Ch. 77
The only benefit to having the children so far, at least in Knockout's mind, was the insistence Miko had that they drive. And not just drive, but race a little. Miko was in Bumblebee's passenger seat, squealing excitedly as Jack held onto Arcee's handles with a tight grip. Knockout was grateful he didn't have a passenger to worry about as he sped only slightly ahead. He needed his 'partners' close behind in case they were attacked.
"Any sightings yet?" Arcee asked as she jumped a small ramp of boxes, "We're not here for fun, remember?"
Bumblebee beeped that he didn't see anything yet.
Knockout grumbled, "They haven't had too much time to prepare whatever it is they're doing, so we should have the jump on them."
A large, old junction was coming up ahead of them and Knockout slowed quickly, transforming to come to a stop. Bumblebee and Arcee followed suit, carefully setting Miko and Jack down to walk on their own.
"That was awesome!" Miko cheered, "We gotta do that again some time, 'Bee, you're like a yellow rocket!"
The yellow mech whirred a 'thank you' and Arcee smiled, "He thanks you, Miko, but we have a job to do now... Knockout? Anything?"
The medic was carefully stepping over the tracks, frowning, "They're all over the place..." his optics widened slowly and he growled, taking out his prod, "They scattered here. It's a trap, it has to be."
Arcee transformed out a blaster, "Which way?"
"Every way! Look," he gestured around with his prod, the end sparking lightly, "They transformed and ran in different directions!"
Miko crossed her arms as she kicked into the dirt, "Why would they do that?"
"To have the advantage of all angles! Fire!"
Bright green rays of light shot out from different tunnels all around the bots and the three scattered, Bumblebee scooping up Miko and Jack as he dove for cover behind an old train car. Arcee flipped and twirled in the air to dodge the rays and managed to find shelter by the large base of a light post. Knockout scuttled quickly to the side of a wall, listening carefully as the Vehicon put in charge addressed nearby troops.
"We got the red one and the blue one, hit the yellow and then we'll begin the assault."
They'd been hit? When? Knockout checked his chassis in horror and shock but found no burns or abrasions to suggest he'd been zapped. Unless it wasn't that kind of weapon...
A lone Vehicon cautiously made his way out from one of the tunnels, blaster ready. Arcee jumped up from her hiding spot as he approached and yelled as she sunk one of her blades into his back, slicing up to remove his helm. Bumblebee popped up then, his blasters ready as he beeped to Arcee and Knockout shouted as quick as he could.
"Bumblebee, wait! Stay down!"
No sooner had he tried to warn the mech did multiple green rays fire out from multiple locations, hitting the yellow Autobot on his arm, chestplate and side. But Bumblebee frowned as the little spots of light simply sat upon his chassis like laser point dots and shrugged before shooting down a Vehicon that had come out of hiding.
"All targets have been marked," came the leading Vehicon's voice, "move in for phase two: Insecticons, go!"
Arcee's optics widened, "InsectiCONS?"
"As in 'plural'?" Knockout whimpered; his finish would be beyond repair by the time this was over.
The horrifying noise of large, beating wings echoed into the junction chamber followed by the shrieks of the giant metallic bugs as four large Insecticons burst from the tunnels and swarmed around the bots. Arcee backed in beside Knockout and switched to her blasters, firing multiple shots when the bugs drew closer. Bumblebee added to her blaster fire from the side, but the damage they were causing was far too little to take one, let alone four, down in a healthy fashion. Knockout clutched his prod and smacked the end of it down hard onto the beak of one of the Insecticons, causing it to crash from the force and shock of his weapon.
Knockout watched the Insecticon twitch and spasm and smirked, giving his prod a twirl, "Shock and drop."
The red mech had little time to savor the victory as he was suddenly tackled from behind by another Insecticon, which roared over him and pinned him to the ground.
"NO!" Knockout shrieked, "Not my finish, not my glorious complexion!"
Arcee tried to shoot the bug off the mech but had to keep dodging and weaving away from the other two Insecticons buzzing around her. She was relieved when she saw Bumblebee jump out from behind the old train car and tackle the metallic insect off Knockout, covering the red mech as he stood.
"We can't take them all out ourselves!" Arcee finally admitted as she jumped over an Insecticon that had flown in low, "'Bee, call back to base! See if anyone can back us up!"
Bumblebee whirled in agreement and tried to activate his COMM when a searing electrical shock made his optics widen and his frame collapse. His audials rang loudly with a piercing noise and he grabbed at his helm in agony as he writhed on the ground. Knockout gasped in surprise and stood over him with his prod to quickly deflect another charge from the Insecticon that had tackled him, staring in worry.
"'Bee!" he shouted, "Bumblebee! What's happening?!"
A troop of twenty or more Vehicons came flooding in from the tunnels, blasters ready to fire, and their troop leader stepped forward, the remaining three Insecticons leaving Arcee to hover behind him.
"Your COMM links have been disabled," the Vehicon troop leader explained, poising his weapon to fire at Arcee, "You were not the mech we were hoping for, but nonetheless, we will press on with our orders."
Knockout glared, gripping his prod tighter as the Vehicon continued, "Decepticon Medic Knockout, under the orders of our esteemed leader, Lord Megatron, you will be captured and returned to your post; the Autobots will be eliminated."