Transformers Prime: Miami
Chapter 17 : The Battle of Miami (Part two)
Prowl looked behind him as he saw his partner race to the curbs to direct the people out of the way of the destruction. They had just gotten there to see Dead End and Swindle transform to start laying fire to the houses in the neighborhood in Little Havana. Prowl transformed and tackled Dead End who wasn't paying attention as he was laying suppressing fire to a small enclave of gang members firing at him. Prow laid a punch across Dead End's face as he spun on his arm and kicked swindle down.
Prowl knew about these two as he fought them on a conflict on one of Cybertron's moons many years ago. They were part two combiner teams called the Combaticons and the Stunticons. He picked up Swindle and punched him hard in the gut. Throwing him to the ground he primed his arm gun and pointed it at him.
"Where are your Combaticon buds Swindle? You sell them for scrap?" Prowl asked the greedy Decepticon.
"Ha, Ha, Very funny!" Swindle said as he spat out energon. "Last I saw of them they weren't looking at the bisnuess end of a black hole!, What about you Prowl? You look like you aint doing so bad for yourself here…"
Prowl blinked as he realized what Swindle was doing, Swindle was stalling him. Swindle wasn't that good of a fighter but he was a real good talker, He was good at talking and striking up deals with anyone for anything. The fact Swindle was just blabbering on meant Prowl wasn't shooting or paying attention.
"Verity!" He yelled as he turned to see Dead End in car mode closing in behind her as she was holding up her badge and yelling at people to get off the streets. Dead End transformed and scooped her up in her right hand and squeezed.
Verity grunted in pain as she felt a rib or two cracked, she could see various Little Havana citizens running off and grabbing kids as they left. Dead End laughed as he waved Verity in front of Prowl, like he had one of Prowl's prized possessions in his hand.
Prowl had one gun trained on Dead End and one trained on Swindle. He saw his partner struggling against the pressure applied to her by the large Decepticon.
"Just hold up there Dead End!" Prowl said "I got a piece drawn on your friend here; you don't want to do anything we'll all regret."
Dead End laughed "You gone soft Prowl! Waste the spark of a glitch, I don't care! He owes me 40 energon cubes anyway…." He shook Verity more violently, He held her as he had one of her arms pinned underneath his grip. "You on the other hand, I know how you Autobots like these humans, what say if I squeeze her into a paste right now?"
Dead End had little regards for humans, they disgusted him to the point he gave not thought to blasting them into ash. Hearing them scream in fright when they saw he was about to end them brought a small amount of pleasure to Dead End. Only the human he was holding wasn't screaming, she began to laugh, and then laugh hysterically. He brought her closer to his face to get a good look at her.
"You must be new off the ship right?" Verity laughed through the pain, " Here's a piece of advice If your gonna grab a human like this, One make your you have both their arms pinned, and two, Make sure they aren't armed with armor piercers!" She yelled as she pulled out her Colt Python and fired six armor piercing rounds point blank into dead end's face. Four of the rounds shattered his optics as the round bounced in the inside of this head casing.
"I can't see!" Dead End screamed as he dropped Verity and held his head in pain. Prowl then opened fired and cut the Decepticon down in the street. Swindle quickly transformed and escaped as Prowl checked on his fallen partner.
"Verity! Verity!' He yelled as he picked her up gently from the ground, she fell about a good 20 feet . Verity sat up and coughed.
"I-I'm ok! " She grunted "We ain't got time for a coffee break; we have to head to Airport west!"
Ibanez cocoa factory.
Chromia planted one foot on Arcee kicked her with the other; she flipped backwards and delivered a spin kick that Arcee barely dodged. Arcee was bewildered, the last she heard from her sister was several cycle ago, and even then she was on an outpost duty on one of the moons of Rigel III. Even then she was her normal happy self; This Chromia seemed cold, angry even.
"Chromia!, What are you doing!" Arcee yelled as Chromia laid in punch after punch to her. Chromia grabbed one of Arcee's arms as she held it up to block her barrage. She flipped her over and tossed her into chain link fence.
"You look good Arcee!," Chromia said " Unfortunately I can't stay and chat. "
"Are you apart of this! Why!" Arcee shouted. She couldn't believe she was fighting her sister. Of all the battles she fought in against the Decepticon, no matter what she lost, what she had to sacrifice. She always took comfort that her sister was safe somewhere doing her part in the fight for the Autobots.
Elita came behind Chromia and tried to take her down, but Chromia was too fast. She doged her grabbed her arm, Kicking Elita's knee, she bents her arm back behind her head and punched her hard across the face. Arcee knew what Elita was doing, She was holding back to Arcee could try to reach her sister.
"Chromia, your hurting innocent people!, You don't do this you're a good Autobot!" Arcee pleaded.
"Not anymore Arcee! " She said as she displayed her scratched out Autobot symbol "There's a new order growing here, don't get in our way. I don't want to, but I'll rip your spark out if I have too!"
Arcee growled as she transformed into her cycle mode and raced at Chromia, Transforming back into her robot mode she tackled Chromia at full force taking her to the ground. She punched Chromia in the face as she pinned her to the ground.
"If you won't tell me, I will beat it out of you!" Arcee yelled. She and her sister were close since they were sparklings. They lost their parents when Iacon fell. It was then she and Chromia joined the Autobot cause, fighting the Decepticons all over Cybertron. They were eventually separated when they had to serve on different ships. The last thing Arcee wanted to do was fight her sister in any conflict. They both trained together, they both knew each other's moves and worse they both knew how to hurt each other.
Not far away Agent Greene and Delilah exchange blow after blow. They both could read each other's moves. Greene laid a kick to Delilah's gut as she gripped her in a rear naked choke. Greene squeezed down on Delilah's neck as she moved her leg in-between hers to keep her from squirming out. Delilah then snapped her head back hitting Greene squarely on her chin. Slipping out Delilah spun around and laid a haymaker across Greene's mouth knocking her back to the ground.
Delilah wiped the blood from her mouth, "Not bad Tabby!, Didn't realize how out of shape I was till now!" She breathed hard, and kicked Greene in her gut. Agent Greene grunted as she her breath was knocked out of her.
"Believe it or not Southland, "Delilah said " I went looking for the guy who double crossed us and killed our team, I really did.
She pulled Greene by her water soaked hair, "That's what they don't tell you about the path of revenge, it's not straight and narrow. It twists and turns. I eventually forgot who I was and why I was doing it. "
Delilah straddled her as Greene was on her knees; She held her by the hair and had a bowie knife at Greene's throat. " The things I found out Tabby, What I saw. None of it mattered, in the end I had to look out for me, and now I'm going to do you a favor and end your suffering."
"That's all I needed to hear Grace." Agent Greene said as she flicked her wrist up and a blade popped out of her forearm sheathe. It tore through her jacket out by her elbow and she buried the blade deep in Delilah's thigh. Delilah screamed as she fell back and blood poured out of her stab wound.
She laughed through the pain. "You sneaky slag! You caught me monologueing!" She laughed as she scooted on the ground. Agent Greene stood up and pulled her gun on Delilah. Delilah saw then and quickly drew out a small black remote with a silver antenna on top and a red glowing light.
"Get back Get back!" Delilah threatened. "The entire warehouse is wired with enough Red Energon to level it to scrap!, and this is a dead man's switch!"
"Grace I'm begging you, let me help you!" Greene pleaded. "Don't make me kill you"
"You got a choice to make Southy, Stop me, or explain to June Darby why her sister and her son died in a ball of fire." Delilah said with eyes of fierce determination. She got up and limped on her good leg. She raised her cell phone to her head "Quit screwing around and extract me!"
Chromia heard a call through her comms, and looked at Arcee "I think you might want to know, We wired the warehouse with a scrap load of Red Energon, You may want stop worrying about me and find Jack, before you lose another partner!" Chromia said coldy.
"You lie!" Arcee said
"You wish….." Chromia said,
"Elita!" Arcee yelled as she jumped off of Chromia and transformed to race towards the warehouse. Elita transformed and followed Arcee .
"Stop Jack!, Something's wrong!" Yuri hissed as he grabbed him by the arm. They had entered the abandoned factory and stopped, just as they were about to cross a clearing on the second floor.
"What is it?" Jack whispered. He saw Yuri silently point to his eyes and then point to the floor below them. Jack peered over the railing to see the MECH mercenaries gathering and then listening on the radio. They quickly turned and exited the factory.
"They sure left in a hurry!" Jack said
"Yes. That's what worries me!" Yuri said as they stood up. "Something's not right Comrade Jack, We have to hurry and find April!" They raced through the dark corridors of the factory, the lights were cut off and they had only the beeping signal from the hand held monitor to guide them to April.
April bit her lip hard to cause just enough pain to keep her awake. She breathed and concentrated as her arms were screaming in pain from hanging by the chain. The handcuffs dug into her wrists as she continued to dangle off the ground. The weakness she began to feel told her she had been hanging from the ceiling too long and the blood was slowly being cut off, she had to get herself down or else she would asphyxiate just from hanging by her arms.
Shifting the cuff so her right hand grasped the hook, she concentrated and she held the hook and then worked the cuff over the hook. She failed as she didn't have the strength to get the handcuff over the hook. With one last push of adrenaline she screamed as she grasped the hook and kicked her legs up. Sure enough the momentum was enough to get the handcuff over the hook and she felt herself collapse on the ground. She did it but she was weak. She tried to move but the heaviness and the darkness overtook her.
"This way! " Jack said as he led Yuri through the fourth floor " The signal says we're getting closer!" He stopped just as the metal door at the end of the hall.
"Aunt April! Aunt April!" Jack yelled as he tried to open the door that was bolted shut.
"Jack, move!" Yuri yelled as he fired the pistol at the lock, a few shots and the lock was shot open. Yuri burst through to see a figure crumpled on the ground. Yuri rushed forward and picked up April and held her carefully.
"April! April! April!" Yuri gently shook her; His heart sank to his stomach as he held her limp form. She was dirtied, bloodied, and roughed up; He could see various cuts and bruises on her face. He had seen tortured victims like this before. He stroked her hair as his eyes watered seeing a person who had been nothing but kind to anyone she met treated so terribly.
"Aunt April!Aunt April!" Jack called to her as he led her hand "we're here! We're going to take you home!"
April slowly opened her eyes and she saw the soft blue eyes of Yuri looking at her and her nephew Jack holding her hand."Yuri….Jack, I knew you'd come…" She whispered.
Yuri held her close to him and kissed her forehead "I promise you , No one will ever hurt you again !" He said softly in Russian.
"Jack, Yuri! Do you have April!" A frantic call from Elita one came.
"We just got her!" Jack said
"You need to get out of there now!, The whole place is rigged with explosives! Hurry, Get out!" Elita shouted.
Yuri held April in his arms as he and Jack tore out of the room.
Delilah held the remote in her hand as Chromia arrived She got on her. "All in all , I'm glad we had this chat.." Delilah said as she tossed the remote at Agent Greene and sped off. Agent Greene lunged forward to catch it, in her youth She would have caught it quickly and on instinct alone, But she realized that as she got older, she was still a step behind. This was evident as she heard a small "PING" as she caught it.
She saw the bright lights first and then the ear shattering sound of the exploding building as the blast wave knocked her forward. She turned her head to see the factory far off to her explode and collapse on itself.
Arcee and Elita both were knocked back by the explosion. It could be seen from miles around as the huge fireball erupted into the night. Elita and Arcee transformed as they saw the entire factory fall like a house of cards. They stared wide eyed as fire engulfed the factory.
"Jack! Yuri! Come in over!" Elita called "Jack, Yuri! Please respond over!" Static filled Elita's comm unit as an eerie silence fell over the two Autobots. Arcee looked on in horror as the building was consumed by flames. Jack was in there, The last image she saw of Jack was him racing into that factory, that now was no more. It started to sink in as she realized it happened again, Tailgate, then Cliffjumper and finally Jack. Innocent, resourceful Jack, He was gone, taken from her before she could even say good bye.
"JACK!JACK!NOOOOOO!" Arcee screamed as she pounded the ground.
Elita saw her friend collapse from grief; she however needed a little more proof. She switched her optics to a bio scan, and started to scan the wreckage, she then saw from the right of the factory three bio signatures. She focused her optics to see it was Jack and Yuri, and Yuri was carrying April.
"Look!' Elita said as she saw their human friends running from the wreckage. They were a little singed but they were ok.
"Hey! We're ok!" Jack yelled as he waved his hands. Arcee looked up to see her Jack running toward him. A smiled beamed across Arcee as she saw Jack, healthy and in one piece.
"You're alive!" Arcee shouted "Oh thank Primus!" She said as her optics filled with lubricant.
"We thought you were toast!" Elita said as Jack and Yuri with April in his arms greeted them.
"When we heard about the bomb, I found a garbage chute that we slid down, Luckily for us it lead to a dumpster filled with cardboard!" Jack said.
"How's April? " Elita asked as she knelt by Yuri to get a closer look at April.
"She's hurt but I think she will be ok." Yuri said
Mirage finally woke up after being knocked out, He saw the large mass of destruction, "Whoa looks like the factory blew up!" He said stating the obvious.
Elita looked at Arcee She had just been through a whirlwind of emotions, " Arcee, How are you holding up?, with seeing Chromia?"
"Jack is safe, I want him back at your base and I need to tack her. " Arcee said. "If Chromia has turned against the Autobots, I'm going to have to be the one to stop her. "
"Where's Agent Greene?" Elita asked.
"R-Right here…." Agent Greene said as she limped while holding her bloodied side. She collapsed as Jack raced to pick her up. "Delilah, Has my phone….But I put a tracker on her.." She grunted in pain.
"Ok Mirage take the humans back to the base, Arcee and I will join up with Optimus. " She said as she placed a call to Optimus " Optimus we have April , and we're going to send the humans back to base, we will regroup with you over?"
Miami International Airport.
"Negative Elita One! You are to stay away from our position and that's an order!" Optimus said as he laid suppression fire with Bulkhead and Bumblebee.
"Optimus !, What's happening!" Elita asked.
"We fell into a trap! Sunstreaker has been compromised!, I repeat Sunstreaker has been compromised!" Optimus reported.
"What do you mean! " Elita demanded to know, "What happened to Sunstreaker!
"He has joined sides with his brother Sideswipe!" Optimus said as he saw something huge and hulking rip a 747 in half and march towards them.
"Optimus! We got trouble!" Bulkhead yelled as he and bumblebee continued to fire.
He looked as he saw the large Autobot renegade toss aside the torn fuselage of a plane he just tore in two with his bare hands. Sideswipe announced it was his special surprised he had planned just for Optimus Prime, just before he escaped with his brother, Sunstreaker.
"Optimus, is that who I think it is!" Bulkhead asked
The large Autobot then took a defensive stance and transformed into a large metallic dinosaur, He roared in the air as fire and smoke billowed from its large mouth.
"It's Grimlock." Optimus said gravely.
A/N: Thanks everyone for bearing with me through that rough patch of writer's block. I am writing this story arc a little different. Taking a cue from the recent Transformers Prime Story Arc, The Battle of Miami will be one big story told from different points of view, Instead of each story starting with a single consonant, each story will take place in different parts of four Miami neighborhoods. What plot holes have been uncovered in this story will be filled by the other parts. I'm hoping to introduce the rest of the Renegades in the next story and explain what happened to Sunstreaker. Grimlock appears courtesy of MEEleeSmasher! I found an opportunity to bring him in , so I did! Also a little gripe, I posted a really cute story this past weekend and NO ONE READ IT! C'mon folks! Where's the love? If someone could read Transformers Prime : Annie. And kindly let me know what they thought I could consider it a personal favor. Before I go, My daughter as a Father's day gift gave me this really neat picture of Verity Carlo and April Sullivan! Posting a link here to go check it out on Deviantart!
#/d53woyb
NEXT TIME!: The Battle for Miami heats up as Grimlock threatens to destroy Miami International Airport and any Autobot in his way! The story of Sunstreaker and his brother Sideswipe unfolds as Elita one, Arcee, Prowl and Verity join in the fight for the very soul of Miami!