Laurentian Abyss
North Atlantic
The wise and cunning predator does not rush into an attack, does not waste energy charging at wary prey. He is patient, waits for the prey to relax, let down their guard, forget that his enemy might be hiding close by. All the while, the predator silently stalks, slowly closing the distance, creeping ever so slowly into striking range. If the predator is careful, remains patient, the prey will remain oblivious, unaware that he is now in the killing zone…
He could see them clearly, their shadows outlined against the sunlight filtering down from above. There were five of them – no, six, one was sticking close to another – hanging in the water like black chandelier crystals. He waited silently, watching from below, orange-yellow optics taking in the view. He saw no indication that they'd seen him; almost as if their attentions were directed elsewhere.
He smiled maliciously.
"We've reached the designated coordinates," Phasewing reported.
"All stop," Windracer ordered and her team slowly came to a halt. "Alcatraz, anything to our front?"
"Negative; as clear as a summer's sky," the sea serpent replied.
"Deepdive, you have anything?"
"Negative," Deepdive said. "I got nothing on my scanners; back, front, up, down, and every other direction you can think of."
Windracer waited a moment, tried to use her own scanners to probe their surroundings. She could only detect the members of her team; her sensors weren't designed to operate in this environment and were thus limited in their range. But she couldn't shake the feeling they were being watched.
"Alright, let's get this over with," she said after a moment. "Deepdive, do you have the deep sea sonar device?"
Deepdive transformed to her robot form and withdrew a long, pole with a blinking light at its tip. "Right here."
"Good," Windracer said. "You and Alcatraz will dive down and scan the ocean floor. If you find anything unusual down there, anything that's not organic or geological in origin, you report it immediately. Understood?"
"Understood," Deepdive and Alcatraz said together.
"As for the rest of us," Windracer continued, "we'll arrange ourselves in a linear patrol pattern, based on depth. Subsonika, aside from Deepdive and Alcatraz, you're the best suited for this environment; you'll remain at this depth. Phasewing, you'll take a position at a hundred meters below the surface; WarTrack, you'll be on the surface itself. I'll take to the sky and watch for any air patrols the Decepticons may have sent out."
"Perhaps I should take the air patrol," Subsonika offered. "I mean, I am the fastest one among us…"
"If I need assistance, I'll call," Windracer said. She had a reason for keeping him below everyone else; he was known for taking too many risks and this might make him a little more cautious.
"I wanna go down with Deepy and Alcy and look for Snorks!" WarTrack protested.
"Sorry, Wart," Windracer said. "But I need your firepower at the surface; no telling what the Decepticons may have left drifting around."
"But I wanna look for Snorks!" WarTrack shrieked. He began screaming, "I wanna I wanna I wanna!"
Alcatraz smacked him with his tail. "Knock it off!" WarTrack stopped screaming, but kept sobbing quietly, rubbing the back of his head with a hand.
"Whoa!" Deepdive suddenly exclaimed.
"What is it?" Windracer asked.
"I just picked up a high-frequency signal, origin unknown." Deepdive paused a moment, trying to locate the signal's origin. "Slag! I can't pinpoint it! My scanners are being jammed!"
Alcatraz quickly ran a diagnostic on his own systems. "So am I," he reported. "Communications and sensors are completely hosed. I wouldn't be surprised if it's affecting us all."
Windracer quickly checked her own sensors and communication arrays and found that he might have been correct in his assumption. Her sensors were full of static and her communicator was emitting a low-pitched squeal. She glanced around and saw the others checking their own systems, with no better luck.
"Decepticons," Subsonika hissed.
"And what brought you to that brilliant conclusion, Captain Obvious?" Phasewing snapped sarcastically. She didn't wait for the answer and asked Windracer, "What do we do now, boss?"
"Let's try to find out who's jamming our equipment," Windracer said. "Deepdive, see if you can pinpoint the source…"
She noticed the sound first; the distinctive, high-pitched whistle of a torpedo's motor. With their scanners jammed, they had to look for the projectile visually, a task made even more difficult as the sound seemed coming from every direction. Windracer turned just in time to see four torpedoes sailing up from the depths, all of them locked on Deepdive. She tried to warn her, but it was already too late; they were too close. All four found their mark and Deepdive was torn apart in the blasts.
"Subsonika!" Windracer shouted. "Check on Deepdive! She's been hit!"
Subsonika didn't answer, had seen the torpedoes strike their target and was already on the move. The explosions had generated a cloud of small bubbles that obscured Deepdive's body, so he couldn't tell if she'd survived or not. He did notice metal shrapnel sinking into the depths and not all of it was from his companion.
"The sonar's been destroyed!" he shouted. At that moment, he heard another whistle and looked down just in time to see another torpedo coming right at him. He managed to dodge it by mere millimeters and heard explosions behind him. He turned in time to see more torpedoes pass through the group, two of them striking Alcatraz in his underside. Alcatraz roared in pain and anger.
"'Traz!" Windracer shouted. "Are you alright?"
"Minor damage," Alcatraz responded. He turned to dive, growling, "But that Decepticon's gonna pay! He may think he can hide, but I know he's down there somewhere!"
"Guess again, Autoboob!" a voice called out. Alcatraz looked up and saw a deep green mechanical mosasaur speeding towards him from the left. He turned to face the new menace, jaws wide, but the mosasaur was too agile and deftly dodged Alcatraz's snapping teeth. It glided alongside the larger Autobot, raking his flank with blade like fins, tearing a gapping hole in the armor. Alcatraz roared in fury.
Windracer swam over to help her friend, tail pumping, but the mosasaur broke off its attack and turned its brightly glowing orange optics towards her. Advancing smoothly towards her, it launched several torpedoes from pod-like structures mounted over each of its fore-flippers. She attempted to dodge, but one found its mark. The mosasaur swam past her and weaved calmly through the rest of the team, strafing each individual with a salvo of torpedoes before disappearing into the green ocean background.
"What in Primus was that?" Phasewing demanded.
The Quintessons had originally designated him "Sharkticon, Hellscream Model 8X3," but to his teammates he was simply known as Sea Wolf. Recruited by the Eisen Dragoons after they caught him trying to raid their stores, he had himself reformatted to his current mosasaur form and was assigned the role of sea support. It was a task that he performed with relish, even possessively by some standards.
Sea Wolf considered Hylion Prime his true home and rarely, if ever, talked about his Sharkticon past. Few knew how he'd reached the planet in the first place; the most accepted theory was that he'd been a passenger on a Quintesson transport that crashed on the planet some stellar cycles prior. When and how his unique personality was a bigger mystery; Sharkticons weren't known to possess distinct personas.
Sea Wolf had traveled to Earth with Northclaw, Novacula and Scavendrill for their mission to raid local commerce. His job had been to rip open the unprotected keels of surface ships they'd been torpedoed, a task he performed with efficiency and eagerness. For extra practice, and much to Northclaw's chagrin, he'd taken to sinking nuclear submarines. But even the Dragoons' EXO had to admit that Sea Wolf's new habit had a useful purpose and the sunken subs had been stripped of anything deemed useful. Now he had a new assignment – and new targets.
He studied his opponents warily, circling them slowly just outside their visual range. His specialized sensors could track even their slightest movements and he could see they were confused. He grinned with self-satisfaction, but knew they would recover quickly. He'd already cut down one of their sea-capable units and damaged the other, but the others, although out of their element, weren't completely helpless and prey was sometimes at its most dangerous when wounded and frightened. They were likely expecting him to attack again… but they wouldn't know from which direction.
Smiling cunningly to himself, he eased himself into position for the next attack run.
Windracer swam towards Alcatraz. "How are you doing, 'traz?"
"Can't tell," the big serpent answered. "I hurt like the Pit, though."
Windracer swam around him, checking on his wound. He had a horrendous gash running down his left flank, but it appeared the most of his critical systems were in good shape. He'd survive, but his injury would provide their attacker something to exploit, if it was smart enough to recognize it. She wasn't about to take that chance.
"Can you transform?"
"I'll try," Alcatraz said, wincing. He activated his transformation cog, groaning as his gears and hydraulics struggled to move damaged plating. It took a couple cycles, but he managed to complete the conversion to his large robotic mode.
"That's a relief," Windracer sighed. "At least now you don't have to worry about protecting a huge gash in your side." She turned to the others. "Any sign of the thing that attacked us?"
"Not yet," Phasewing reported. "I don't suppose it just decided its work was complete and left?"
"And leave five functional Autobots swimming about?" Windracer inquired. "I don't think so. It's probably looking us over now, deciding how to hit us next." She glanced behind Phasewing and saw Subsonika swimming up, Deepdive's limp form draped over his shoulder. "How is she?"
"Her superstructure's completely slagged," Subsonika reported. "But her spark's in stasis. She should survive."
"If we're lucky," Windracer groused. "Slag it all! I should have demanded Vector Maximus equip us with better sensors. Now this Decepticon can attack us with impunity! Frag it all!"
"You did what you could, Windy," Phasewing said. "Right now we have to deal with…" Her voice faded off and her optics went wide. "Alcatraz, it's behind you!"
Alcatraz turned his body around to look and saw the mosasaur charging at him, transforming into a robotic form as it advanced. He heard a sound similar to that of a chainsaw and saw a cloud of small bubbles drifting up from the mech's left arm. The mosasaur swung the arm around and down at Alcatraz. He lifted an arm to shield himself, felt a new pang of pain, heard the squeal of metal being shredded and saw sparks flying from his forearm.
Seeing her friend under attack yet again, Windracer reacted quickly. She transformed, pulled her crossbow from its holster and pointed at the mosasaur, even as it buried a shark-toothed chainsaw into Alcatraz's limb. "Get him away from him, Decepti-scum!" she shouted as she fired an explosive bolt. The mosasaur saw it, broke of the attack, transformed back into his creature mode and swam away. The missile followed and disappeared into the haze, but it moved so pitifully slow that she knew it would never find its target.
"Slag!" Windracer swore. Alcatraz's arm wound was bad; she could see hydraulic fluid slowly seeping from his arm and disperse into the current.
"It's playing hide and seek," WarTrack said.
"Yeah," Subsonika said grimly. "It's doing both the hiding and the seeking and it has all the advantages. It'll be back. We've got to make a break for the surface."
"Agreed, but if we try, we'll expose our tail pipes to its crosshairs," Windracer said, watching the depths. A plan was slowly formulating through her mind. "Subsonika, hand Deepdive to Alcatraz and make a run for the surface with Phasewing. The rest of us will stay here and see if we can't draw its attention away from you."
"And what if it doesn't?" Subsonika inquired as he passed Deepdive to Alcatraz.
"If it doesn't, then we might get a clear shot at it," Windracer said. "If it ignores you, than you have a unobstructed path to the surface. If you break the surface and get airborne, I want you to call for reinforcements. This guy's proof there's something going on around here and it may have already contacted its buddies. We'll try to join you as soon as we can, but something tells me this thing's going to be harassing us along the way. Now move."
Phasewing nodded, knowing this was the best they could do under the circumstances, and placed a hand on Subsonika's shoulder. "Let's go," she said and immediately made a beeline for the surface at full throttle with Subsonika on her tail.
Sea Wolf was setting up for his next attack when he noticed two of the Autobots break off from the main group and head for the surface. He watched them for a moment, considering his options.
He didn't possess the tactical genius of his commanders, but he was smart enough to realize that this was an obvious attempt to divide his attention. If he ignored them, they'd breach the surface and call in reinforcements. He could catch them easy, bring them both down, but that might leave him open to an attack from below. He was fairly certain he could attack the two ascending units before their two similar sized companions could react; it was the big one he couldn't be sure of, even considering its damaged state.
He grunted to himself. This plan of theirs was based on the assumption that he was alone; they were wrong. He smiled to himself; he'd let Novacula deal with the two escapees.
It took awhile for Phasewing and Subsonika to reach the ocean surface, but when they did, they wasted no time in breaking through the waves and taking flight. Subsonika turned to face the sun, spreading his arms wide and lifting his chin slightly.
"Ah, glorious sky," he said as salt water dripped off his frame. "Feel that warm sunlight."
"No time," Phasewing said gruffly. She quickly opened a communication channel. "Phasewing calling all Autobot units within range of this transmission. Scouting team under attack, requesting immediate reinforcements…"
A high-pitched screech, as piercing as nails being scratched along a chalkboard, broke over her communicator, making her cringe. She tried every frequency, with no success.
"Slag!" she swore. "My comlink's down; must have been damaged in the attack. Try yours."
Subsonika did and received the same high-pitched scream. "Mine's down too. You don't suppose both our comms got damaged, do you?"
She could believe one, but two was pushing it. It was more likely their communication frequencies were being jammed, but by who? Could their undersea attacker be able to jam them this far up? She doubted it; Decepticon electronic warfare systems weren't that much more sophisticated than the Autobots' own tech. It was more likely that there was another Decepticon in the area – but where? She checked her scanners, making certain they weren't being blocked as well.
She heard it first; a quiet, low buzzing noise that sounded like an angry swarm of bees. Phasewing turned and saw something flying low over the water, circular in shape, spinning at an extreme speed. She realized that it was a set of helicopter blades; spiraling rapidly through the air like an oversized star shiriken. And it was heading straight for Subsonika.
"Subsonika, move!" Phasewing cried out.
Perplexed, Subsonika, who hadn't heard the sound, turned to look and saw the weapon coming right at his face. Neither he nor Phasewing could do anything; it was moving too fast and already to close. The last thing Subsonika said before he was struck was, "Oh, bugger."