a blazing, my minicannon was working overtime just to stay active and my rocket launchers were blazing away and leaving residue at various spots, the tanks then saw a new problem arise as I entered the field of battle and retreated to who knows where as I came in.

"Get out and stay out," I shouted blasting two more torps at the retreating vehicles.

I turned to my companions and saw that Mara was injured, Si Cwan looked like he had been caught between a rock and a hard place, Belldandy was dead and Siegel was attempting to use her Rune powers to heal Mara.

"What happened to Bell?" I asked as I stooped down and cradled her in my arms, "Why is it always innocence the first to go?"

Siegel looked at me a long while before answering, "She was trying to defend us from those tank goons," she explained, "She cast a shield around us and called out for help telepathically, and I guess it registered as a com call."

"Go on," I prompted, "What happened next?"

"The tanks were too powerful for her shield, it took three blasts and she was down...literally," said Mara struggling to remain awake, "They had some type of upgrade because normally they wouldn't be able to break a greater ten holding spell."

"So," I said drawing on my reserves, "Bell is dead."

"Yes," said Siegel, "But where's Urd?"

"I don't know," I said looking in the distance as a small legion of Vehicons made their way towards us, "But if we don't get out of here soon enough were gonna end up like Bell and this will all have been for naught."

I gathered up Bell and Siegel gathered up Si Cwan and we called for teleport back to the ship, second's later Bell was encased in glass to preserve her for burial in the continuum and Si Cwan was in a bio bed undergoing major surgery to repair everything.

"There was nothing you could of done John," said Urd who had been on the ship the whole time, "They were too powerful for her and if I or even Mara had tried it either of us would be dead."

"But why do the innocent always have to die first?" I cried, "Why can't evil leave beauty like that alone so she could have experienced a true full life?"

"Nothing is fair," mused Siegel looking up from her rune cleaning, "We can't always protect the innocent and the one's we love at the same time, if we did that then we'd be dead a long time before that."

I thought about what Siegel said and realized that she might be right, however I wasn't about to admit that out loud, but it gave me comfort for the battle's ahead.