The combined efforts of Devcon, Slizardo and Lightbright still weren't enough to break out of the shuttle, and it was now landing at its destination.
"Stay back". Devcon told Lightbright as the shuttle door began opening.
Devcon readied his weapon and jumped through the doorway, followed by Slizardo.
To their surprise, no one was in sight.
Suddenly, something dropped onto Devcon's back, knocking him to the ground.
"Surprise!" Vortex laughed, leaning into Devcon's face.
Slizardo began firing his weapon at Vortex, but it was making no dent on the Combaticon. Vortex snatched up the alien and laughed again. "This was too easy!"
"Quit showin' off!" Brawl said, walking into the shuttle.
Devcon tried to knock Vortex off and get to his feet, but the Decepticon was too strong.
Brawl walked out of the shuttle, carrying a struggling Lightbright.
"Put me down!" she yelled.
"Are you kidding?" Brawl asked. "Do you know the trouble we went to to capture you?"
"What should I do with these two?" Vortex asked, referring to Devcon and Slizardo.
"Bring 'em along".
"Help me".
"I've got my hands full with this one!" Brawl said.
"I can't carry him by myself!" Vortex whined.
Devcon was trying to reach the gun he had dropped. Seeing this, Vortex punched the bounty hunter in the face, knocking him out. Vortex then took one of Devcon's arms and started dragging him toward a run-down building.
Devcon opened his eyes to find Onslaught standing in front of him.
"Did you enjoy your little nap?" Onslaught asked.
Devcon tried to lunge at him but found his arms were chained to the wall. Lightbright was chained next to him and Slizardo was in a small cage hanging from the ceiling on the other side of the room.
"I guess you're wondering why we brought you here". Onslaught said.
"It had crossed my mind". Devcon replied.
"Megatron's been having a little trouble controlling Trypticon, so he's got a job for the femme. As for you, you were just in the way". Onslaught leaned into Devcon's face. "But I'm willing to bet Megatron could find a use for you, too. But first, why don't we find out how much you know?".
"What makes you think I'd know anything you'd want to hear?" Devcon asked.
"You're an Autobot aren't you? You've done jobs for all of those big-wigs"
Devcon gave a laugh. "I just do the grunt work, they don't let me in on any of their secrets".
Onslaught considered the bounty hunter, unsure of whether to believe him or not. "I'm sure you know a couple of things I'd be interested in". Onslaught said finally, walking over to Lightbright. "Maybe I can help jog your memory". He took a blaster and aimed it at the city speaker's head.
"You wouldn't really do that". Devcon told him. "What would Megatron say?"
Onslaught growled, then grabbed Devcon around the neck, slamming him against the wall. "He wouldn't have any problems with me using it on you". He sneered.
"He hasn't done anything to you". Lightbright spoke up.
"So?" Onslaught said. He walked back over to her. "I guess you're probably tired after your trip, so I'll have Vortex take you to the Decepticon base and you can get settled in". He snapped his fingers and Vortex jogged over.
Despite Lightbright's struggling, Vortex quickly loosened the chains, scooped her up and began walking toward the exit. Devcon was pulling against the chains with all his strength, but it was no use.
Onslaught laughed. "Those chains are pretty strong, huh? You know, if you want to go along, we can arrange that".
Acting quickly, Devcon rammed his head into Onslaught's, causing the Combaticon to stagger back a few steps. Enraged, Onslaught pulled out his blaster again and fired a shot at Devcon, who ducked his head. Then, as Onslaught was preparing another shot, Devcon kicked the blaster, causing the laser blast to ricochet off the wall and hit the chain holding Slizardo's cage on the ceiling. The cage clattered to the floor, knocking the door open and Slizardo scampered out, heading for the weapons laying on a table. Onslaught began firing at Slizardo, but the alien was too fast to get an aim on. Picking up a small blaster, Slizardo fired a shot at Onslaught's gun hand, causing him to drop the weapon, then he ran to Devcon and released the chains. Onslaught launched onto Devcon and the two locked into combat.
"Go find Lightbright!" Devcon said, and Slizardo took off.
Onslaught was a lot bigger and stronger than Devcon, and easily picked up the bounty hunter, tossing him into the table that held the weapons.
"That was convenient". Devcon quipped, grabbing a rifle and firing a shot at Onslaught, knocking him to the ground. Devcon jumped to his feet and ran toward the hall, knowing that the blast wouldn't keep the heavily armored Combaticon down for long. Brawl was walking through the doorway.
"What's all the noise?" he asked. He jumped aside as Devcon ran past. "Hey!"
"Stop him you idiot!" Onslaught shouted, jumping to his feet.
Brawl ran after Devcon, but the bounty hunter was faster and had a head start. When he was sure he had outdistanced Brawl, Devcon stopped to get his bearings. The building was large and full of different hallways. Which one to take? And where was Slizardo? He then became aware of a femme's angry voice.
That way.
As he ran down the hall, he nearly bumped into Slizardo, who was coming from another hall opening. Slizardo gave a happy sounding chatter, glad to see his friend was okay. Together, they burst out of the hall and into a hanger, where Vortex was carrying a struggling Lightbright toward Blast Off, who was waiting in shuttle mode to take her to Megatron.
Devcon fired at Vortex, causing the startled Combaticon to drop Lightbright.
"Run!" Devcon shouted at Lightbright, as Vortex turned to face him. Blast Off transformed to robot mode, ready to help Vortex with the intruder. Lightbright ran to Devcon, who shoved her behind him as the Combaticons started firing their weapons. It didn't take long for Devcon to realize he and Slizardo were badly outgunned.
"Go, go, go!" Devcon ordered, shoving Lightbright back down the hall.
"Shouldn't we have tried to get to the hangar opening?" Lightbright asked as they ran.
"There's no way those two would have let us past". Devcon said, turning to fire a shot at the approaching Combaticons.
"How are you going to find our way out of here? It's like a maze!" Lightbright said.
"One problem at a time". Devcon said.
"That's why we should have gone out of the hangar!"
"You wanna go back and see if they'll let us through?"
Lightbright didn't answer.
Suddenly, Devcon slid to a stop as Onslaught stepped in his path.
"I really don't appreciate bots messing up my plans''. Onslaught said. He knocked Devcon in the jaw, sending him falling into Brawl, who quickly picked him up, while Onslaught tossed Lightbright over his shoulder and picked up Slizardo by the tail.
"Tell Blast Off to get ready to take these three to Megatron". Onslaught told Brawl. "If you ask me, this femme has been more trouble than she's worth".
"At least we're getting paid for it". Brawl said.
"Barely". Onslaught muttered, thinking the payment Megatron had offered them was too small. While the Combaticons had been talking, Slizardo had managed to grab his gun and sent a blast into the hand Onsluaght was carrying him with.
"Why you little - !"
Slizardo dropped to the floor and ran down the hall.
"Want me to go after him?" Brawl asked.
"Forget it, we'll look for him later". Onslaught said, continuing toward the hangar. "It's not like he'll be able to find his way out of here, I get confused myself".
Lightbright and Devcon's hands were chained behind their backs and they were led toward Blast Off, who was waiting for them in shuttle mode.
"I'm sorry", Devcon muttered.
"It's not your fault", Lightbright said. "You did your best".
"It wasn't enough".
As they got closer to Blast Off, Devcon noticed a large stack of metal pipes nearby. If he could somehow knock them over, they would land directly onto Blast Off, at least that would buy them some time. He then caught movement on a walkway above them.
Slizardo.
The alien was watching, seemingly trying to figure out a way to help. Devcon gave a very low whistle, knowing Slivardo with his keen hearing would be the only one to pick it up. Slivardo jerked to attention, looking directly at Devcon. Devcon tilted his head toward the pile of metal and gave a slight nod. Slizardo scampered to the area of the walkway that was right above the metal and fired at the supports. The pipes came crashing down in a loud avalanche - right onto Blast Off.
"Get this stuff off me!" Blast Off yelled.
Onslaught grabbed Devcon by the shoulder and yanked him around to face him. "Did you do that?!" he demanded.
"How could I?" Devcon answered.
"The pet". Vortex guessed, looking around.
"Find him!" Onslaught barked.
A search was started for Slizardo, and Lightbright and Devcon were pushed to the floor to wait.
Slizardo jumped off the walkway and onto Devcon's head, quickly and quietly working to undo the chains.
"I can always count on you to lend a hand, huh, buddy?" Devon said with a smile.
"There he is!" Vortex shouted, pointing toward the prisoners.
Slizardo jumped off Devcon as the bounty hunter leaped to his feet, firing at the Combaticons.
"Uh, hello?" Blast Off called. "I could use a hand over here".
"Shut up!" Onslaught snapped.
"I hope you were able to find another way out of here, Slizardo". Devcon said, dodging a blast.
Slizardo chattered excitedly as he finished freeing Lightbright.
"Then lead the way!"
Slizardo led the way down a narrow hall, followed by Lightbright. Devcon continued firing at the Combaticons, trying to keep them from following. Vortex transformed into copter mode, sending a shower of blasts toward Devcon.
"I'm getting claustrophobic under here!" Blast Off yelled.
"Go help him so he'll shut up!" Onslaught ordered Brawl.
Devcon sent a blast into Vortex's rotors, causing the copter to crash to the floor.
Vortex returned to bot mode and examined a bent rotor blade. "That was my favorite blade!" he said.
Devcon ducked into the hall then fired a shot over the doorway, sending an avalanche of building material to block the opening.
Vortex walked over to where Onslaught was pawing through the rubble, hardly making a dent.
"Something tells me we lost out on that paycheck". Vortex said.
Devcon caught up with Slizardo and Lightbright at the end of the hall and Slizardo opened a door, revealing a small shuttle.
"Nice work, Slizardo!" Devcon said, putting his fist out for Slizardo to bump.
"Are you okay?" Lightbright asked.
"Fine, now let's get you to Crystal City". Devcon said, walking into the shuttle.
Slizardo jumped into the driver's seat and started the shuttle, sending it into space.
Devcon planted himself in another seat with a sigh. He was sure Froid would be giving him an audio full when they got to Crystal City.
"You are such a smart little thing!" Lightbright said, giving Slizardo a hug. "Yes he is!"
Devcon rolled his eyes. He really couldn't stand baby talk.
An hour later, the shuttle docked outside of Crystal City's main building. Devcon walked down the ramp, followed by Lightbright and Slizardo. And as expected, there stood Froid waiting for them, with his arms crossed, frowning. Once they were safely on the shuttle, Devcon had let him know they were on the way, but apparently Froid's mood hadn't softened.
"Lightbright, are you hurt?" Froid asked as they approached.
"I'm fine, Froid!" Lightbright said with a smile.
"I'm glad to see you safe", Froid said, Then, casting a sharp look at Devcon, added, "Despite the incompetence of this bumbling oaf".
"Don't be hard on him, Froid". Lightbright said. "The Combaticons would have hijacked the shuttle even if Devcon wasn't there. And if he hadn't been there, I would have really been in trouble".
"I suppose". Froid grudgingly agreed, handing Devcon his pay. "Now get inside Lightbright, everyone is waiting for you".
"Okay!"
Then, to everyone's surprise, Lightbright stretched up to give Devcon a kiss. "Thanks for everything, Devcon!" she said. She gave Slizardo a pat on the head. "Bye, Slizardo!" She then ran toward the door of the building. "Come by and say 'hi' the next time you guys are in town!"
Froid turned to follow, leaving Devcon and Slizardo outside.
"Well, looks like someone has an admirer".
Devcon turned to find his old friend Smokescreen standing behind him.
"Smokescreen! What are you doing here?" Devcon shook hands with the Autobot.
"Poker tournament". Smokescreen said. "Looks like you had a long day".
"You might say that".
Smokescreen gave Devcon a punch in the arm. "C'mon, I'll buy you an Engex and we can catch up".
Devcon placed his hand down and Slizardo scrambled onto it, then made his way onto Devcon's shoulder as the bounty hunter followed Smokescreen.