Edit: I miscounted.
Chapter 3: Gremlin Attack
16 July 1987
The first thing Prowl noticed was the datapad. It was not on his desk where he left it the night before. No. Now, it was on the floor, cracked. Probably beyond repair, too.
"You have got to be kidding me..." He sighed and leaned to pick it up. "All that work wasted..." A snickering noise caused him to freeze.
What now? He slowly raised his optics, hand still hovering over the 'pad. They then widened, and his jaw dropped.
On his desk sat a scaly creature about the size of a small dog with long claws and very pointed ears. When it smiled at him, he noticed two rows of sharp, pointed teeth. The thing waved at him almost cheerfully, before it let out an audio piercing shriek and threw itself at him.
Prowl let out an undignified yelp and toppled over, while the thing latched onto his face and began gnawing on his chevron. He yanked it off, hissing in pain, and threw it to the other side of the desk. He stood up, pulling his rifle out of subspace, waiting. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then six more of them came charging from their various hiding places.
Everything exploded into pain and chaos.
Four of them attacked his legs, one had somehow scaled his back and was trying to take chunks out his doorwings, and the last decided his rifle arm tasted pretty good. The first creature had taken its previous position on his desk and was laughing its ass off. It was actually pointing at him with one claw, the other wrapped around its middle as it guffawed.
Prowl had never hated anything as much as he did this thing, which he now identified as a gremlin, from that movie Spike had shown them a few weeks ago.
He grabbed the one on his arm with his free hand and threw it away, firing at it at the same time. He didn't see what happened as he now focused on the task of removing the four cretins on his legs. He lifted his left which currently held only one, and, all the while hopping about, began prying the thing off. It promptly bit his hand.
"OW! You little...!" He smacked it with the rifle butt, stunning it. The gremlin laid on the ground in a daze for a beat before Prowl kicked it, causing it to fly through the air and smack into the wall. He expected the sickening crunch that typically follows when an organic hits something solid at that speed. This time, however, it didn't happen.
While the gremlin did appear to be deceased, wires and a bright green liquid were showing, not...what usually is in an animal from this planet. Meaning, they were robotic with organic skin, and as such, he would not have qualms about blasting the little monsters apart. Which he did, starting with the one on his desk, who at that point had stopped laughing and was snarling, in the process of jumping at his face again.
The other four, having witnessed the murder of their friends, doubled their attempts to take Prowl down with a vengeance. The one on his back, who he was sure had chewed through his right doorwing, took a bite out of his shoulder. One of the three that had been on his leg climbed higher and was digging its claws into the seams between his armor on his stomach area. The last two were happily chewing on his leg armor, apparently too stupid to realize that wasn't actually doing anything other than making him mad.
How is no one hearing this?! He was in no way being quiet. In fact, his yells and the blasterfire should have attracted someone's attention. Red Alert or Ironhide should be watching the cameras. Surely, they had noticed...?
He snatched the one on his stomach plating and tossed it somewhere to his left. The thing screeched as it hit the shelf full of knick-knacks he'd picked up over the years, knocking them all off. He shot at it several times while it ran around, dodging and making a weird chittering noise he was sure were insults before finally landing a hit.
He reached behind him, trying to grab the one clinging to his shoulders. He swore it snickered before chomping down on his fingers. The poor mech yelped again, then decided to hell with it and quickly backed up into the wall. The gremlin squeaked and let go. He turned around and fired.
The remaining gremlins finally detached themselves and attempted to go higher, both snarling. He grabbed the closer one and used it to swat the other off. That one also went flying, squealing, and its ears flapping behind it. It hit the wall with a loud bang, then slowly slid down. He would have laughed had the other not swung itself up and kicked him squarely in the mouth.
Prowl, shocked, dropped it and clamped a hand over his face, slightly bent over. Little fragging monster... The gremlin laughed, and took off. Prowl, having had enough, exchanged his rifle for the hold outs Jazz insisted he carry and let loose a barrage of blasterfire, not caring about anything other than killing the pest.
When the dust cleared, needless to say, the gremlin was no more.
Though he thought he got the last one, he still kept his pistols in both hands, slowly turning in a circle, scanning the room. You could never be too sure. The place was totally destroyed, what with the blaster holes and the green stuff decorating it. He curled his lips in disgust.
Once he was positive those...things were all "dead", he subspaced the guns and gingerly ran a finger over his chevron, wincing when he touched the bite marks. With Ratchet refusing to treat him, he would have to seek someone else's help, probably First Aid. He could only imagine the youngling's face when he explains how he received the injuries.
Upon closer inspection of the more intact bodies, he realized how well-made and fragging detailed they were. Only one mech could have come up with something like this. And he was going to kill him, regardless of whether or not he was the one to release them into his office.
"WHEELJACK!"
Rule #3 - To all science personnel (especially you, Wheeljack): you are not allowed to try to recreate monsters from human OR Cybertronian fiction. You also need to go clean up my office. There's green gremlin goo everywhere.
Rule #3b - Correction: you are not allowed to recreate ANY type of animal from human or Cybertronian fiction. Stop trying to find loopholes, you lunatics. - Ratchet and Prowl
Rule #3c - Red Alert, all copies of my "battle" WILL be accounted for and destroyed within the next week, or I will release The Video. Do not test me.