The goal was to keep the shuttle on the ground, but Jolt was aware how slim a chance he actually had to do it. He glanced at Sideswipe, who looked equally furious about the ruse and their discovery.
"We have to stop them from leaving," Sideswipe hissed.
"Yeah."
The silver mech unsheathed his swords. "We might not be able to keep them down for long, but we can at least try."
Jolt smiled darkly. "Hey, we're the best, right?"
Sideswipe laughed. "The best of the best. Aim for the engines and the control."
Jolt grinned, flexing his fingers, then activated both whips. All they got was a warning wail from the proximity sensors and they ducked.
"Slag!" Jolt hissed, ducking and evading a blast from what looked like a very oversized bull.
Apparently the Predacons were ready to rumble before leaving the planet, too. Well, all the better!
Sideswipe charged his weapon and grinned. "Let the fun begin."
Jolt briefly scanned for the two humans who had been with Sideswipe, who had all but disappeared Cybertron only knew where to. Those natives were fast!
Rock exploded to their left and both mechs ducked.
Sideswipe's optics lit up with an old fire and he returned the shots. His spark pulsed and he suddenly felt alive again. It was like the good old times: shoot Deceptiscum and try not to get hurt.
Comm lines were scrambled and they hadn't been able to get word out again.
A missile screamed at him and he ducked, shielding his optics, as it blew up his cover. Transforming, he raced away, scanners picking up two pursuers. One in the air, one on the ground.
He grinned almost madly.
Oh yeah, just like old times.
Transforming in mid-speeding he whipped out his battle-swords and turned to face the enemy.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Iron Man didn't have to ask who the enemy was. For one, they outnumbered the only two Autobots five to two. Second, the Decepticon symbol was clear to see. He didn't ask for permission. He simply chose a target and got into the brawl.
::Roddy? Five targets, all Decepticons:: he sent, using Extremis. He added images of the vicious looking beasts that only barely resembled Earth animals.
Then he launched a barrage of missiles at what probably had been meant to be a lion.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Jolt jumped out of the way, rolling around and coming up behind Headstrong. He tried to tackle the Predacon, but the Decepticon was faster. He slammed his elbow into Jolt's mid-section and then kicked the legs out from under him. Jolt wasn't easily kept down and he wouldn't be bested by Deceptiscum just like that. He grabbed a boulder and slammed it into Headstrong's head.
The Predacon rocked back, cursing, and Jolt grabbed his weapon. Before he could aim properly, his opponent had transformed and was fleeing.
He still fired after him, pleased to notice that one of his shots clipped a leg and the Predacon stumbled and crashed.
Something slammed into Jolt and his damage reports flared. He was thrown to the ground, rolled around, trying to find the enemy, and found it in the sky. He raised his weapon and fired at Divebomb. The Predacon evaded, but another one took his place; this one on the ground. Jolt transformed and raced off.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Rodimus knew he would regret driving like a maniac, but it had been the only way to reach the battle field in time. The barely perceptible road had taken its toll and he was coated in a lot of dust, but he didn't care about anything but getting to his scouts in time.
When the message from Tony came in he added a few more mph to his speed.
"ETA twenty seconds," he responded to Tony's message.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
The fight was hard, fast and no one held back. Iron Man was in his element, using all his skill, all his training, and what Extremis gave him to evade attacks and in turn try to hit the enemy. He was very much occupied with the only flyer of the five Predacons and the guy was good. Really good!
But Iron Man was good, too. Actually, he was better.
Tony grinned wildly behind his mask. Yeah, he could beat the flying piece of scrap metal.
Evade. Duck. Aim. Shoot.
Easy. No challenge at all.
Something clipped him and he was jolted out of his emotional high and back to reality. While it was simply a gracing shot, the power behind it had Iron Man tumble. He snarled a curse, rerouted systems.
"Jarvis!"
"I am working on it, sir."
He quickly launched a distraction, then shot up into the sky.
The Predacon stayed hot on his trail.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
On the ground Rodimus Prime cursed fluently as he watched Iron Man heading quickly for the outer atmosphere. Kup would be so proud that the 'kid' had learned at least some things from him.
Then the battle demanded all his attention once more.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Razorclaw snarled angrily and ducked away from the Autobot called Sideswipe, then opened a line to all Predacons.
"Retreat. Immobilize the prey and go!"
He received an affirmative.
It was time to get the show on the road. They couldn't play for much longer. From the satisfaction he saw in Rampage's optics he knew the fighting had done its job.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Iron Man knew when the tables turned and Tony suddenly realized that the vulture thing chasing him had simply been playing. Winged cat, arc reactor powered mouse.
"Oh hell!" he hissed and was just quick enough to get out of the way of a missile.
It had been what the Decepticon had wanted, he thought coldly when Divebomb came right at him.
He couldn't evade.
The impact made him scream and lose control, tumbling. Extremis worked overtime to keep Iron Man from simply plummeting to the ground and he knew Jarvis was trying to keep them in the air, too, but in the end it wasn't enough.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Tantrum had a lot more body mass and Rampage was fast, and between them they managed to wrestle Sideswipe to the ground. Tantrum's blow to the head and the blast from Rampage's gun stunned Sideswipe and he felt his systems glitch badly, sparks and tiny, quickly controlled system fires making him groan in pain.
Instead of some final blow or trying to at least off-line him for a good long time, nothing else happened. Through weakly flickering optics Sideswipe scanned for the enemy, but he found no trace. They had over-powered him and left.
They had stopped playing, part of Sideswipe thought. Slaggit! This hadn't been more than a game for the Predacons!
Hauling himself to his feet, Sideswipe almost collapsed again. Part of him laughed hysterically at the fact that he was still alive, that this hadn't been a serious battle. Another was fuming at his own incompetence.
"Jolt?" he finally sent.
He got no reply.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Rodimus Prime surveyed the battle field, his own armor riddled with evidence of a furious fight. He had managed to keep Razorclaw at bay, but it had been close. And suddenly the Predacons had retreated.
The ship had fired up and Rodimus had finally realized that one of the five had gone missing, had used the individual battles to prepare for take-off.
And we fell for it! he thought angrily.
He saw Jolt pick himself out of the dust, clearly run over by the Predacons as well, and his optics flared as he saw the shuttle. Rodimus felt his spark stutter when Divebomb shot toward the rising transporter, entered the ship through the still open loading bay, and then the ship gained speed.
::Tony?:: he sent, using his access point to the Extremis.
He got no reply.
Great! Just slagging, fucking great! But first things first.
He contacted their Eye in the Sky.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Crashing wasn't always the same.
There was the uncontrolled crash. He had had those before.
There was the controlled crash. Well, not so often before.
There was the forced landing crash. Those were far and few. Usually he managed to speed away.
And there was the crash because several tons of metal were pushing him down. This time had been a first.
Then again, he had never fought against what looked like the techno version of a very ugly specimen of the vulture family. It had been the size of a SUV, with wings and some weird tail-like attachment that it had readily used to batter against his armor in hopes of cracking it. The red optics hadn't been as unnerving as the sharp claws and serrated wing edge.
Yes, Tony Stark thought as he lay on the ground and stared into the sky, crashing wasn't always the same as before. There were so many variations to it. It was actually an art.
This time he had really done it. His armor was scrap and he had lost contact to just about everyone. Even Jarvis. The damage to the Iron Man armor had to be very bad then. He was reluctant to employ Extremis. Just trying to access the artificial enhancement was painful. He had stressed it too much and was now paying the price.
At least he had given back some of the shots he had received. He just loved his new and improved sabot missiles. He could only carry two because they were heavy, but they were a last-ditch defense mechanism and they worked. At least when he hit the enemy where it hurt.
Tony sighed and attempted to get up. The armor weighed him down and the pain in his body did the rest. He knew he would be colorfully bruised soon. Not to mention scrapes and cuts and whatnot.
Fun.
Not.
With an effort he was finally up and he wrestled the helmet open to breathe more easily. The sun was burning down on him and aside from flies and sand fleas, there was no life around. It had probably been scared away by the vicious fighting and the crash.
With another sigh he turned to scan the landscape.
Sand, dry grass, gnarled trees. Great. Sooner or later the wildlife might get interested in him. He didn't plan on getting molested by some misguided dingo.
There was a sudden noise and then wind whipped up the sand around him. Tony looked up, shielding his eyes, and laughed. Above him hovered a Chinook helicopter with an Autobot sigil and AIDDE's markings.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
-- Signature stabilized --
-- Terminal positions affirmed --
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
In the short time he had spent on this new planet, well, mostly in its orbit, Blaster had come to love all of Earth's music. It was a vibrant tune, whoever had composed it, whoever played it, whatever it expressed. Blaster had quickly adapted to the humans' communication devices and different systems, as well as the already wide-spread hybrid technology. Unlike Perceptor who had taken up position inside the Ark and was handling matters there, Blaster had taken on a less human disguise – he had transformed into a satellite to blend in with the humans' devices already in orbit. Like a spider in the middle of a very active net he floated above the blue planet, watching, listening, waiting.
The Stark Industries design spoke of Cybertronian influence and the hybrid technology allowed the mech to easily interface without manipulating too much of the alien technology. It almost felt like home, he mused with a little pang.
A home he had had to leave. A home where he had had the same status as he had here, but a place he had truly known. Earth was new, exciting, exotic, but also alien and a reminder of what had happened to his own planet.
But Blaster wouldn't be Blaster if he couldn't push away the darkness and find the joy.
Unlike the Decepticon's communications specialist Soundwave, Blaster was a lot more outgoing, emotional, exuberant, and he loved running different waves through his systems. It was a thrill to feel music, not just hear it. He saw and touched the waves of sound and the little blips of communication among the natives of the planet, and his spark glowed with his love for all of it. Like Jazz loved music, Blaster was in love with radio waves of all kinds.
Where Soundwave had apparently cut himself off from emotions and everything Blaster called fun, Blaster embraced his nature. He was a communicator and always in the middle of things, be it a battle or a party. Like Soundwave he had symbiotes. Not as many, but just as specialized. Without the Allspark there was no life and symbiotes usually were drones, but Blaster had worked around that. Yes, the symbiotes had been drones in the beginning, but each of them had a little piece of his spark matter, were a little piece of him. Children, a human would call it, without the need for biological procreation. Their link was intense and their loyalty unbroken. They were individuals with separate personalities.
There had been a time Blaster had admired Soundwave. The mech was a lot older than him and he seemed to connect to the world in a very different way. There was something smooth and sophisticated about how he did things, how he inserted himself into a network without raising alarms, how he connected. It was like Soundwave belonged. When Blaster had heard rumors about the other mech being able to access cyberspace he had been so incredibly jealous. He had tried to learn, had tried to even talk to Soundwave – before the war, of course – but there was a barrier between them Blaster had been unable to breach. Soundwave lived in a different world, in cyberspace, and his cold, logical thinking was almost scary.
With the beginning of the war, Blaster had been shocked to hear that the other had joined Megatron, but then again, it had been so clear that he would. He had served the Lord Protector since Megatron had risen to that position, and he would so until his deactivation.
The call from Rodimus Prime drew him out of his musings.
"This is Blaster blasting," he called jovially. "What's up, Prime?"
"We have Decepticon activity in north-west Australia," Rodimus told him, relaying exact coordinates as he spoke. "Track them, Blaster. There's a shuttle just now clearing Earth's atmosphere. I want to know where it's going."
"Gotcha."
Adjusting his position, scanners on full, the communicator immediately picked up the shielded space shuttle. It was a cargo ship, he determined. Big but rather fast, and it was heading toward the edge of the solar system at full speed. How AIDDE and Optimus were going to hide that much traffic from the humans was anyone's guess. Australia wasn't that remote.
As it passed the camouflaged Autobot, Blaster launched two symbiotes. Eject and Rewind acknowledged their mission and shot off, both in their raw modes. Like Blaster they hadn't seen the need for camouflage as of yet.
Comm lines were established and Blaster grinned to himself.
"Let's see where you're heading in such a hurry."
tbc...