And the revamping continues!
...I have REALLY despised this chapter more than you probably know. It was the one that I really, really wanted to revamp. And so, it is done! Storyline is still the same, details have just altered slightly.
Hope you enjoy it this time!
"Lazerbeak, report."
"There is a human girl alone with the Autobot Jazz, finishing repairs on him. There is very little threat from the Autobot in question. His weapons are still inoperable according to my scanners. The girl is unarmed," Laserbeak told Soundwave through their link, who in turn reported to Megatron.
"Excellent. A human, eh? This will lead to an interesting little battle. Soundwave, have Lazerbeak record while Ravage and Rumble attack the human, but don't kill her. Well…try not to kill her. I won't be too upset if you do, but she could be a useful hostage. The Autobot I want dead. And make sure it's a slow, painful death for that one. He'll learn to stay dead after this," he smiled maliciously.
"Yes, Lord Megatron. Lazerbeak, set the bomb and record the Autobots. Ravage, Rumble, attack the human but do not aim to kill her. The Autobot is to be killed painfully."
Lazerbeak, Rumble, and Ravage acknowledged and set out to do their assigned tasks. Ravage dove through the high window of the medbay, closely followed by his companion. The sound of the shattering glass caused Artemis to jump back and scream. The second he landed, Ravage dove straight for Artemis, who ducked out of the way, causing Ravage to slam into the examination table Jazz was on.
"OPTIMUS!" she screamed. "IRONHIDE! RATCHET! BUMBLEBEE!"
Crash.
"What in the name of Primus was that?" Optimus asked Ironhide, startled.
Then they heard the screams.
"ARTEMIS!"
The mechs ran for the medbay, but a 'mysterious' explosion caused the roof to cave in and block their way. They would have to dig through the debris to get to the door.
What seemed like hours later, though in reality was only a few minutes, the door was clear.
"Why won't they open?" Optimus asked frantically.
"Someone's jammed the key lock! I can't get in!" Ratchet replied. He was almost hysteric.
More screams and yells came from within the medbay.
"Move!" Ironhide yelled, charging up his cannons. "There's no way I'm letting one inch of metal stop me!"
The Autobots were through the doorframe before the door itself hit the floor. What they saw was shocking. Jazz was kneeling on the ground in front of Artemis in an attempt to protect her. Some newly connected fluid coils were ripped open and flowing freely from him. Dents and scraped covered his body. Ravage had ripped off the lower half of Jazz's left leg, which was tossed aside. He looked like he was in severe pain, but the saboteur was too preoccupied with protecting the girl.
"Artemis! Are you okay?" Optimus yelled.
"About as good as I can be!" she replied from behind Jazz, scared out of her mind. This thing was wicked.
Ratchet ran to Artemis and Jazz while Ironhide, Bumblebee, and Optimus counterattacked Ravage and Rumble.
"Jazz! Are you alright? You look like the Pit," Ratchet exclaimed as he ran over.
"Just another day, 'Ratch," he sputtered, energon and coolant flowing out of his mouth. "Would've been a little easier if my weapons had been operational. Those puny 'Cons can really be a handful."
"Frag it, Jazz. This is no time to be a wise-aft. Stay still...this much damage in just minutes..."
Artemis climbed out from behind him. Ratchet ran a quick scan over her and found she had no major injuries, and turned his attention back to Jazz. He started grabbing tools from around him to fix his vitals immediately.
"Damned metal feline!" Ironhide yelled, taking to human curses. "It keeps moving too fast!"
Ravage easily dodged each cannon blast that was aimed at him. Optimus and Ironhide were also unable to chase him due to the smaller quarters of the medbay, and each Autobot got in the way of the other trying to get at Ravage. Bumblebee was a little better than the other two because of his size, but he was busy taking on Rumble. Soon the yellow mech managed to corner the small Decepticon shot it point-blank with his cannon.
"I don't remember this thing being that fast!" the Weapons Specialist exclaimed, trying to hit Ravage with his cannons.
Optimus narrowed his optics and followed the cat's movements before trying to grab it again. "I think the Decepticons gave him an upgrade."
Eventually, Ravage made to attack Artemis again, as she was still uninjured. Ratchet saw this attack coming at the last astrosecond, and dove in front of her, causing Ravage to slam straight into his chest. The two flipped over Artemis and crashed into the wall behind them. Ravage growled and sliced deep gashes in Ratchet's chest and right arm, painful but not lethal, before leaping back to Artemis. No one dared shoot at him since he was so close to the others, and Optimus dove and missed the much more agile cat. Again, Ravage leapt towards the frightened girl. This time, Jazz threw himself in the attack path with the rest of his strength. Ravage, now enraged that he'd been thwarted so many times to finish his mission, slashed one sharp claw across his spark chamber, mutilating it.
"JAZZ!" Ironhide yelled. Flashes of his fight with Megatron ran past his optics. "RAVAGE!" he bellowed, losing control and shooting his cannons off at him.
"IRONHIDE! Careful! Artemis is too close!" Optimus exclaimed, reaching out a hand to stop him. But Ironhide was still shooting his cannons, still missing Ravage, and narrowly missing Artemis. He was in a rage.
"Ironhide! Remember your promise!"
With that jolt back to reality, he immediately shut down his cannons. He couldn't put her in more danger than she already was.
Then in the blink of an optic, Ravage pounced upon Artemis. She put up a fight and tried to throw him off, which earned her three long slashes on her stomach. She cried out in pain but turned to face Ravage again. She was on her own and she knew it. The others wouldn't dare try to attack again in such close quarters when she was right there. Yes...she was alone. and scared out of her mind. All of the Autobots could sense it...unfortunately, so could Ravage.
He leapt again, but this time dodged to the right before ramming into the side of Artemis's head. She was knocked over and dazed. In this brief moment of shock, Ravage swiftly turned around and grabbed her left arm in his mouth and bit down hard, crushing the bones. He made to drag the girl away as a hostage, letting the Autobots know of his intention.
All this happened before any of the Autobots knew what was going on. Ironhide, Bumblebee, Optimus, and Ratchet could only watch helplessly as Jazz's spark began to fade and Artemis was literally caught in the enemy's jaws, bleeding severely. Ironhide tried to move closer to Jazz, but Ravage only bit down on Artemis's arm even harder, which caused her to let loose the most agonizing scream any of the Autobots have heard. They were stuck, and Ironhide was furious not only with the situation, but with himself.
"I failed. I failed to keep my promise...I'm sorry, Artemis..." he thought, seeing the mixture of pure fear and pain on her face. It was almost too much for him to bear.
"Well well well. What do we have here?" Megatron's voice rang throughout the base from Laserbeak's speakers. "It seems we found a weakness in the Autobots." They could hear the cackling in the background.
"This is low, Megatron. Even for you," Optimus replied coldly.
"No, Prime, I just do what I can to win!" he cackled. "And I had three goals tonight, all a complete success." he paused. "That is enough, Ravage. Forget about Rumble; he was weak. Return now with Lazerbeak."
Ravage obeyed, leaping across the room with Artemis still caught in his jaws. He was nearing the window he came in when a well-placed cannon blast hit the feline directly, causing him to drop the girl. Snarling at his loss, Ravage retreated out the window. "Damn Pit-spawned Decepticon lowlife!" Ironhide roared after him. "You deserve more than that!"
All four of the Autobots stood in shock. They couldn't move. Jazz was sprawled across the floor in a pool of energon and mech fluids, his Spark dangerously close to extinction and getting closer by the minute. His body twitched and spasmed from the damage. And then there was Artemis, crumpled on the ground where Ravage had dropped her, her arm and stomach bleeding profusely as she struggled to sit upright and failed. His eyes locked on Artemis…A memory flashed before his optics…
"Blackout!" Ironhide yelled. "Fight me like a mech, you coward!"
"As you wish," he cackled, leaping towards Ironhide.
The clash of metal on metal rang throughout the entire forest. Ironhide managed to tackle Blackout to the ground, destroying trees and shaking the forest floor violently. Blackout rolled over and slammed Ironhide down, only to be thrown back again. Blackout then activated his propeller blades and threw Ironhide off of him. Ironhide charged up his cannons and shot, hitting blackout in the arm and causing his propeller blades to break off and slice into the ground, leaving deep gouges. Blackout turned around to watch his blades as they were tossed away, and turned back to face his opponent, smiling a purely evil smile.
"What are you smiling for, Decepticon?" Ironhide asked, charging both of his cannons again.
"You can't defeat me, Autobot. You can't hit me again with those puny guns you call your weapons!" and he laughed like a maniac.
"Oh yeah? Watch me!" he yelled, shooting off both of his cannons simultaneously.
It happened as if in slow motion.
Blackout dodged the cannon blasts, picked up his blades, and transformed into a helicopter to flee. But what really hit Ironhide hard was what was behind him. People. Lots of people. Blackout saw them when he turned back, and set up the trap that Ironhide so willingly fell into.
They didn't stand a chance.
The cannon blasts ripped apart the area, causing a gigantic crater to form from the force of the explosion. A building nearby was ripped to pieces as well. He could just stand in horror. All those people. He killed each and every one of them…wait. He saw movement. There was one still alive! It was a girl…she slowly walked out to the middle of the crater, looking around herself in shock. Ironhide was at a complete loss for words. He just had a feeling deep down in his Spark that he just murdered her entire family. Then she looked at him, those striking green eyes, filled with tears and shock and horror. That look would stay with him forever.
"Ironhide. There was nothing you could do. You had no idea they were behind him. You didn't do this on purpose," Optimus said consolingly. Sirens could be heard in the distance. "We must leave before we are discovered. We can mourn later."
Still overwhelmed with what had just happened, Ironhide knelt down in front of the girl and said, "I promise, if our paths ever cross again, that I will protect you with my life." With this statement, he transformed into his Topkick mode and left. He didn't know if she heard him or not, or even really knew that he was there, but he kept that promise with him ever since.
Optimus also looked back at the girl. "May Primus watch over you," he said solemnly.
Ironhide was jerked back to the present.
"What…what are we going to do?" Bumblebee asked aloud, crawling out from underneath some debris. All signs of his happy-go-lucky innocence disappeared.
Ratchet was at a loss for what to do for the first time ever as a medic. "I don't know. I…really just don't know." he turned to Ironhide and voiced what everyone already knew. "I can't save both of them," he said somberly. "I barely know enough human medical knowledge to help Artemis, but it can be done. But not when I have to fix up Jazz as well." The other two mechs turned to look at Ironhide as well, as if expecting an answer.
It was his choice. He had to choose who would live, and who would die.
Would he save his brother whom he loved more than anyone and had already lost once?
Or the girl he barely knew but promised to protect with his life?