I think this is the fastest I've updated anything since I first began posting Hybrid up and made daily posts because I had a lot of chapters already pre-written. Hooray!
One more chapter after this guys, and then Tranformers Prime: Convoy is over. Then comes the big sequel! But probably still not for a little while at least. I want to have at least a handful of pre-written chapters before I finally start posting up, so just be patient. Good things come to those who wait. :)
WolfAssassin369—Um… because I don't really have any clue as to what the video was really either, I'll go with that. XDDD
Alice—Evidently her fight with Bomber. XDD
Okay, onward!
I do not own Transformers or anything in relation. I only own Hunter, the Hybrid race, and any other character that you may not recognize.
"'Cause everybody's so scared! We don't wanna go there! We don't wanna make a move! We got all our lives to lose! Screaming in the dark while we just play our part. I'll play right along… like I don't know what's going on! Somebody make a move! Somebody make a move! Please somebody make a move! We all know… we all know what's going on…" Icon for Hire; Make a Move
8
Ω High-speed Battleground Ω
Jack and Miko sprinted down the ground-bridge as quickly as they could before finally jumping out the end and landing hard on their backsides inside the train car. Okay, Ratchet was right. Ground-bridging into such a tight space on something moving at high speeds really wasn't the greatest idea in the world, but at least it had worked. Pushing themselves up off the floor, the teens dusted themselves off.
Jack lifted his phone to his face and spoke into it. "We're in," he announced.
/I read you, Jack./ Raf's voice came back. /The cell phone comm-link patch works./
A soft groan was heard and Miko looked towards the direction it came from. Her eyes widened. "Hunter!" she shouted, running over and kneeling beside her prone friend. The Japanese girl rolled the redhead onto her back and looked her over. Turning back to Jack she rolled her eyes and groaned, "Well, this is just great. Both halves of the Dynamic Duo are down!"
Jack came over and crouched down beside the girls. He reached out and gently brushed some of Hunter's flaming locks away from her beautiful face. The boy couldn't help but think how pretty she was asleep.
"Jack!" Miko barked, snapping the seventeen-year-old out of his trance. "Stop being all creeperish by staring at your crush and do something to wake her up!"
The boy scoffed. "What?!" he demanded, his voice seeming to raise in pitch. "Pfft! Tsh! Tsh! Pfft! I-I do not have a crush on Hunter! Where-where did you even get… that idea?" Jack awkwardly laughed and tried to play it cool but apparently he didn't succeeded because Miko gave him a flat and skeptical look.
"Uh-huh," she replied ironically with a nod. "Right, sure you don't. Wake her up!"
"Um… uh… okay." Jack reached out towards the unconscious Hybrid again and froze, trying to think of what to do. He finally settled for a slap. Reeling his hand far back, the boy threw it forward and smacked Hunter across the face as hard as he possibly could. His hand stung and throbbed a bit after the contact… but Hunter remained insensible. Jack stared in disbelief. Reeling his hand back again, he let loose for another slap that was just as hard as the first.
Still out cold.
"Slag!" Miko exclaimed in amazement. "She is totally out of it!"
"Hunter!" Jack yelled. "Wake up!" He slapped her again.
Nothing.
SLAP! "Wake up!"
Zip.
SLAP! "Wake up!"
Zilch.
SLAP! "Wake up!"
Nada.
Jack's hand was red hot by now and was going numb. How could she still be unconscious?! And how on God's green earth could her cheek not be as red and welted as his hand was?! Gritting his teeth, the teen drew back and swung again, this time being rewarded with a groan from the redhead after he struck her, but she roused no further. Well, at least they were getting somewhere now. "Hunter!" Jack shouted firmly again, trying his best to mimic Optimus' voice, thinking that maybe that'd do the trick. He drew back and threw his hand. "Wake…" his hand was caught in a strong, tight grip and held back.
Opening her eyes, Hunter glowered up at him. "Jack, you idiot, stop slapping me, or, Primus so help me, I will rip your fragging arm off!"
Jack stared down at her, eyes widening a bit in fear.
Miko simply smirked. "Yup, she's awake."
With a groan, Hunter sat up and rubbed her head. Then she seemed to freeze and looked between Jack and Miko, a look of utter confusion coming onto her face as she did so. "How the heck did you two get on the train?"
"Long story," Miko answered. "How'd you get knocked out?"
The sound of rushing wind and the train's metal wheels on the metal tracks became suddenly apparent to them. All of their attention diverted over to the giant hole in the side of the train car where most of the wall had originally been.
"And what happened to the car?" Jack asked.
"Longer story," Hunter replied. Above the wind and the rumbling the sound of helicopter rotors chopping the air came to the girl's years. Standing, she made her way towards the hole, Jack and Miko right behind her. They all looked up to see the MECH 'copter hovering above, looking like it was preparing to land.
Bringing his cellphone back up to talk in it, Jack reported, "Raf, MECH's landing on the top of the train."
/In about twenty-seconds, you're gonna come to a fork,/ Raf responded. /Brace yourself./
In response to that, both Jack and Miko quickly grabbed onto Hunter, each taking one of her arms and holding on for dear life.
Hunter slightly snarled. "Do I look like a safety bar to you?" she grumbled, but endured their clinginess anyway. She probably was the safest thing for them to hold onto in this box car after all.
They watched on as the helicopter got closer and closer. It was almost ready to touchdown on the roof when suddenly they came to that fork Raf had mentioned and the train pulled out from under the 'copter. They all breathed a sigh of relief. Their reprieve was short-lived, however, because only a few short moments later the helicopter was back and successfully landed on top of the roof. The three friends all turned to look up at the ceiling.
"Huh," Hunter remarked flatly. "Well, so much for that idea."
"So, what'd that buy us?" Jack questioned. "Ten seconds?"
"Raf is losing his touch," Miko commented.
All of a sudden the strangest thing happened. Before their very eyes a figure clad in an all-black body suit and masked seemed to phase through the top of the car, almost as if she were a ghost. The minute her boots touched the floor was she lunging forward, snagging a hold of Hunter in the blink of an eye.
The sixteen-year-old hardly had time to voice a protest before she was flying across the train car and disappearing through the wall on the other side. For a split second she was outside in the sunshine and fresh air. The next thing she knew, she was inside the darkness of the train car adjacent to the one that held the DNGS. "Ah! Ugh! Oof!" Hunter hit the hard metal floor and went tumbling head-over-heels to the other side of the car. Quickly shaking off her daze, the teen lurched to her feet, moved into a ready position, and, igniting her fists, bathed the inside of the car in blue firelight. She growled at the dark figure standing across from her. "Who are you?" she demanded, her voice taking in the thunderous battle-field tone that she'd picked up from Optimus. "What are you?"
"Isn't it obvious, my dear?" the figure answered, in a smooth, light feminine tone. "I'm a Hybrid like you."
"Who are you?" Hunter asked again. "Answer me!"
"You wouldn't know me," the woman replied, her voice becoming deeper and angrier. "But I sure as hell know who you are, Huntress Starstreak James."
Hunter snarled, a deep growl rumbling up from her chest. She hated the sound of her name coming from the lips of this femme… whoever she was!
The woman took a step closer, her hands clenching into such tight fists that her knuckles cracked. "And I'm going to make you pay dearly," she seethed, her voice not yet a yell, but quickly changing into one, "for what you took from me!" With that, she broke into a dead run, barreling towards the teenager, a battle cry lifting from her throat.
Hunter snarled and stood firm watching her opponent come closer and closer and... The redhead's eyes widened and she stood up out of her ready position, staring wide-eyed in awe. She was gone! One minute the woman was there and the next minute she was gone—disappeared into thin air! How in Primus' name….
"Ahh!" Hunter was suddenly caught under the jaw with a hard uppercut as the woman appeared in front of her again. She flew up and crashed through the ceiling of the car, landing on the roof and sliding down the side of it. "Whoa-oh!" The teen snagged a rivet and caught herself, her legs just dangling over the side of the car. Carefully she looked down to see the ground blurring below. Even though she'd live through it that would be one really nasty fall! "No thank you," the girl muttered. She was cast in shadow and Hunter looked over her shoulder to see the other Hybrid standing there above her.
"You're spark is mine, Fuser," the woman rumbled. Without warning, her hands morphed into large, ominous sickles and she raised her arms high above her head. "Rrraaahhh!" She swung them down, the glinting blades ringing as they sliced through the air.
With a gasp, Hunter leapt out of the way, just narrowly missing being impaled on the sickles. On her feet at the peak of the car, the redhead glanced down to see the blades embedded in the thick metal roof of the train. Turning her gaze back to the woman, she snarled. Instinctively moving into a ready position, the teen clenched her fists tightly and extracted her "Wolverine" razors. "Lady," she stated, pointing at the femme with her razors, "I don't know what your beef with me is, but you better lay off or else slag's gonna hit the fan! Now ask yourself, do you really want that to happen?" Not for the first time Hunter wished she had her spark-father's ability with words in order to try and sway her opponent and make them see reason. She didn't want to fight! Normally she was always up for bashing in the helms of people and 'bots who asked for it, but just at the moment when MECH going after the DNGS and Jack and Miko being the only ones standing in the way, she wasn't looking for a conflict. Not to mention the fact of what two combatting Hybrids could inadvertently do. One deflected blow at just the right angle and strength and the whole train could go right off the tracks, causing an impact strong enough to set the DNGS off.
"If it extinguishes your spark," the older Hybrid growled, jerking her sickle-hands free of the train, "then yes!"
Hunter's brows furrowed and she bared her teeth. "Fine!" Igniting her claws and fists the sixteen-year-old charged towards her opponent with a roar.
Slowly Optimus started to come back to the land of the living. His audio-receptors still rung, his head aching, and his processor still scrambling around, but it was all beginning to die away. Optics twittering open, he moaned and began to get up. With a grumble he shook his head and tried to clear it of the fog that clouded this thought process, trying to remember what was going on and what he was supposed to be doing. Everything began to come back to him. MECH! They were on their way to capture both Hunter and the DNGS! Looking up, the Prime's eyes caught sight of the train tracks and followed them until his gaze finally landed upon the train as his sped away. He caught sight of bright blue sparks just as the train rounded a bend in the canyon. Blue fire! Adrenaline rushing into his system and wiping away every ache and pain he felt, the red and blue mech lurched up onto his knees, optics widening and brows furrowing as he realized what was happening. "Hunter!"
"Huh! Ha! Hrah!" Hunter punched and kicked a barrage of fireballs out at her opponent, gracefully spinning back out of the way of the sickles as they steadily progressed towards her.
The old Hybrid was slashing and dodging, trying her best to slice the teenager to pieces. "Stand still!" she howled in annoyance as the younger Hybrid kept dodging.
"Uh! As if!" Hunter shot back as she spun away once again. She punched out yet another fireball only to have it be deflected by one of the sickle blades. Panting, the teen looked over her shoulder and down to see that she was just teetering on the edge over the space between the cars. With a growl she turned back to her aggressor, who was still slashing her way closer. Time to try a different strategy. Crouching down, Hunter leapt up into the air with incredible leg power, tucked into a front-flip as she soared over the older Hybrid, and landed in a crouch on the other side before rolling back into a pair of reverse somersaults. Once she was close to the femme, the Fuser, pushed herself up into a handstand and powerfully kicked her feet up under her opponent's chin. "Huh!"
"Argh-ahh!" The femme was propelled up into the air and backwards, hitting to roof on the opposite side of the car. Her sickle-hands turned back into regular hand and she sat up, wiping at her masked mouth as if to wipe away a trickle of energon there. "Not bad, Fuser," she granted with a slight nod. "Now it's my turn." With that she disappeared once again.
Hunter rolled into her ready position, constantly looking this way and that and turning so that she wouldn't be caught off guard. Suddenly her nerves tingled sharply and she whipped around just in time to grab hold of her opponent's wrist as she threw a punch. "Ha! Ruh!" The teen slammed the older woman down into the train roof only to have a pair or ankles lock around her neck and be pulled forward and over before being slammed into the metal herself. "Ack!"
The woman rolled onto her shoulders and launched herself onto her feet. Glaring down at the redhead, she raised her leg almost parallel with her body and brought down in order to bash the girl's head in. "Rah!"
Hunter rolled out of the way and up into a kneeling position. "Hoo-augh!" Kicking a leg out she wiped her aggressor's feet out from under her.
The masked Hybrid bent back into a backwards handspring and flipped over to the other side of the train car. Once she was back on her feet she charged again. Growling, Hunter charged as well. The two met in the middle, hands locking together as each tried to push the other back.
"Hruh!" The older femme twisted spun and swung the femmling over the side of the train, trying to force her to let go.
Hunter held on for dear life and braced her feet against the roof top of the train in order to keep her opponent from trying the maneuver again. Squeezing her eyes shut, she threw her head forward and bashed her forehead as hard as she could against the older Hybrid's face. "Ugh!"
The woman flew backwards and hit the roof of the opposite train car where the MECH helicopter and men were standing.
With her enemy down, Hunter took this opportunity to end this battle once and for all. Speeding forward and leaping over the space between the cars, the Fuser, clenched her fists and extracted her razors again. "Haaaaaa!" She prepared to embed her blades in her opponents head when all of a sudden. "Ahh!" Grabbing at her shoulder, the redhead stumbled backwards. She looked down at her arm and tried to move it, only to find that the appendage wouldn't respond to her commands. Concentrating as hard as she could, she attempted to move it again. Nothing! Her arm wouldn't move! As far as that went, she couldn't even feel her arm either! Wide-eyed, Hunter looked up at the woman. "Wh-what did you do?" she demanded.
The woman sneered behind her mask and chuckled. "Most powerful of Hybrids or not," she replied, "you're nothing against an opponent who knows the art of pressure points. I've spent years studying anatomy of sentient beings, and I know how to take each one down from the inside—you being no exception."
Hunter's eyes narrowed and she snarled at that. Clenching the hand of her good and still functional arm, she lunged forward and swung, only to have her blow knocked away. With her numb arm flailing around like a wind-sock, the teen spun around into a roundhouse kick and tried that. She was dodged and tried again in the opposite direction. Dodged once more she went down to balance on her good hand and pivoted around, trying to land a kick that way. She had never been so happy to make the decision of wearing spandex shorts beneath her skirt as she was at that very moment! Nothing worked. Her opponent kept spinning and dodging and blocking her advances. Getting back on her feet, Hunter drew her fist back and swung again, only to have that arm become deadened as well. "Argh!"
Her opponent virtually defenseless, the older Hybrid swiped a leg out and knocked the Fuser to the train roof. Hands on her hips she laughed. "Not so tough without your arms now, are ya?" she chided, planting a boot in the young girl's chest.
Scowling, Hunter took a deep breath and began to release it in a sonic scream, only to have a fist smashed into her throat before she could do so. She gagged and coughed.
The woman looked over to see a tall, robust man with a scar across his face standing off to the side, watching. "Go ahead, Silas," she said. "She's all yours."
Smiling, the man strode forward and stood over the teenager. He reached down and grabbed the front of her cardigan before lifting her up so that she dangled in his grasp. He looked her over.
Hunter stared, eyes wide with fear. Human or not, this man was intimidating. He was utterly huge—almost as big as Optimus' holoform, and that was saying something! There was no mistaking the vileness in his gaze.
"Well, well, well," Silas chuckled, brushing some hair out of her eyes. "You're quite the little powerhouse, aren't you?"
Brows knitting together, the sixteen-year-old growled, her larynx still too sore to allow her to use her voice.
Silas simply smiled and chuckled at her audacity.
Hunter continued to glare at him until her ears suddenly picked up the sound of heavy, metal footsteps. Turning her head, she looked over to see her father running alongside the train up on the ledge. She turned back to Silas with a smirk. Seeing that he was looking in the direction she had been, the teen drew a leg back and swung it forward, planting her foot in his stomach and propelling him away from her. The Hybrid managed to land on her feet and turned towards the woman. She body-slammed her, forcing her backwards and then body-slammed her again before leaping up into the air and kicking both feet out at the woman, hitting her in the chest and knocking her back against the helicopter.
Picking herself up and shaking off her daze, the older Hybrid growled at the younger, rage gleaming in her scarlet eyes behind her mask. She moved to retaliate, but was suddenly stopped my Silas.
"There's no time!" he shouted, moving to get in the helicopter as his empty-handed soldiers piled in behind him. "We have to move, now!" With that said he all but threw himself inside the machine.
Growling in frustration the woman looked back at the Fuser who I turn was glaring back at her from where she lay on the train roof. "This isn't over, glitch," she assured the young girl, pointing rigidly at her. Like that she disappeared and then reappeared inside the helicopter.
MECH lifted off the train roof and soared away.
Arms starting to regain their feeling thanks to her healing ability, Hunter braced her hands against the roof and pushed herself up into a sitting position. She watched as the helicopter disappeared and breathed a sigh of relief. It was over. That's when she heard the whistling sound of a missile being fired and the unmistakable boom of an explosion. Looking up, the Hybrid caught sight of smoke rising up into the air from further down the track. She stood and focused in on the area with her telescopic vision to see what was going on. Her stomach twisted into a knot. MECH had blown the tracks!
For a second she redhead stood there, trying to process what had just happened and what she was supposed to do. What could she do? Normally she would be strong enough to stop the train, but as it was her arms were still just starting to function again from being deadened, so that idea wasn't going to work! Her only other option was to get Jack, Miko, and the soldier out of the train. But if she did that then she might not make it back onto the train in time for the DNGS and then the DNGS would be jarred in the crash and would meltdown! Then everyone within the states and the neighboring ones would be in danger! So that meant that she should get the DNGS off the train first. But, no, that wouldn't work either! If she did that then she might not make it back on the train in time to save her friends and they'd be killed in the crash. She couldn't live with herself it that happened! What was she supposed to do?!
Without warning, the sound of a powerful engine and what sounded like rocket-boosters drew her attention. Looking back down the track, Hunter caught sight of her father in big rig form rocketing his way up the tracks. She grinned. Thank Primus, she wasn't alone in this! He'd just made her job a whole lot easier! Watching as he sped past the car, making his way up towards the engine, Hunter turned and leapt down into the car through the hole that the soldiers had welded through the roof. The teen hurried over to the unconscious soldiers and hefted him up over her shoulders. She turned to her friends. "Grab on!" she ordered, her voice so hoarse she had to shout to be heard. Once they'd both wrapped their arms around her and were holding on tight, Hunter lifted up off the floor, jettisoning flames from her feet, and flew out of the car and gently touched down on the ground. "Everyone okay?" she asked.
Both Jack and Miko nodded.
Hunter smiled and nodded back. Hearing groaning and the screeching of metal on metal, the Hybrid turned and looked down the track to see her father grabbing onto the train and using every last bit of his strength to try and stop it before it hit the blown section of the track. Absentmindedly the teen flexed her arms, feeling guilty that she wasn't up there helping him, but what could she really do? Her arms were still coming back to life. If Hunter wasn't so revved off at that femme she'd be a little impressed by her for managing to incapacitate her full abilities for this long. Not just anybody could do that!
The train finally rumbled to a stop beside them. Down at the head of it, Optimus slumped down onto one knee in exhaustion, leaning his head against the engine.
Breaking away from her friends, Hunter sprinted towards him. "Dad!" she called out. "Dad!" As she came closer, she transformed to her Cybertronian mode and stopped beside him. "Dad." Kneeling down she pulled one of his arms over her shoulders and slowly stood up, carrying him on onto his feet with her. "Easy now," she warned him, her voice finally starting to come back. "Don't push yourself too much yet."
Panting, Optimus smiled down at the scarlet and black-and-silver striped femmling by his side. He reached over and cupped her cheekplate with his hand. "Hunter," he sighed, bowing his head to nuzzle her face lovingly, even with his battle mask still in place. "You are all right. Thank Primus."
Hunter closed her eyes and smiled as she nuzzled him back. "Don't sound so shocked," she giggled the retort. It was all right. Everything was really going to be all right.
The sound of thrumming helicopter rotors drew both of their attentions away from each other and up to see the MECH helicopter, a dragon fly hovering over them. They both scowled, growls rumbling up from their chests. Their grips on each other tightened. For a long moment the helicopter remained above them, and then it turned and began to fly away, disappearing into the distant sky. Before long it was out of even Hunter's hearing range.
/Optimus,/ Ratchet's sudden voice broke the quiet of the early evening as it came over the Prime's comm, /are you and the children… intact?/
Sighing heavily, Optimus once more turned his gaze—which had quickly gone from harsh and cold back to adoring and warm—back to his spark-daughter, who in turn looked back at him with just as much affection. With a kind chuckle, the mech closed his optics and touched his forehead to hers. "Intact, Ratchet," he answered. "Crisis averted." The mech opened his optics again to meet the brilliant sapphire ones that somehow always managed to feel like they could see straight through him and into his spark. He would never stop getting lost in those optics…. The Autobot commander then lifted his head again and looked off into the sky where MECH had since vanished, becoming suddenly grave. A protective surge caused him to pull Hunter into his arms and hold her close… not that she objected. "But the world in which we live is a different one than we previously imagined. One, which has spawned its own Decepticons… in human skin."
Okay, this is gonna sound like a really weird question, but I wanna know. Does anybody know if, in any continuation of TF, Ultra Magnus had like a "romantic interest"? If he yes and you know, please tell me. This information will play an important part in the series much later on, but I won't tell you what just yet. ;P