He suddenly snapped out of his daze and opened his eyes, jumping to his feet, "Deadlock!" he gasped, just as what looked like a rather well armed Apache appeared over the peak of the hill they'd just made their way over imitating the perfect surprise attack that the helicopters were so famous for.
Drag and Torque responded instantly to the Decepticon's arrival, Drag hurtling up the hill towards him at an incredible speed while Toque whipped out a gun and wasted no time in opening fire.
Deadlock remained in his Apache form and returned fire, the six hundred and forty five rounds per minute Boeing chain gun showering the two small Autobots with bullets. Most of the rounds bounced off their reinforced bodies, however occasionally a few shots found their way into more sensitive parts of the Autobot's workings, causing them to stumble or dart out the way.
Meanwhile Kickdown and Freeway had leapt to their feet, just as a sleek looking, bright red, Decepticon sprinted out from seemingly nowhere and threw himself at Pulse who was trying to ignore the fighting in order to continue his scans. Freeway managed to grab the newcomer's leg while he was in midair and hauled him violently away, before smashing him into a nearby hoodoo.
Bill ran over to Alex and nearly crashed into him, allowing him to grab her around the waist and begin to haul her away, trying to get in between the hoodoos to use them as both protection and to hide behind.
However they were forcefully evicted from their shelter when a missile, most likely from Deadlock, caused one of the formations to their right to shatter, while the one to their left was demolished by Drag stumbling back into it before he promptly collapsed to the ground looking shaken.
"Run," Alex grabbed Bill again and began to drag her along after him as they wove in and out of trees and rocks, doing their best to leave the fighting behind them. But they didn't get very far when a form suddenly swung down from a low outcrop and landed in front of them.
"How nice to see you again! How's your silent flying friend? I wouldn't mind a chance to talk to him again," the distinctly pink Decepticon gave a slightly manic laugh as he blocked their way and smiled nastily.
Alex didn't bother to respond, not feeling particularly cocky with only Bill at his side, so instead began to try and force her back, which she was only too happy to do.
"Now now, don't you run away from me, I only want to play with you," Sidelight bent down slightly and thrust his face close to them, causing Bill to clamp a hand over her mouth to stifle a scream.
One of Sidelight's clawed hands grabbed hold of a hoodoo and broke it off easily, "How about an insect game where a pathetic human hits a tiny ball with a stick. Golf, is that the one? How about a game of golf?" he suddenly swung the long and pointed red rock at them.
This time Bill did actually scream, and Alex may have too, he wasn't sure, as he shoved Bill to the ground with him on top of her so that the rock barely missed, passing over them instead.
"Go," Alex gasped, trying to scramble along the ground as Sidelight came dangerously close to stepping on them both. Bill didn't need telling twice and she staggered to her feet, trying to get away. However Sidelight didn't waste anytime in throwing down the broken hoodoo, purposefully missing her in order to block her path.
"No running!" he screeched at them both, "You stay and die! Or in your case, stupid insect fleshling," Sidelight glared at Alex, "You come with me!"
Alex scrambled to his feet and ran over to one side away from Bill, directly exposing himself to Sidelight in order to distract him from her. It would be better that he was captured than Bill killed, after all.
Luckily Sidelight did think him more important than Bill and lunged after him, one of the deadly fins on his arms taking out a hoodoo that narrowly missed landing on Alex. As it was, he was forced to throw himself out the way where he hit the ground with a pained grunt and took in a mouthful of ground rock. Where the hell were the Autobots?
Sidelight loomed over him, and despite the gleaming red eyes, lethal weapons arsenal and the fact he was a twenty-one foot killer alien robot, Alex couldn't help but find him rather comical, his pink paintwork glinting in the sun was both psychotically disturbing and hilarious. He didn't know whether to laugh or shriek his head off.
As Sidelight bore down on him, once again Alex saw the rows of sharpened teeth, smelt the acrid smell of oil and felt the distinctive aura of death. He tried to scoot backwards, but he knew it was in vain. He couldn't see Reaper anywhere in the sky, so he supposed that he was busy helping either those in the canyon or those up on the rim if they'd come under attack, so he wouldn't be rescuing the damsel in distress that was Alex this time.
There was no one there to stop Sidelight reaching down and grasping Alex in a disproportionate claw, picking him up and holding him in front of him triumphantly, save Bill screaming at him to let him go, which didn't do anything at all. Alex did his best to try and squirm loose, however it was more painful doing so as he kept catching himself on the pointed fingers curled around his body.
"Disgusting and rather squishy," Sidelight regarded him with absolute disgust, giving him a little shake, which caused Alex to grunt loudly in pain, "So fragile too."
"Hey, Sidelight!" someone yelled nearby, Alex guessing by the voice that it was Kickdown despite being unable to see behind him, "You let him go, you mofo!" he snapped, confirming Alex was right that it was indeed Jak's friend. Not every Autobot appeared to speak like those two.
Sidelight turned around slowly, his hideous features contorting into something even nastier if that was even possible, "Ah Kickdown, how nice of you to join us. Shame I won't be around much longer. I have a precious little human to deliver to my leader," he brought Alex up to his face and smiled.
"You ain't going nowhere, and you know it," Kickdown lifted up and arm that was rapidly replaced with a rather large energy weapon of some kind.
"Come now, you're an Autobot! I have a tiny little insect in my hand. One slip and I could crush its pitiful body into dust. Could you live with yourself? Could you disobey the great Optimus Prime?" Sidelight's voice took on an almost sickly tone.
"I don't aim to put the human at risk," Kickdown gave a little shrug, not lowering his weapon however.
"Then what do you plan to do? Hold me at gun point forever?" Sidelight scoffed.
"Not exactly," Kickdown smirked.
Suddenly there was a sudden and violent impact to Sidelight's back, causing Alex to be thrown from his grip as the Decepticon gasped and staggered forward into an innocent tree that snapped in two as soon as he connected with it. Alex was then faced with approximately a fifteen-foot drop to the rather hard canyon floor, however, as always, just at the last minute Drag suddenly slid in under him from nowhere and grabbed hold of him before he could become nothing more than a mark on the ground.
*sobs* I really didn't want to kill him D8
But I had to kill off a cool one.
Oh look who's safe now," Kickdown grinned at Sidelight and was just about to fire his energy weapon when he suddenly grunted loudly in pain, his optical eyes flickering briefly, before they dimmed and went out. There was a moments pause before he buckled at the knees and fell forward. His lifeless form hit the ground and sent up a cloud of dust, which settled fairly quickly, revealing another Decepticon, identifiable by his red eyes, which were as red as his paintwork, standing behind him, a long metal spike taking the place of his hand."Apparently, you weren't the safe one," he sneered at Kickdown's body, which appeared to be leaking a range of fluids, including what looked like molten metal, out of a large puncture wound in his back, "Kickdown is finally down," he added smugly.
"Don't waste time gloating, Redline, you imbecile!" Sidelight screamed at him from where he was doubled over in pain, "Kill the interfering Autobot!"
"You're one to talk, Sidelight," Redline glowered at him, "Playing with them like you have all the time in the universe," he scowled but didn't disobey Sidelight and lunged for Drag who was just putting Alex on the ground carefully. He scrambled away and took cover behind one of the few hoodoos that was still remaining, hiding from Sidelight as he began to look around suspiciously for him.
Drag meanwhile had turned just in time to see Redline coming for him, and he quickly brought up one of his blades to deflect the blow the Decepticon had aimed at him.
"Too many mistakes today," Drag glared at him furiously, "First the humans, and now Kickdown? All Decepticons here will fall today," he swung a blade at Redline's head.
The Decepticon ducked it and skittered out of the way, taunting him, "We may fall to our knees, but you Autobots will fall to pieces!"
"We'll see," Drag continued to glare at him as he set about laying into him, using his blades in much the same fashion as a highly trained swordsman would. Redline fought back with the spike on the end of his arm, while loosing shots at Drag at random with the energy gun his other arm hand twisted into. Nimble and highly manoeuvrable on his wheeled feet, Drag was dodged most of the shots fired in his direction, moving with impressive athleticism. In all, he seemed to be like a perfectly tuned Olympic athlete, training in all forms of fighting, speed, endurance. And gymnastics, Alex added to his mental list as he watched from his hiding place as Drag rolled to one side before leaping up at Redline, flipping over him as he simultaneously rammed a blade down into one of the Decepticon's shoulders.
Redline gave a horrible screech and tried to grab hold of Drag, however the Autobot had already dashed away from him to safety.
"Getting slow, Redline," Drag withdrew his blades and folded his arms as the Decepticon staggered around blindly in pain, "Lucky for you, I missed your Spark. Shame."
He glared in Drag's vague direction though he didn't appear to be able to focus through the pain, "Shame indeed," he growled before turning away. He stumbled a few steps before falling forward, quickly folding and twisting into a red with white stripes Dodge Viper, which sped off through the canyon, seemingly unaffected by the rough terrain and narrow gorges.
Drag then turned his attention to Sidelight who, unable to move very successfully due to the damage he'd sustained from Drag's surprise blow, had given up looking for Alex and was beginning to try and edge away.
To Alex's slight irritation and confusion, the Autobot didn't bother to pursue him as Sidelight glared at him, backing away, muttering angrily under his breath in what was either Decepticon or Cybertronian, it sounding like the language Drag had used earlier to snap at Freeway.
"Until next time, Dragstar," Sidelight sneered at him.
Drag gave a low growl and grabbed a large chunk of rock from a crumbling wreck that had once been a magnificent rock formation, before lobbing it at the Decepticon with perfect accuracy. It hit Sidelight directly in the face, sending him reeling backwards as the rock shattered. One of the shards smashed into the delicate optics of the Decepticon's eye, causing him to yowl loudly in pain, "Don't call me that. You have no authority to, you piece of worthless scrap," Drag snapped.
Sidelight didn't even bother to respond, too taken up with his damaged back and destroyed eye, and this time he didn't bother to waste any time in turning away, making a break for it, although he did occasionally crash into a few trees on his way.