Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: just my OC's & the plot.
HUNTERS MOON
Chapter 3: When a Blood Moon Rises
Somewhere on NEST base:
: Wha-, what's the line doing open? :
: This is most irregular:
: I thought we were supposed to be keeping quiet? :
: Then, you didn't open this line? :
: No, I did! :
: What? - :
: Shut up and listen: if you're not already clued into what's going on, this is exactly the opportunity we've been waiting for: we've only got minutes to act so I need you all to stop what you're doing and pay attention. This is the part of the plan that's most vulnerable to being discovered, so listen carefully and do exactly what I tell you...:
A little while later, somewhere north-west of the desert:
It was black, she didn't know where she was or what had happened: all she knew, was that the voice was calling her back from the darkness...
"Wake up! Wake up!"
That voice
She knew it from somewhere, one of the human interns that worked on the base.
"Wake up!"
It was faint, as if being drowned out by something. Static? No, an audio malfunction? No, wrong kind of feedback...It sounded more like-
"FIREFLY, WAKE UP!" Morri screamed
Wind blasting her in the face, and the deep thrumming beat of giant insect wings.
The femme suddenly snapped awake as her systems finished their reboot cycle, but before she could do or say anything, a dull throbbing pain in her side told her she was injured. "Where-, what the pit-" she drowsily murmured as she felt lots of sharp points digging into her abdominal and back plates: looking down, she was horrified to find herself wedged into a huge mouth full of teeth, with two gigantic mandibles on either side, pressing down on her legs and shoulders; essentially pinning her in the jaws of-
She followed the jaws, up to the head, and saw the face of what was carrying her...
"FRAG!-" She yelled out in shock
The beast was unlike anything she had seen in all her life. Bigger and bulkier, even than Cerberus; the creature bore a vague resemblance to a stag beetle, but with more thorn-shaped spikes lining it's legs and head, and two ridiculously huge cannons protruding out the top of its carapace, just in front of the wings. From where she was clamped in its maw, Firefly couldn't quite make out the rest of its face, but those glowing blood red optics were unmistakably Decepticon.
When it became apparent that the beast wasn't making any attempt to eat her, Firefly wasted no time in trying to ascertain where she was and what was going on; the giant wings beating like a pair of Chinook helicopter rotors told her right away it was flying, but to where? Turning her head sideways to look down below, the faint glow of street lights and other illuminated places and buildings whizzing by told her she was up very high, and moving at a rapid pace.
"Firefly! Are you okay?!" Morri called out again, trying to shout over the wind as it whistled over the creature head on.
"I'm okay! Where are you?!" the green femme cried out
"Down here!"
Looking all around and seeing nothing, it was only when Firefly decided to chance craning her head all the way back so she could see underneath the beast (essentially hanging upside-down), that she spotted Morri clinging for dear life to the front right-hand side leg, barely several meters from the throat cables.
"Holy Primus! Are you okay?!" Firefly gasped
"I'm okay! My belt's snagged on a spike! But are you okay!" Morri called back
"I ain't dead, so that's something!" Firefly yelled back, trying not to let the wind drown out her voice, "Where's everyone else?!"
"Over there!" Morri pointed to the right. Craning her head up to try and look past the other side of the behemoth's maw, Firefly spotted several other Insecticons flying in formation, and gasped in shock when she spotted Roxy, Max and Lizzy clinging to the hind leg of the creature nearest to her. Just in front of that one, she spotted Violet and Chelsea holding onto Sparklestar, as the young sphinx used her claws to keep a grip onto the side the creature's face, just behind where the mandibles protruded from the sides of the jaws. Seeing those teeth, and how big they were compared to them, made her pump seize with dread. And just off to the left side and below, she saw the Waineright twins, Annabelle and Jay-jay had managed to climb up onto the top of the carapace of their kidnapper.
"Hold on! I'm busting us off this ride!" Firefly called over as she tried to activate her wrist guns, but to no avail; her weapons systems couldn't online them, and a quick internal scan revealed that the bugs were all emitting a jamming pulse of some kind, one that attacked a bot's weapons system specifically.
"I don't think there's much we can do at this point!" Morri called back
"Then what do you suggest?!" Firefly shot back
"...Just survive this flight, and then figure out what to do!" Morri called back, before turning her attention to her CTG...
Back at NEST base, in the command center:
"Are you sure you're okay?" Hailey asked Bluestreak as he rubbed his helm, "I'm fine, it's just a CPU concussion" The young gunner waved off, "But it's him I'm more worried about..." he quietly pointed to Skywarp.
The situation was now very tense
Of all the bots in the room, Skywarp was by far one of the worst off, standing there with a mix of fear and dread etched upon his face-plates: while Novastar tried to comfort him with words of reassurance. Deathshot too had a look of worry and determination in his one optic, as did the rest of his charges, as they stood next to him on the giant bot-sized command table. But it was Crystalwing and her family that were straining to hold it together: with their youngest family member now well out of their telepathic range, their bond was shaking as their emotions flew back and forth between one another: with instinct telling them to find her and refill the void it had left. Off to one side, the VW sisters were equally worried for their little sister, and even more so for her lack of experience; Darren and the Ainslie girls where near to panic also, as was Lennox, as he worried over the fate of his daughter.
After rescuing, patching up, and declaring Deathshot, Bluestreak and Skywarp fit for duty in record time; Ratchet and other bots had assembled in the command center for an emergency mission debriefing; emergency being the emphasis, as no one wanted to be here any longer than necessary. For they knew every second that ticked by, Firefly, Jay-jay, Sparklestar and the humans, would be inching that little closer to death's door.
"You all saw the data from Skywarp's optic feed, as well as the reading's that Deathshot's scanners took before he was rendered into stasis. As many of you are aware, most Decepticon's are tough enough to deal with, but when Insecticons become involved, all bets are off. There's no telling how this mission will transpire: therefore, we cannot let a single resource be overlooked, if it will help us find them that much quicker" Prime stated
"To that effect, the mission will be divided into two teams" Majestrix continued, "I will lead a small reconnaissance unit to search for, and ascertain the location of the con's, as well as keep them under surveillance, in order to strategize an effective means of extracting the hostages. Prime's team will follow us from the ground: they will be our back-up for when we engage them"
"But what if Firefly's already tried to fight them?!" Bluebird panicked
"If you're sister has even half a processor, she'll know she's out-gunned a thousand to one" Majestrix stated
"But she's never even heard of an Insecticon before, never mind actually seen one!" Veebee exclaimed
"What?! ...So, she doesn't know about the jamming signal they emit to immobilize our weapon's system's?!" Prowl exclaimed in disbelief
"Well-..." Tangostar sheepishly hesitated, before reluctantly admitting, "...No"
A whole wave of exasperated gasps and exclamations went around the table as the three sisters suddenly felt very small, and very stupid.
"You're Autobots for Primus sake!" Red Alert exclaimed, nearly glitching with shock, "How could she not have the Insecticon specs on her referencing data banks?!"
"Hey give us a break will ya?! We ain't never run into any Insecticon's before! They were supposed to be extinct!" Veebee shot back
"Just because they haven't been sighted in over seventy years, doesn't mean they were all wiped out" Ultra Magnas frowned,
"And what use are you going to be if you don't know how to take on Insecticons?" Mirage accusingly stated: looking down his nose-plates at the femmes, to which the sister's all frowned in annoyance.
A few minutes or so earlier, Las Vegas, Nevada:
It was by sheer luck, that a fairly long section of the road had been closed due to extensive reconstruction on part of the water mains that ran beneath it.
After the nine giant fireballs slammed down into the tarmac: throwing up dirt and rocks, and rupturing the water pipes: the nine giants transformed into their mech modes, stood up, and took a moment to scan and sniff their surroundings.
"This. Is the dirt-ball planet we're supposed to call 'home' now?" the smallest among them grunted in a gruff snarky voice
"Rrrr! What a dump!" Another growled as he climbed out of his impact crater
"Oh I don't know" Another smaller one smiled as he looked around with a child-like curiosity, "It looks like it has possibilities"
"Yeah, tasty ones" Another smiled as he licked his lip-plates, while eyeing up a rather tasty looking van.
"We can sample the local delicacies later" Their leader stated in a more serious, much more sinister tone, "Right now, we need altmode's"
"Rrrr, they don't look like they'll fit" one pointed to a row of parked construction vehicles nearby
"Not even close!" the leader grunted with disapproval
"Hey, what's over there?" one pointed to a building that overlooked the road
"Hmmm, according to the 'world wide web', it's called the 'Las Vegas Museum of Natural History'" one replied as it scanned the web, and instantly translated the whole of the English language,
"Natural history?" the leader echoed in bewilderment: curious, he wandered over for a closer look; his giant feet cracked and crushed the tarmac with every footfall he was so heavy. The museum itself was nothing like the Smithsonian, and with an exterior that was hardly anything worthy of aesthetical notice: it looked like the sort of place people would drive right by without giving a second glance. As he scanned the inside of the building, and picked up all the various bio-signatures of all the specimens kept within: a small smirk tugged at the side of his snaggle-toothed maw. "Hmmm, this look promising..." he thought aloud.
He was about to rip the roof off for a closer inspection, when a sign posted off to one side of the building, suddenly caught his optic...
For 5 days only:
THE BIG 9!
Come see the kings of the carnivores! From the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods, come face to face with nine of the biggest, most fearsome dinosaurs to have ever walked the earth!
Now even more curious, the leader followed the sign around to the back of the building, where a giant marquee stood covering the whole of the tarmac: with signs, banners and bunting adorning the sides. Extending his giant armour-clad arms outwards, he proceeded to rip the whole front half of the giant tent-like structure down, until the interior was exposed. Coming up behind their leader for a closer look, the eight other mechs stared in wonder at display inside...
Nine complete fossilized dinosaur skeletons, each a various species: stood posed in deliberate fighting and stalking stances.
"Wow! Now these are altmode's!" the smallest smiled
"Indeed..." another smirked. And he was right: each was impressive in its own right: but it was the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton that captured the lead mech's full attention: "...Beautiful..." he smiled as he scanned it, and automatically retrofitted the beast's form to his own default altmode. Taking their cue from their leader, the other's all picked a dinosaur of their own and began scanning them. Once the necessary procedure was complete, they all transformed to admire their new looks.
"Excellent," The leader grinned as he admired his new look, "Now that's taken care of, it's time to resume the hunt" he stated as he stepped out back out front into the road, "Where are they?"
"According to my last scanner ping, nearly two hundred miles west of here" the one who'd chosen the pterodactyl for his altmode replied.
"Errrr" the leader growled in frustration, "By the time we catch up on foot they'll be long out of range. No choice but to fly there: Let's go"
"Right on boss" the pterodactyl nodded, and together, the nine behemoth bots collapsed their forms down into their space-going protoforms and blasted off, heading west as nine giant armour-clad spheres.
Back at NEST base:
"Hey! Just because we ain't never encountered the Insecticon's first hand doesn't mean we don't know nothin' about them: we have read the data on them you know!" Veebee stated defensively
"But you've never fought them before, how can we expect you three to have our backs covered, when you don't know the first thing about engaging them?" Tracks pointed out
"Trust me, I don't need any dada to beat the slag outta those bugs! They took our lil' sister: they're gonna be dead by the time I'm done with them!" Veebee stated angrily as she cracked her knuckles
"Optimus! You can't be serious in letting them-
"Uh, Guys?" one of the human technicians interrupted, "Those nine other 'new arrivals' we lost on the long-range scanners? They just showed up"
"What?! Where?" Prowl exclaimed
"Las Vegas, right outside the natural history museum"
"More of those bugs?! Ah geez!" Kup grumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose-plates
"Bugs? The reports coming in are saying these ones are dinosaurs"
At the mention of the word, all the bots in the room froze, "...Dinosaurs?" Prowl echoed, hoping and praying it wasn't who he thought it could be,
"Yeah, check it out: this is the first YouTube upload that went online barely forty seconds ago..." the technician replied as he blew the video up on the main monitor. Shot on a camera phone, the amateur footage was shaky and blurred in places, but when the 'dinosaurs' appeared in the picture: their overall profile was unmistakable...
"Whoa...Cybertronian dinosaurs? " Jeanie raised an eyebrow
But her fascination was not shared by the others, as every bot in the room stared in a mix of shock and amazement when the huge came stomping around the side of the museum...
"Please tell me that's not-
"-It is" Majestrix flatly interrupted, the displeasure on her face had now turned into a deep frown of discontent.
"...Grimlock..." Prime ground through his dentals as he glared daggers at the monitor, "Change of plans: Majestrix is now leading the rescues mission"
The humans all snapped their heads up at him in surprise: "What? Why?" Tom exclaimed
"Because I need to stop him before he has a chance to catch up to the Insecticons" Prime stated: the tone of voice telling everyone he was in no mood to argue
"But what about the bugs? You said we can't-"
"-I know what I said!" Optimus snapped, making the humans jump back in alarm; realizing he'd been too aggressive, Prime forced his anxiety to one side, and stated in a calmer tone: "...I'm sorry..'" before leaning down to be closer to their eye-level, "Listen, I trust you, all of you, to do what's right by the younglings: But I cannot let Grimlock and his team go anywhere near those cons"
"Why not?" Lennox demanded, "If their Autobots like you guys then shouldn't we have them here? You did say we can't let a single resource be overlooked, remember?"
"I know, but that was before: right now, Grimlock is the last Autobot we need getting involved in this" Prime stated firmly; Lennox was about to press him harder, but Ironhide gently brought his hand down in front to stop him: "Will, please...I'm worried for Annabelle too, but this isn't the time or the place. You have to trust us" the weapons expert implored him.
Taken aback by the slight worry in his voice, Will suddenly realized this was now something very serious; and from where they stood watching at Deathshot's side, the Brigg's watched in silence, sensing the sudden shift in circumstances, they too realized that something had changed the whole situation, and something else was now at stake. Reluctantly stepping back as a show of submission, Will let out a frustrated sigh: "Fine, but you owe me an explanation" he glared up at his guardian.
"Okay, so the game-plan's changed: what now?" Thundercracker asked
"Now, we stop wasting time and get to work" Majestrix stated firmly, "Blackshot, Crystalwing, Eclipse, Obsidian, Twilightveil, Velocity, Portia, Jetfire, Thundercracker: you're with me. Trailbreaker, Chromia, Bluestreak Bluebird, Veebee, Tangostar, you'll follow us and act as ground support, scouting from the air's all well and good, but it never hurts to have a second set of optics on the ground. Also, Lennox and Briggs, I'll need you're team's assistance too"
"Wait!-" Skywarp pleaded, "Please, let me come too! Jay-jay's my responsibility! I have to bring her back!"
"You?" Blackshot frowned coldly, "You were the one who lost her in the first place!"
"Blackshot please!" Bluestreak pleaded, "This isn't the time for that right now. Besides, he's a teleporter: if any of the younglings are injured we're gonna need to get them back to the med-bay ASAP, and a teleporter's way faster than any flyer"
"You can't be serious-
"Actually, that's a good idea" Majestrix stated, "An emergency evac would come in handy, should the worst happen. Alright Skywarp, you're with us"
"I'm comming too!" Ashley stated
"So are we" Ravage and his brother's boldly stepped forward
"What? But you-
"-If their on the ground, you're gonna need trackers: and Ravage and I are all you got!" Ashley stated angrily
"Ashley, I know you're worried for Morri and the others, but you can't-"
"This isn't about me Prime!" the hybrid raised his voice, "My cousin is somewhere out there with those things! And if their using ionized aluminium to cover their energon trail, what good are you guys gonna be from the air?!"
Prime paused
"He does have a point, brother" Majestrix stated in a calmer tone, "If, on the off chance, they are covering their trail, we will need an alternative mode of tracking them down"
"And you'll need drones too, we can get in the places you can't, sneak up on them when their least suspecting: maybe even get the younglings out when their backs are turned?" Buzzsaw threw in.
"How do we know you're not going to use this opportunity to turn on us and inform them of our whereabouts?" Blackshot glared at them coldly
"You don't, but if we're going to be playing this game again: what guarantee do we have, that you will cover us when we need back-up?" Ravage shot back,
Blackshot didn't reply, and simply stared at the drone in cold annoyance.
"...I want to come too..." a small voice spoke up from the floor: looking down, the bots were somewhat taken aback to see Shadowstar standing there, gazing up at Majestrix with a pleading look on her face; "They took Sparklestar too, I want to get her back..." she added nervously, looking up at her mother for some sign of reassurance.
Although she didn't let it show on her face, Crystalwing allowed a small internal smile to tug at her figurative lips: this was the first time Shadowstar had snapped out of her depressive state: perhaps the shock at sensing her little sister's sudden departure was the push she'd needed to bring her back to her senses? Although she couldn't sense Shadowstar had completely reopened her bond to the family, she could feel her worry emanating from the forefront of her mind; and that was a positive sign that she hadn't completely given in to her self-inflicted despair and grief. Gazing down at her with a small smile, Crystalwing bent down and held her hand out for her daughter to jump onto; Shadowstar obliged, and lept up to take her place at her sibling's side.
"Alright: but we've wasted enough time as it is. My team, report to the armoury for your weapons and then meet up top, we leave in five minutes!" Majestrix stated: as the bot's turned to leave, Majestrix and Blackshot locked optics for a brief second, as if to say 'what are you playing at?'; no one seemed to notice the cold exchange, and before anything else could be said, they broke off the stare and followed the others out the room.
As Prime's team filed out the door, John looked up at Ashley: "Are you sure you're up for this?"
"I'm gonna have to be, they need us" Ashley stated, to which his father nodded in acknowledgment, "Okay, but you stay on my arse at all times, you hear?"
"Fine" Ashley nodded, "Just-, don't get on my back okay? I just want to focus on finding her: I don't want to think about what might go wrong" he admitted with a heavy heart.
"It's not entirely hopeless" Ravage purred, "Insecticons aren't tacticians, but they're not as dumb as they look: if Firefly and the younglings are still alive, their likely to use them as a bargaining chip. If that happens, then at least we stand a chance of saving them"
"And if this 'Grimlock' guy gets involved, then what?" Danny worried
Ravage flattened his ears back against his head as a look of grimness came over his one optic: "...Then there will be no hope of saving them. Whenever Grimlock and his team are involved in anything, everything rapidly descends to the pit..."
A little while later, on the southern-most end of the Sierra mountain range:
It was hard to tell how far they had flown, or in which direction, all Morri knew was that it was somewhere north, as she had spotted the North Star right ahead of them some time ago. The lack of street lights and other such illuminations had become fewer and further between, indicating they were now somewhere very remote.
The wind had grown softer and slower, as the Insecticons were now descending downwards, until eventually they halted and began to hover; cautiously peering down, the captives saw a fuel depot, with ten giant storage tanks and an accompanying system of pipes and pumps. As the behemoths came into land with a sharp THUD! Cracking the tarmac under their spiked claws, the sudden jolt dislodged the humans and two younglings from their anchors, and dropped them onto the hard stone-like ground; the one holding Firefly opening its massive jaws, and unceremoniously dropped her like a piece of meat.
Looking up to take in their full size, Morri counted twenty in total, and after they folded their wings back under their broad wing-cases, they then transformed into-, what could only be called a 'basic' bipedal mode, as there was hardly anything about them that even closely resembled a regular mech. From helm to toe-ped, their whole bodies were covered in sharp, spiky, glass shard-like armour: somewhat organic in form and profile on account of their altmode's; their faces consisted of one red visor wrapping around where the optics should be, and a maw that was a monstrous mish-mash of long shark-like teeth, two sets of powerful mandibles, and from the forehead extending all the way back and down to the carapace, a triple row of blade-like spikes.
On top of all the armour and sharp edges: Morri noticed all the countless dent's, dings, scratches, gouges, and even giant bite mark's covered every last inch of them, and their red, yellow, grey and black colouration didn't do anything for alleviating her nerves. As they stood close to each another, the creatures nodded and gestured to one another with a series of deep insect-like, clicks, hisses and clacking: adding to their already fearsome presence.
This was not a good situation by a long shot, but this wasn't the first time she'd been caught in a tight spot: taking a few deep breaths, Morri watched as the beasts turned their attention to the fuel tanks, ripping them open, and began lapping up the diesel (or petrol) inside. Taking the opportunity, she dashed to where the other girls and younglings were crowded around Firefly, desperately trying to cling to one another.
"Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?" Morri asked, instantly going into medic mode
Roxy promptly punched her in the face: "Do we look okay?!" she hissed angrily, which made the youngsters flinch in surprise: "What the hell was that for?!" Chelsea gasped as she punched Roxy back in the shoulder. But Morri simply rubbed the side of her jaw and shrugged it off, "I'll take than as a yes", and turned her attention to Annabelle, Jay-jay, Sparklestar and Violet: "But are you girl's okay?".
Annabelle, Violet, Jay-jay and Sparklestar all nodded, as did Chelsea and Max, but Lizzy and Roxy only gave her an annoyed stare; she ignored them, and turned her attention to the still-conscious Firefly: "Are you okay? Can you move alright?"
"I'm fine I'm fine!" she waved her away, "It's just a few puncture holes and a cracked armour plate is all" she assured them. "See, she's fine, now transform and let's get out of here!" Lizzy rudely shoved Morri to one side as she stepped up alongside the femme: But Morri grabbed her by the scuff of her hoodie and yanked her back sharply. "No way! You're in no fit state to stand up let alone transform!" Morri firmly stated.
"I can transform! Watch!" Firefly spat back as she proceeded to try and stand up, but as a small quantity of energon began trickling out of the wound in her side, Firefly hissed sharply and collapsed back down onto the tarmac, grabbing her side in agony. This caught the lead Insecticon's attention as he strode over to her, and deliberately reached down and grasped her by the neck; everyone bar Morri turned to run, but two other Insecticon's where there to block their path, sniggering in delight at seeing them so afraid.
"Little scout," the Insecticon leader growled mockingly in his native cybertronian, "Little Autobot, what are we going to do with you?" he smiled
"You can go to-, GHA!" Firefly yelled out as the con raised his arm and purposely dug one claw into the wound; it was so painful she couldn't even struggle against his grip: "Such weakness, such a poor show of strength: rest assure your death will be a swift one; least you're friend's would say that the great and powerful Hardshell wasn't merciful" he taunted as he opened his mandibles, ready to decapitate her with one swift bite...
But at the last second, Morri ran forward: "If you kill her! You won't get anything!" she shouted.
The fact that she spoke fluent cybertronian caught the Insecticon's out completely by surprise, and as Hardshell glanced sideways at her, his amusement turned to curiosity; "Get anything?" he echoed in bemusement
"Don't you know who this is?!" Morri pointed to Firefly, who was now a little alarmed at where this was going: "That's Firefly, one of the greatest, most gifted scout's in all of the Autobot army: you kill her, all of Prime's forces will come after you, and hunt you down"
"Good! All the more energon for us!" the Insecticon cackled as he proceeded to try and bite the femme's head off again.
"But what about a trade?" Morri was quick to grab his attention again
"... Trade? "
"Yes, you keep her alive, and you can trade her back to the bots for anything you want... Anything"
Puzzled, Hardshell dropped Firefly, and swiped Morri up in his claws: everyone watched in horror as the giant monster Decepticon stared her right in the eye. But what was perhaps more remarkable, was how Morri was holding it together, and simply glairing right back up at him. "And what value does a lesser meat-creature like you hold for them?" Hardshell asked as he brushed the side of one claw up against the Autobot insignia on the left arm of her uniform.
"Tactical strategics: we evolved here; we know this planet inside and out, every hiding place, and every secret place: everything they need to know about how to root out the Decepticons. We're the first ones they come to" Morri lied, being careful not to let any sign of it slip. Hardshell stared down at her long and hard for a brief moment: his fellow insecticon's watched on in curiosity as he seemed to be contemplating her words: "...Tell me, does Grimlock know where we are?"
Morri's brain froze: 'Grimlock? Who's Grimlock?' she thought worryingly, having not a clue as to who the latter was. This wasn't something she'd hope would happen; she knew what she said next could impact the situation somehow, and possibly put everyone's lives at risk. Being very careful not to let any trace of her rising fear show on her face, Morri desperately raked her brain for a solution: but who was Grimlock? And what did he mean to this beast and his pack? Deciding to test the waters for a better idea of what to play with, Morri took a deep breath, and boldly, yet calmly asked: "...Well? That depends?"
The insecticon brought her closer to his face: "On what?" he growled lowly
This wasn't good, that tone was not a positive one: So Morri changed tactics, and prayed that what she said next would yield something: "...How desperate are you? ..." she asserted in a dark tone of her own.
The Insecticons all seemed to chatter among themselves, as if agreeing with each other about something: this wasn't lost on Hardshell as he seemed to be contemplating what she said too; until at last he stated: "...Perhaps I've been too hasty: maybe hostages will work better than a few mere threats...", to which the other Insecticon's seemed to agree.
As Hardshell dropped Morri to the ground, Firefly quickly caught her in her one free hand, and put her down as the Insecticons went back to guzzling down the fuel; the other's all rushed to her as she dusted herself off. "Whoa! You never said you could speak Cybertronian!" Sparklestar exclaimed in amazement.
"You never asked" she replied, trying not to let her fear come out as sarcasm, "That's what you were saying? You can speak their language?" Max blinked in surprise, "When did you learn to do that?"
"Forget that! Why'd you say that to him?!" Firefly hissed, hoping and praying the cons weren't eves-dropping.
"Do you want to die or not?" Morri looked her in the eye with an 'I'm not bullshitting you' look, "If it means we stay alive, I'll lie however many times I need to (within reason)"
"You, sweet-talking him?" Roxy gestured to the insecticon leader as he ripped up one of the storage tanks, "Yeah right" she scoffed. "Well do you have any better suggestions right now?" Morri challenged her, "Yeah actually, if we move it, we can probably take cover in those trees over there!" Roxy pointed to edge of a thick pine forest across the road, "Right, because wood is such a good cover against cybertanium and big effing plasma cannons" Morri sarcastically smiled. Roxy then realized just how stupid her plan was, and huffed in defeat, "Fine, but even so, this ain't the time for you to go playing hero!"
"Will you shut up already? You're not helping!" the Waineright twins glared at her,
"Why should we listen to you anyway?" Lizzy folded her arms in defiance, "...Why?" Morri was a little aback, "Yeah? I mean come on! You're just one of the interns! It's not like you got anything to offer or know how to do this kinda thing. Face it, you're just a wannabe who's trying to take advantage of the situation and get all the glory of saving us for yourself" Lizzy stated matter-of factly, practically oozing confidence in the (fulse) fact that she was right.
Morri simply stared at this young upstart, as the memory of her first meeting with Ashley right after he and his family moved in with her's came to mind: and right then, she knew exactly how to knock Lizzy down a few pegs. Her attitude wasn't going to help anyone in anyway: so better to nip it in the bud now, then give her the opportunity to make things worse later on. So before her elder sister and cousin's had a chance to reprimand her, Morri stepped in front, and leaned over a little so they were both eye to eye ...
"... Oh really? " She calmly replied, though the venom in her voice wasn't hard to spot for Max, and before she knew what was going on, Morri quickly grabbed Lizzy by the ear, and pulled it hard, eliciting a sharp yelp as the teenager tried to smack at her hand: but Morri held on firmly as she yanked the teenager's head to one side so she was closer to her: "Now listen up, because I'm only going to say this once. I don't make it my business to go prying into other people's personal lives, and after what you're family has been through, I decided to leave you all alone so you could come to terms with it in your own time. But somehow, in the midst of all that's been going on over the past two weeks, you seemed to have come to the conclusion, that just because you've got an Autobot for a best friend, you're automatically entitled to whatever you damn well please. Well I'm telling you right now, you're not!" , Morri stated in a strict tone, and getting stricter, "You're not a member of NEST, You're not a member of the Autobots: You're a spoilt brat who came to our base, because one of the Decepticons connected you and you're sisters to our top hacker! You're nothing special! And don't you dare, for one minute think that I'm kidding when I say: Shut up, and behave yourself. And if you can't take that, well then cry me a river, build me a bridge, and get over it!",
At that, Morri released Lizzy's now-throbbing ear, but she wasn't done, as her tone turned aggressive"...And as for my credentials? I'll have you know, that without pride nor ego: I can tell you I've had more than my share of hell! I've been shot, stabbed, nearly blown up, beaten to within an inch of my life, had to fight off killer cyborgs and human-Decepticon hybrid zombies, I've been brainwashed into believing I was a Cybertronian, and lived as such for more than forty years. I've cried, and ached for my family and friends as I watched them go through the same hell I did, knowing there was nothing I could do but carry on, and hope and pray that somehow we'd all live to see tomorrow...And on top of that, I've had to put up with a lot of other shit I didn't ask for: but I made the most of what I've been given, and not once do I consider any of it to be a blight on my life..." She calmed down a little, "Unlike you; a selfish spoilt little girl, who treats everything like a game or a prank, without once ever giving any thought to anyone but herself...You look me in the eye-"
Lizzy turned away
"-LOOK AT ME!" Morri sternly barked as she held Lizzy's chin up so she'd have to stare right up at her, "...You look me in the eye, and you tell me you don't care about anyone else! ..."
Lizzy knew, to her uncomfortable realization, there was no way out of this: there was no way she could lie, not with those dark brown eyes piercing right into her.
As the other's watched on in stunned silence, Firefly was dismayed; she'd never seen Lizzy backed into a corner like this before: usually she could sweet talk her way out of anything and around anyone, but Morri had her pinned down by the proverbial balls, and she wasn't giving her a single inch to wriggle out. Violet too was amazed to see her older sister being punished like this, as was Max, though she actually found herself admiring Morri, this girl had some serious balls, and didn't take any bullshit. Chelsea was just gobsmacked, but Roxy however, was just pleased that someone was finally able to put her little shit of a sister in her place at long last, and made a mental note to buy Morri a round of shots when they got back to the base (if we ever get out of this alive that is, she mentally reminded herself).
As for Lizzy, for the first time in her life she didn't know what to say: no smart-assed remarks or cleaver comebacks, her mind went belly-up like a dead goldfish on her, and as she frantically racked brain for an answer (or rather, the answer). Her salvation came when the Insecticons suddenly stopped...
The giant beasts all turned in the same direction, as if something had caught their attention far off in the distance, and simply stood there as they stared up at the sky.
"Uh, what are they doing now?" Chelsea nervously asked
"No idea," Morri replied, equally alarmed by the sudden change in behaviour.
A resounding wave of rapid-fired clicks emanated from beasts as they clacked their mandibles together: this strange call went around the pack a few times, before they all transformed back into their Insect modes and began to take off; One creature picked up Firefly in its jaws and carried her off, while a second gathered up the humans and younglings with its legs, and carried them under its armoured underside, using all six of its legs to hold them in place.
"Where're they taking us now?" Chelsea shouted over the blustery wind
"I don't know!" Morri called back, holding on tightly as they disappeared into the darkness.
Fifteen minutes later:
: It would appear these Insecticons didn't have the forethought to use ionized aluminium: Blackshot commed to Majestrix as she scanned the ground below
: So it would seem, but let's not hold our breath's just yet: Insecticon's can cover a fair bit of mileage when they need to, so we've a way to go yet : Majestrix replied, :Deathshot, what are you're long-range scanner's picking up? :
: Not much at this present time: their either flying under the radar floor or are obscured by the topography: the sniper replied as he flanked her right wing.
: Copy that:
"So? Care to tell us what happened back there?" John asked as he tried to wriggle into a more comfy position; being cramped into Deathshot's cockpit with his twelve foot tall hybrid son, plus Ravage, Frenzy and Rumble wasn't the best idea, but a necessary one, given the current circumstances.
"You mean Grimlock?" Deathshot replied
"Duh!, What was Prime's gripe? Those two had a falling out or something?" Ashley deadpanned
"That's putting it very lightly," Deathshot sighed through his sound-speakers: "Grimlock is the leader of a black-ops team called the Dynobots; one of many from back in the day when the war reached its worst, and the Autobot's needed a team that could specialize in taking on the tough missions; the ones that had little or no chance of getting out alive. Their tactics were hard and merciless, and their reputation was always questionable: but around a couple of thousand centuries ago, Shockwave and his forces ambushed them, and used them as test-subjects for some secret experiment he'd been working on...The scuttlebutt goes, that something went wrong during the procedure, and the Dynobots managed to escape: they went back to business as usual as soon as they rejoined the Autobots, only now they were different: much worse than before"
"Worse? How? " John raised a sceptical eyebrow,
"About a year or so before the Spark Eater attacked us in the Xion system: we undertook a mission alongside the Dynobots, to rescue a small party of neutrals, who's ship had been hijacked by one of Starscream's raiding parties. The extraction should have been simple enough: the ship had minimal defences, and the seeker's themselves had no back-up to hold us off; the plan was for the Dynobots to distract the seekers while we went in and grabbed the hostages. But Grimlock had no intention of letting anyone out alive; he covets power, and lusts for bloodshed wherever he can get it. Me and my unit went ahead to try and snipe the seekers guarding the ship, but before we even got started, Grimlock ordered the Dynobots to attack...I still remember the screams over the comms: it was an all-out massacre... And, by the time we arrived, both the seekers and hostages had been torn to pieces. Grimlock made some cheap excuse about the hostages being Decepticon's in disguise, and that it had been a rouse to trick us into lowering our defences. But we knew for a fact the hostages weren't cons: and I'm pretty sure Grimlock knew that too"
"Whoa! I ain't never heard that before!" Rumble blinked in surprise
"Very few have, it's just one of the 9's many dirty little secrets" Deathshot replied, not even attempting to disguise the shame in his voice.
"What happened when Prime found out? Did he try to kill him?" Ashley threw in
"He tried, from what I heard it got pretty ugly: but then, that's nothing new. Everyone knows Grimlock's been trying to oust Optimus as leader of the Autobots since they first met (mostly whenever the opportunity presented itself); the two have been a thorn in each other's side for as long as the war's dragged on, but neither can get the better of the other. Grimlock is all muscle and brute strength, with the attitude to go with it: but he's failed time and time again to comprehend the fact, that when it comes to physical strength, the Primes are in a whole other class of their own, and very few (if any at all) have been able to take them on head-to-head and survive (with the exception of Megatron)"
"So why didn't Prime just chuck him outta the Autobots? Every Decepticon, from Megatron to Shockwave knows the Dynobots were always great con martial; if it's the bloodshed they wanted, why didn't they just switch sides?" Rumble pondered aloud
"Because Grimlock hated the cons far more than he'd ever disapprove of Prime's moral code; before Shockwave got his hands on them, they were hardcore as it was: but afterwards? It was like nothing and no one else was of any relevance: only wiping out the cons mattered, regardless of whether Prime wanted them involved or not"
"So? They were sort of like, that one bunch of Jocks no one invited to the party?" Ashley asked
"And the last one to leave the party, was the one who got stuck with the check; pretty much" Deathshot sighed
"Hm, and I thought we had it bad: those brutes were an endless source of grief for the cons century in century out. I cannot recall, in all of living memory, a bunch of bots who could undo so much in so little a time as they did: they were probably the only bots who could destroy even Soundwave's best laid plans, despite their brainlessness" Ravage growled
"Amenbro!" Frenzy high-fived the panther
"Wait a minute: if Grimlock and his guys only just arrived here, that means they don't know you guys defected, right?" Ashley suddenly realized,
Ravage's expression soured by tenfold, while his brother's glanced at each other nervously: "No, he does not..." the panther growled in a low dangerous tone.
"Aw hell..."
Half an hour later, somewhere deep in the Sierra Mountains:
After having flown for another lengthy period of time, the Insecticons were now well and truly flying over the middle of nowhere: down below, not a single light could be seen for miles around, and with the light of the full moon being the only source of light to see anything at all, the captives had grown more worried of the possibility that the Autobots might not be able to find them at all...
Except for Morri, who right now, was more preoccupied with something on her CTG, as she typed away on the holographic keyboard: reading through the various data she was bringing up; hoping their kidnapper wouldn't overhear her, Max leaned in as close as she could to Morri's ear, and whispered: "What're you doing?"
"Trying to find something that'll help us" Morri whispered back. Max was about to ask something else, when the Insecticons banked sharply to the left, and started descending downwards. As the moon came into view overhead, the captives suddenly noticed a vast lake right below them, surrounded on one side by a vast cliff face that reached some five to six hundred feet above the water, where a dense forest concealed the rest of the topography.
The Insecticon pack came into land on the foreshore, right below the cliffs, and proceeded to lumber forward towards the rocky wall. Switching on her visor's night-vision, Morri saw a series of huge caves nestled under some large rocky overhangs; they looked like they went back into the cliffs for quite a way, and as the beasts proceeded into the larger of the hollowed out structures, the captives were taken into an adjacent cave some several meters away.
Firefly switched her headlights on, just as their kidnapper dropped them onto a large expanse of soft sand: and as the humans and three younglings gathered themselves together, the giant creature turned around and lumbered back to the cave entrance, where he sat himself down and proceeded to guard their only means of escape.
"Okay, so we're not dead, that's good right?" Roxy panted as she tried to get her breath back.
"But for how long?" Firefly pessimistically stated, "If I can just transform-
"I already told you, you're in no fit state to transform!" Morri snapped back
"Oh really? How?" the green femme challenged her as she sat upright.
"You don't feel much pain now right? Otherwise you wouldn't be able to sit upright like that" Morri pointed out
"Yeah, so?"
"So, if you're not feeling any pain, that means you're synaptic-nodes are in stasis because all the energon in that area of your body's circuitry's been leaked out! Also, you've got at least three torn ligament cables, two ruptured oil valves: and look, see that little gold spherical thing right there? ..." Morri pointed to said object that was barely noticeable in Firefly's wound, "That's your T-cog! And it's got a fracture running right over the frontal a-symmetric frame aligners: that means if you try to transform, you're frame won't align from femme to alt mode correctly, and you'll rip yourself in half, right down the middle!"
Firefly paused: she knew she'd been told the humans knew a thing or two about cybertronian anatomy, but she hadn't expected Morri to sound as professional as Ratchet; it took her aback quite a bit, and forced her to rethink this human girl's competence, "...You, know how a T-cog works?" she asked cautiously.
"We all do Fly', being an intern with NEST isn't just about filing reports and doing basic maintenance" Morri replied, hoping that would be the last time she would have to prove herself to her.
"Okay, so we can't use 'Fly to fight our way out: our only hope now is to hope and pray that the bots come and get us" Roxy stated
"If at all" Lizzy frowned, "I don't know if you noticed while we were flying, but we're kinda stuck in the middle of nowhere, with those oversized bugs right next door!"
Morri decided to step in again: "It's a bad situation, I know, but-
"But what?" Lizzy got right up in her face, "You think just because you can syke me out once, doesn't mean-
But Lizzy didn't get to finish as Annabelle punched her hard in the side of the knee; the teenager fell to her knees in pain, but didn't get the chance to complain as the four year old grabbed her by the hoodie, and yanked her down so she was right in her face: "Okay, now you listen up right now!" she growled venomously, "I've had just about enough of your attitude young lady! We're in a bad situation and you're not helping! We're surrounded by Decepticons, out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night, with an Autobot who can't fight. Being a little more cooperative and a little less bossy will go a long way, so just shut up and listen to Morri! She knows a thing or two about dealing with this kinda stuff!"
And with that, she let Lizzy go, letting her drop to the ground on her butt: But before she could retaliate, Roxy stepped in front of her, forcing her to stay sitting down: "If you got even half a brain in that thick skull of yours, you'll sit there and keep quiet!" she growled
"Oh come on!" Lizzy protested, "You can't be serious!"
"Well what the hell do you recommend?" Max challenged her, "Listen, I've hijacked enough cars to know mechanics inside and out, and I didn't understand a single word she just said back there; she knows what she's talking about"
"I wasn't asking you!" Lizzy snapped, to which Annabelle grabbed her by the scuff of her hoodie again: "Listen sweetie, I once blew up a Decepticon with a box of firecrackers: if you don't wanna find out what I'll do to you, you'll quit the attitude, and back off!" she warned
Looking up at the disapproving faces of the human's, Lizzy turned to Firefly, "Fly'! Back me up here!", but all the young femme could offer was: "...I'm sorry Lizzy, but I gotta go with her on this one..." she sheepishly admitted, feeling somewhat ashamed for letting her down.
Dismayed, Lizzy huffed in annoyance, and relinquished: "...Fine! What do you wanna do?"
Morri passed a sigh as she turned her attention back to the main situation at hand: "...Okay, now listen up. We can all agree the odds are against us; but that doesn't mean we're completely out of options. Okay, we don't have any weapons or any back-up: but we have each other, and that's a good a starting point as any" she stated
"Before we touched down here, you were doing something on that thing of yours" Max pointed to the CTG
"Did you send a message back to the base?" Sparklestar pleaded
"No, I already tried that; these Insecticons are emitting some sort of jamming pulse, so I couldn't get anything back to base, plus the weapon's settings aren't working; but my CTG does come equipped with some offline functions, including a data-base of all the main Decepticon warrior-classes"
"Insecticon? Is that what these guys are?" Firefly asked
"Yes, and I'm rather surprised you didn't know about them beforehand..." Morri raised an eyebrow as she activated her CTG, and displayed an image of an Insecticon, both in bipedal and alt mode: "But yes, these particular Decepticon's are called Insecticons: their basically the con's guard-dogs slash heavies, who're only good for ripping things apart and making a mess of a battlefield. Their armour is practically impenetrable, so even if you had taken them on, you're guns wouldn't have even dented them..." she glanced sideways at Firefly, "On top of that, their cannon's have enough firepower to decimate an aircraft carrier with one shot, they can easily out-fly a seeker, and their jaws and mandibles combined can crush just about anything"
"Then it's hopeless" Lizzy sighed
"Not necessarily" Morri replied, "These cons are designed to take on the heaviest bots in the heaviest fights, but they're not well suited for taking on smaller targets who may be well versed in guerrilla-style warfare; fighters that are small and light on their feet, faster and more agile...If we work together and strategize this right, we can use our own size to our advantage against them"
The other's all glanced at one another, and nodded in agreement: "Sounds like a plan, what've you got in mind?" Chelsea asked
"Well first off, I'm going to need you all to work with me here, and follow what I say"
"Okay, what'd you need?" Max replied
"I need you, Chelsea and Roxy with me, the first thing we'll do is scout the cave: it's pretty big and goes back into the cliff a fair ol' distance, so there must be a cavity or cavern of some sort we can use as a hiding place, if things start to get dicey"
"What can we do?" Sparklestar asked, "Yeah, I wanna do somethin'" Violet peeped in.
"Okay Violet, you can help Becky and Becca look after Jay-jay. Sparklestar, I need you to look after Firefly: her injury isn't life threatening, but if she starts bleeding internally, you'll be able to smell the leaked energon long before she can pick it up on her internal scanners, can you do that?" Morri asked, "Defiantly" the young sphinx nodded,
"Becky, Becca: stay with Firefly, and make sure she doesn't try anything rash" Morri added, "Right on" they both replied. "What can I do?" Annabelle asked, "I need you to make sure everyone stays together, and stays in the cave, while me and the girls are looking around. Also, if any of the cons come back I want you to call out to warn us, okay?" Morri replied, "Okay" she nodded.
"And me?" Lizzy asked: Morri paused a moment, before replying, "...I want you to stay with Firefly and the twins: if anyone asks anything of you, you help them out as best you can, and you do it without complaint; understand?"
"Yeah whatever" Lizzy flippantly replied, still very peeved off.
Still not satisfied that this issue was completely dealt with, Morri crouched down in front of her, and got her attention as she told her: "Listen, if you're scared, I understand: I don't want to be here anymore than you do. But if you're being this way for some other reason: I have to know right now, so I can at least take into consideration, any further bullshit you're likely to give me...Every second you waste with this, is precious time we can be making the most of: so either get it off your chest right now, or save it until we get back to the base"
"It's just-..." Lizzy's look of frustration and annoyance didn't leave her face as she tried to find the right words, "...I thought-, being on the base with the bots: I thought I'd know how to deal with this, you know?"
"That's what this is about? You couldn't stand loosing you're cool so you take it out on Morri?!" Annabelle exclaimed
"No! It's just-..." Lizzy looked back up at Morri, "-I've see you around the base all the time, and I don't get what everyone finds so cool about you? I don't see you up on the firing range or in the training room so you obviously don't know how to fight, I don't see you in the computer labs with Darren and Glen so you're obviously not smart enough to be a techy. So what the hell do you do that justifies everyone liking you so much?"
Morri stared at her for the longest time, her face devoid of any expression, as she seemed to be contemplating Lizzy's statement: then she slowly got back up, and simply replied: "...It's not about having the strength or the smarts that make you stand out; sometimes, there are other, more important attributes that other's come to recognize that make you count for something: things like experience, respect, and understanding... Something, you've yet to fully grasp and appreciate. I'm sorry, if I don't meet your standards for being one of the 'cool kids', but this isn't high school. At NEST, we aren't governed by cliques, judged by our taste in fashion, friends or trends: we are all in the same boat together, everyone relies on everyone, regardless of who they are or where they come from..." she stated as she crouched back down to meet her eye-level, and spoke in a more reassuring tone, "...Look, I don't despise you, I'm not being hard like this because I'm getting some cheap kick out of it; I'm being this way because you insist on wanting to act the fool: and until you grow up a little and start behaving more responsibly, I'll keep you on the bench as such..."
Lizzy didn't reply
"Please...Just think about it okay?" Morri added, before she got back up to address the Roxy, Chelsea and Max. "Come on, we better get a move on..."
And with that, the girl's each reached for the little torches they had in their pockets, and made their way to the back of the cave, while Morri went to check out the entrance, being careful not to disturb the 'guard'.
Meanwhile, elsewhere deep in the Sierras:
"Uh, Lord Barkiss, sir? We just picked up the Decepticon's signal: it would appear they've taken the bait"
"Ah-ha! Excellent!"
"Um? Only one catch sir, it appears they've taken some hostages as well; one of the young female Autobot's, two of their 'children', and nine of the human children to boot"
"Hm, even better! That takes care of the bait for phase two; what's the situation with the Autobots?"
"They've already sent out a small scouting party, but it would appear that Optimus Prime is not with them sir"
"Darn! Well where the bloody hell is he?"
"Apparently, the Decepticons were followed by-, some fellows calling themselves the 'Dinobots' (at least that's what the comms picked up); their heading towards the Sierras as we speak, with Prime and a small team of his officers in hot pursuit"
"Hmm, so this may not have been a waste after all..."
"Would you like us to change the location of the traps sir?"
"No no, keep them in place and ready the weapons: we'll just have to find a way of grabbing one of the children; the question is, how?"
Shallow Lizzy, real shallow :( ...& Barkiss, what are you up to there?
Hard to say what's gonna come next, but either way, you can't say it won't be interesting ;)
Much love, and do drop off a review before leaving please! :)