Another great part writen by Windracer. ENJOY!
"You missed him?"
"Yes ma'am," Raindance muttered, head lowered. It had been an awkward scene only minutes before as Raider and Wildstrike had helped the ice dragon out from under a good portion of the south corridor. Her legs were still quite damaged, and she was currently leaning against her surrogate brother as she spoke to her sub-commander (who herself had just finished tending to Stormflash). "I suppose I underestimated that little scraplet. Those pile drivers..."
Aurora sighed wearily, waving her off. "I know. They're nasty. We should have invested in some sort of stasis fields to keep them in cassette mode. Don't worry about it, Rain. Aquila's been watching every surveillance monitor for him... he won't get out of here unnoticed."
- - -
Aquila grumbled to herself, chin resting on one fist as she flicked from video feed to video feed. Her right wing twitched slightly, the thin, brown metal feathers rustling as it did. Oh, how she'd rather be out stretching her wings right now instead of being bored to tears in the security room.
She yawned, and flipped to a surveillance camera that was situated outside the base. For a moment, the eagle didn't believe what she'd seen, but as she zoomed in, she leaned forward and snapped to attention. Awkwardly picking their way through the trees were two Transformers.
Decepticons.
"Well, well, well..."
- - -
"Primus, I can't understand how Transformers would willingly live in this environment," Syphonic muttered to herself, pushing a large tree branch from her path and scowling. "So much organics it almost makes me want to output."
The red Tapedeck beside her followed quietly, optics constantly scanning the green surroundings with care. Who knew what was waiting to ambush them at moments' notice... "Aw, come on. They're just brainless beastbots, Syph. I suppose they feel more at home out here than in Central Iacon. Animal instincts and all that."
"Well even if they're just brainless beastbots, they managed to take down Star Raider. I don't have a good feeling about this..."
Sythonic frowned, glancing at his sibling without a word. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he had quite an uneasy feeling as well... The animal portion of the team had an overwhelming advantage on this terrain, and even the three vehicles they had been briefed about seemed to do well, also. The twin tape decks continued their trek onward, stepping carefully between the thick trees until they caught sight of what looked like a gap. The mech pulled ahead of his sister and extended his arm, halting her. "Hold up, sis. I think we finally made it through this forest."
"Finally," the other mumbled warily, stepping away from Sythonic's outstretched arm and weaving her way through the remaining foliage, coming to a halt on the edge of a wide, grassy plane. Across the swaying sea of green was a short line of more trees and beyond that was the outline of the Disposable Heroes' Headquarters.
"Rock on." The larger Tapedeck said as he smirked, joining his sister's side as they looked over the clearing. "Though I gotta wonder, don't you think we oughta go around? We're sitting cyber chickens if we go right through..."
"The cassettes can't wait," Syphonic answered flatly, looking over at him. "I say we go."
- - -
Aurora leaned back from Raindance's exposed knee joint, the damaged servo motor finally back in working order. "There," she exhaled, rubbing imaginary coolant from her brow. "That's all the manual repairs I can do. You'll need CR and your auto repair systems to cover the rest; that won't take long."
"Good," Raindance answered, sliding the knee guard back on absently. She ignored the dull throb that plagued her lower extremities and pulled herself to her feet with effort - and the dutiful assistance of her 'brother'.
Raider edged forward afterwards, looking at the medic with a worried expression. "So she's okay?"
The younger dragonbot winced internally, grimacing. While she appreciated his companionship most of the time, her surrogate sibling's over protectiveness could really grate on her. "Raid, I'm fine. Honestly... I'm not a sparkling..."
"Yeah, but-"
The large mech was interrupted as all commlinks crackled to life simultaneously, Aquila's voice on the other end. "Heads up mechs and femmes, we got us a little company approaching us from the north plain."
"How many?" Aurora responded, speaking into the port on her wrist, face now wrought with her own concern. Windracer hadn't reported in since she left to engage Thundertron in battle, Stormflash was in the infirmary, two crafty cassettes in the prison ward, an even craftier one lurking about the base, communications with the outside world jammed and Raindance had already sustained damages. If it was a full assault force, they were in trouble.
"Just two tape decks," the other Autobot replied casually, much to 'Rora's relief. "If my memory of that emergency briefing serves it's those twins Syphonic and Sythonic... Shouldn't be a problem."
Raindance's optics flickered briefly. After the upstaging she suffered at the hands of a little cassette, she was ready to prove her worth to the team and regain a bit of her dented pride. "I'm going," She announced, stepping away from Raider and the rest of the group.
"What?!" Aurora interjected, stunned. "I don't think so! I just repaired you; I'll be fragged if I have to do it all over again. I'll go."
The younger femme turned, looking at her with a calm expression on her face. "No, better me than you. If the team looses me; no big deal. But if the team looses our medic we're all up the creek." Aurora's mouth opened and closed soundlessly as she tried to fabricate a reply, but to no avail. Raindance had a point...
Raider gave a little sigh and stepped forward. "Well, you're sure as smeg not going alone. There are two Decepticons out there, you're still damaged, and we don't know what these twins are capable of... I'm going with you."
She glanced at the towering black and silver Autobot for only a moment and nodded. "Alright, fine. Let's just get going." Raindance paused to transform swiftly into her dragon mode. "The longer we stand here talking, the closer they get to our base." With a growl, the ice dragon had turned on a dime and was tearing away at top speed. Raider soon followed his younger sibling's example and transformed, giving off a strange, fanged smirk in beast mode before leaping forward and heading off to engage the newest set of Decepticon intruders.
Section written by Windracer.