JKD: Hey guys, this is the second chapter of my TF fanfic, we finally get some bot vs con action in this as more characters begin to surface. Lets see what happens.
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Chapter 2: Into the Inferno
Hot Rod didn't like the idea of being controlled, but if he wanted to blend in on earth, he would have to let Will do the steering for now. That other human though, the one Will called Owen, was annoying. Oh, what Hot Rod wouldn't give to jostle the back seat just a bit to send that guy into one of the sides, or hit the ceiling, and then give Will the opportunity to give him and the other human, Jen, the right excuse. It seemed boring though, they were driving, but the only one making any noise that remotely resembled communications was the annoying one. He was now remarking on how great the back seat felt, and talking about some other nonsense. Hot Rod made one of the dials turn on the radio.
Will jumped in surprise as the radio started blaring, so did Jen and Owen. The channels flip about saying something that resembled "The-Guy-in-BACK-is-An-a--", Will shut the radio off, he was worried what Hot Rod would say if he continued," Hey is something wrong with the radio?" Owen inquired.
"Well what do you expect, he bought this piece of junk car, obviously everything about it is trash!" Jen groaned, looking out the window.
Trash? TRASH!? He was giving them a free ride and the Jen girl had the nerve to call him TRASH!? Hot Rod shook her seat, the shock made her scream in shock as she went face first into the dash-board. Will looked stunned, how was he going to explain that, Hot Rod was definitely sensitive about what other people thought of him appearance-wise."Ah, Will!? What the hell did you do that for!?" Jen fired a death glare in his direction, she tried to wipe a small bit of blood off her nose.
"If it makes you feel better I've got a Kleenex here." Owen said in a very suck-up-ish tone, hanging a tissue in front of Jen.
If she had heat vision, the tissue would be on fire, along with Owen's arm. Sweat streaming down his face, Owen slowly lowered his arm, as if he was face to face with a terrifying monster, ready to attack. Will kept steering, just keep your eyes on the road, he thought, the GTA is a busy place, who knows what Hot Rod might do here. He put his foot on the break to tell Hot Rod he had to be slow in the populated areas. Right turn, the theatre was a few streets away, Will wondered what Hot Rod would do while they were in the theatre, it wasn't a drive in, he couldn't watch it with them. He'd have to entertain himself, Will thought, and who knows what he'd do!
They pulled up to the theatre, Will steered Hot Rod into a parking space and, parked him and then turned off the engine."We'll go and get the tickets." Owen said offering his hand, Hot Rod assumed that the annoying one wanted some form of currency from Will.
Jen slapped him upside the head," WE!? You're paying!" Jen scolded and pulled Owen's wallet out of his pocket, he had two twenties, perfect for getting tickets, snacks, and such, Owen looked on in horror as Jen took the twenties out of the wallet and started toward the entrance.
"Uh, sure, you guys head in, just gotta check some stuff first." Will replied, he pointed to the banged up Dodge Viper they rode to the theatre in.
"Fine, don't be too long though!" Jen pointed an accusing finger at him.
Will gulped and waited for the two to get inside the building before turning to Hot Rod, the Viper was rather damaged, it had working wheels, the tires were a little worn down, but otherwise were in good condition, the paint was all scratched off though, Will wouldn't have been able to tell it was a red Dodge Viper unless he saw the remaining patches of paint. The truck cover looked like it had a few big dents and holes in it, almost like something had shot at him, the doors had a few good dents in them too, and the front hood was mangled, Dodge Vipers normally had two vent-like features on the front hood, but here it looks like two big holes ripped open, but somehow it looked like the damages, save the paint-job, were growing back. Could Hot Rod heal himself, must be an alien thing. The car transformed, "Well, are you gonna see your friends or are you going to stare at me all day?" he struck a few poses, as if he were in a photo shoot.
"Wha-! Don't do that Hot Rod, what if someone sees you!?" Will stammered, he still wasn't used to the sudden change from car to giant robot.
"Your friends said not to be long."
"I know, but you've gotta change back, someone might see you!"
"There's no one here..." Hot Rod pointed out, aside from all the vehicles, they were in an empty parking lot.
"Okay, try not to do something too random, we don't know who'll see you." Will gathered his nerves, turned and started towards the theatre.
"Have fun." Hot Rod looked around the parking lot as Will entered the structure... what kind of a name for a place of entertainment was 'Galaxy'? It wasn't even big enough to be considered a constellation.
Hot Rod's scanners shifted behind him. Something was approaching the lot, best not let the humans catch him a second, no, wait, third time. He converted back, but kept his sensors focused on whatever was approaching. A large vehicle with two stacks on the on the sides producing smoke entered the lot, it was pure black, with purple stripes painted on the sides, attached to the cab was a section that obviously held the vehicle's engine, it had a plate with some sort of identification number on it, the plate read, 'Ontario, Yours to Discover', obviously meant to advertise the location, but the ID read, 'MOTRMASTR', what the slag did that mean? More to the point, what was it supposed to spell? The lumbering vehicle had a large metallic cylindrical attachment coupled to the back. Scanners indicated the attachment carried a flammable substance, fuel. Hot Rod noticed a weird symbol was on the side of the vehicle, it looked familiar, but it was too faded to recognize.
Odd, this truck seemed to be designed to carry fuel to a fuelling station in this populated sector, and yet, as far as sensors could indicate, there was no fuelling station within the area, at least not even close to the theatre. But, nothing was more bizarre, than the fact that the driver of the vehicle seemed to be in flux, or rather, there wasn't a driver in the vehicle!
The truck stopped, right next to him. What the slag was going on?! The driver disappeared, portions of the truck began to shift, as it detached from the cylinder, the back of the truck soon attached to the sides of the cab and formed arms, bulky fists emerged from them, the portion that held the engine began to form legs, which attached to the wheels on the vehicles rear portion, and once assembled gave the being a predator-like stance, the cab shifted, the front windows parted and a head emerged from the top of the cab, this head did not resemble a humanoid, this head appeared very beast-like, with huge fangs, shifting pieces of metal resembling facial features, and two piercing red eyes opened up, glaring at Hot Rod's location, "AUTOBOT!!!", the monster howled, and charged at him.
Hot Rod didn't know what he meant by Autobot, could it have had something to do with his past, he couldn't remember, he still had extensive memory damage. Either way, it didn't look like the lumbering monstrosity was going to give him time to figure what an Autobot was. The beast swung its arm and flung Hot Rod, still in vehicle mode across the parking lot. He transformed in mid air, only to land on two small vehicles. He picked himself up, only to see the monster was coming in for another attack, not this time, he was not going to get him again. Two cannons slid out of both of his arms, he took aim, and fired.
Will, Jen, and Owen entered the theatre and sat down to await the film, the pre-movie advertisements began playing. Will thought he heard a sound resembling a roar, and some explosions, but Jen and Owen didn't notice. Must've been the commercials, or the people in the theatre next to them were watching a Micheal Bay movie. Whatever, he just sat in his chair, and waited for the show to start, honestly, what sort of trouble could Hot Rod cause all on his own, he thought.
He was in trouble! Hot Rod had his back pressed against the theatre wall, arms firing plasma bursts at his unknown attacker, and having objects and energy bursts thrown back at him. He fired another barrage, the blasts hit the monster square in the mid-section, but the thing just kept on coming! He picked up a nearby vehicle, the label read 'Camaro', and threw it at his target. Right in the head, the beast tumbled over. He ran over to the monster, he pointed his cannons at him, "Who are you? What do you want from me!?" Hot Rod wanted answers, and he wanted them now!
The monster swung a massive arm and knocked Hot Rod over, "That's odd coming from you, Autobot! You normally recognize a Decepticon when you see one!" The creature stood up and menaced over him," You should remember me from the ambush! I am Motormaster!"
Hot Rod tried to pick himself up, only to be kicked in the mid-section by Motormaster, and knocked back even further. One of Motormaster's arms formed a cannon, a big one! He opened fire. Hot Rod rolled out of the way to dodge the blast, which hit a portion of the theatre, Will was in there! Hot Rod stood up and faced his enemy, unlike the police cars that had chased him the other night, this Decepticon was the real deal! He pulled out his cannons again and rushed at Motormaster, firing volley after volley of plasma, hitting every part of Motormaster in sight, Hot Rod jumped in the air to tackle his target, he retracted the cannons in one arm, and replaced them with a blade arm, half of the blade resembled a chain saw. He landed right on Motormaster, and jabbed the chain saw blade into his right shoulder. Motormaster let out a roar that was too horrible to listen too, it sounded like nothing on earth, it could probably shatter a human's ear-drums if it were any louder.
Will sat back and watched the movie, the rumbling continued, must be the surround sound, another loud noise came from somewhere in the theatre, that must be a Micheal Bay movie in the next theatre, only they have explosions that loud. Other noises filled the air though, this time, Owen and Jen noticed them as well. They didn't sound like they were coming from any movie they were watching, the next sound definitely didn't sound like it came from a movie. It was a loud roar, everyone in the theatre clutched their ears, the sound was unbearable. What was Hot Rod doing out there!?
He was flying, away from the parking lot, right into a nearby street. Hot Rod rolled on the ground then stood up, he looked around for Motormaster, and started back for the theatre parking lot, that thing had a wicked arm to send him that far. Hot Rod eye the arm the chain saw blade had come out of, it was a wicked stab he had put into the Decepticon, but the swing of his arm when he knocked him aside had pulled the blade clean out of his arm. Must still be in his shoulder, he thought. He clutched the arm where his melee weapon ad been ripped out, it hurt a lot. He extended the cannons in that arm, which hurt even more. "Might have to do some internal repairs, when this is all said and done." Hot Rod muttered under his breath.
At least the humans hadn't seen him yet, which was surprising given all the noise. Some may have spotted him when he was flying over them. He moved back into the lot, Motormaster was gone, where did he go!? How could a thing that big be able to hide?! Hot Rod couldn't shake the feeling that he was waiting to jump him. Something heavy struck him in the back and he came crashing to the ground just outside the building. Motormaster had jumped him, and he had dropped one of the cylindrical tanks on him, Motormaster spoke in an odd language, but somehow Hot Rod understood it, "Time to fry, Autobot!"
Hot Rod noticed liquid leaking from the tank, fuel. No! He would not go out like this! Crushed under a tank then have its contents lit on fire!? No way in hell! Hot Rod worked up the strength to pick up himself and the tank, Motormaster already had his cannon extended and prepared to fire it. Hot Rod had a grasp on the tank, and was just able to stand up while holding it, flames were beginning to spout from every vent, and every space between armoured plating. "You first!" He yelled back, and he threw the container.
Motormaster fired, the tank was coming right at him, slag! His blast hit the tank and it burst open. Hot Rod then vented a great burst of fire from his body, portions of the theatre were set on fire, some vehicles in the lot exploded from the extreme heat, Motormaster felt himself burn, but then the flames reached the already combusting fuel tank.
The explosion could be heard for miles, which incidentally was how far Motormaster flew, arms and legs were blazing, he landed near a lake, and rolled in, hoping to put out the fires all across his body, they started to go out, but then his sensors picked up a being, cybertronian, inbound to his position.
It would be a lie to say that no one noticed the explosion, the people near the area who had heard the noise immediately informed the fire department, when the words 'Big flaming blast of fury' was mentioned it got the attention of the army, with tanks and coyotes moving towards the area, this picked up the interest of the local news broadcasters, they sent vans with recording equipment and correspondents to the scene immediately, this caught the attention of two vehicles, which followed the news vans.
The theatre was in flames, what had he done!? Hot Rod hid himself as screaming humans ran out of the theatre, where was Will? He saw the annoying on and the 'behemoth' run out of the building but he hadn't seen Will. Sirens could be heard from down the street, slag, more humans. He had to find Will before the humans found him! He ran into the blaze from a part of the theatre that the humans didn't use t get in or out, the big hole in the side the Motormaster made while they were fighting.
Will crawled past a few burning seats, smoke was everywhere, he had to keep his head down, the air was getting thinner, at least Jen and Owen made it out. He wondered how the fire started, could Hot Rod have started it, or was it arson, a piece of falling debris made him snap back to his senses long enough for him to roll away from the falling debris. He coughed, he must've inhaled some smoke, he could hear voices, lots of yelling, had the fire department arrive? He tried to call for help, but his voice was to quiet, too raspy. The floor began to shake, not more debris, then he heard a crashing noise, something burst through the wall, something he was too overjoyed to see.
Outside, fire-trucks were blasting water at the flaming building and surroundings, the military arrived to search the area for any threats, one of the light armoured Coyote vehicles rolled around the building, it had a green camouflage colour scheme, and on the symbol of the Canadian army, an odd symbol was put overtop, it resembled some sort of face.
One of the news vans, a CBC an wheeled up next to a fire-truck, both bore the same symbol as on the coyote, the news van was a GMC Safari, with the CBC colours, red and white, the radio broadcasting equipment in the van began to act, to match a private channel used by the fire department, it contacted the fire-truck next to it. "Inferno, what's shakin', other than this theatre?"
The truck responded, "Blaster, aside from the building, the only thing that's shaking is the radioactive readings my sensors are getting from blast residue."
"Decepticons?" asked Blaster.
"Most likely, I have Roadbuster checking the scene, I doubt the Decepticons could cause this much of an inferno, at this high temperature, this looks unintentional."
Hot Rod burst through the wall of the theatre, he found Will on the ground coughing, good he wasn't too late. He could hear other humans outside, that way was off limits for him, the only other way was, he eyed the theatre screen. He drew his cannons, and shot them at the screen, a great big hole formed from the blast. He leaned over to pick up Will and ran towards the hole.
Will coughed and wheezed until he could finally breathe normally, Hot Rod stayed with him behind the theatre until he was sure he could breathe. "What happened?" Will asked between deep breaths.
"I was attacked." Hot Rod said,"Sorry I nearly blew up the entire area."
"Attacked by what?"
"He called himself Motormaster, said he was a Decepticon."
"What are those?"
"I can't remember much only that I fight against them."
Will stared at the number of injuries on his friend, the car parts were damaged beyond recognition, the frame was till good but it was all scarred and burned. Hot Rod seemed to be trying to heal himself, but it didn't do much for all the scars. Will's attention was then immediately drawn to the army vehicle turning around the corner of the building, it stopped. "Hot Rod change back!"
But it was too late, the vehicle had already gotten a good eye full of Hot Rod, and almost immediately, the armoured plating on the coyote began to shift. "No way." Will gasped in disbelief.
It was a bulky robot that looked much like Hot Rod, it had large fists, and a lumbering stance. The front of the vehicle had converted into the upper torso and the sides formed the arms, the back half had formed the legs, a blade extended and retracted from one arm, while the other formed a heavy cannon, then retracted that. The head soon formed, it resembled a Spartan helmet from the Halo games. But its eyes were two bright green lights that were soon covered by a clear visor. It looked confused at first, then took a closer look, "Hot Rod?"
"What, you too!?" He motioned for Will to get behind him, "I just took on one of you already, you think I have a problem slagging you!?"
"Hot Rod, it Roadbuster!" The being pointed to himself, "Remember?"
He had had enough of these other beings telling him that they knew him, even though he knew squat about them. He wasn't going to wait for this one to attack him and Will, he was getting rid of this one now. He extended his cannons and charge him.