Chapter 12 – rampage

Animal I Have Become
By Tree Days Grace

I can't escape this hell,
So many times I've tried,
But I'm still caged inside.
Somebody get me through this nightmare,
I can't control myself.

Armageddon's POV

There was another snip. This one was of the black creature going on another rampage. It wasn't doing it voluntarily, it was starving and unable to control itself, like it was some sort of puppet.

It was eating hundreds of humans.

Alive.

Choppers, jets and tanks tried to bring it down, but nothing could touch it. It flew off, diving into the water, where they couldn't bother it.

oOo

Phoenix Hailstrom's POV

I was concerned when I heard about a giant alien robot (Autobot? Decepticon?) going on a rampage through Detroit and eating hundreds of humans, alive.

It was a red alert. The entire military scrambled all of their forces, including the Air Force, and we were sent in to kill this thing.

We used more helicopters than jets, as they were slower and more manoeuvrable. I myself got a Comanche. They were pretty old, but so good that we still use them. We got them all loaded up with our best weapons. Then we were off, heading from our base to Detroit.

I said to Frankie over the radio, "Nervous, Frankie?"

"Sorta," he replied, "you know those Autobots and Decepticons over in Detroit?"

"Yeah. You think this guy is one of them?"

"Yep. It can't be anything else."

"You'd think so, but since when do they eat people?"

He paused, "this could be a new one. There have been new guys coming in lately. I think it's a 'Con, as the 'Bots have sworn to protect us."

"Probably is. We'll have to see what insignia it has."

"Would you two shut up?" Simon snapped, "We gotta concentrate."

We were quiet after that. You never mess with Simon. He had one hell of a temper and he gets tight as when he gets nervous, and I knew that we all were a little nervous, at least.

We got there in about an hour. There were tanks, soldiers, trucks, everything.

We stood by, hovering in the air, until Simon gave us the order, "There's the bogie boys, give it everything you got."

The enemy, or bogie, was a huge black robot. It had wings, so I guessed that it was a Decepticon. It looked different to the others… slimmer and with more curves. Was it a female? I don't like hitting ladies, but I had to, so I fired a few laser-guided missiles.

The missiles, everything all of us had fired at it… her… hit their mark perfectly. But it seemed to have a force field of some kind around it, so nothing damaged her. She seemed to come out of a trance. She looked up, and I swear she looked directly at me, her crimson eyes burning into mine. I knew those eyes...

Oh, my God, the thing that had been destroyed at Pontiac last fortnight.

And then she was gone. She transformed into an f-117 Nighthawk (a stealth aircraft from 50 years ago? I thought those things had gone out of service…) and flew off at speeds I didn't think a Nighthawk could ever go.

We gave chase, still firing and having no effect on her because of the force field. We flew over Lake Erie and she slowed way down. I got a lock on her and fired, but she dropped dived into the water.

Everyone was freaked out now. We had NEVER come across anything like this. I mean, force fields are supposed to be just science fiction, right? There's no way a Nighthawk could go that fast, right? This didn't make any sense.

They called in the Autobots. Everyone was told to completely surround the lake and stand by. I landed the Comanche and waited. I watched police choppers and speedboats go all over the lake and chase civilians out. It took them a full hour to get everyone out, and by then the 'Bots had only just arrived (damn Detroit's terrible traffic). There were tonnes of civilians gathering around the edge of the lake, demanding to know what was going on. I just sat in my chopper and waited for the next move.

Frankie came over and said, "Hey Phoenix, if anyone asks, the story is that we're doing 'target practice'."

I snorted, "No-one's going to buy that. I mean, come on, the civilians have already seen the bogie. Everyone has a camera and phone these days, so they must've gotten footage and photos. Then you got the huge amount of military around the lake. Whoever comes up with these stories really needs new material."

Frankie nodded, "not wrong. But what else could they say? We don't want the public getting freaked out."

I shrugged, "I don't know, but there's got to be a better story than that, hasn't there?"

He shrugged, "Probably. Anyway, I should get back to my chopper."

I nodded and continued to just sit and wait. There was nothing better to do. I heard over the radio that they were sending in bombers and aircraft loaded with something called 'Hydra Torpedoes'. I've never heard of those before.

A few bomber aircraft flew overhead and dropped bombs into random places in the central area of the lake. Not nuclear, just average ones. Then about 30 seconds later, more aircraft flew closer to the water surface and dropped what looked like torpedoes. Must be those Hydra Torpedoes they were talking about.

There's no way the bogie could survive that. It had to have been hit.

We got the order to be ready. I started up the chopper and took off, just hovering, waiting, like the rest of us pilots.

We waited a few minutes. Then something really weird happened.

Glowing purple stuff began to rise up from the water, spreading out and changing the water.

"What the hell…" I muttered, preparing to use my missiles.

A few minutes later, there was movement in the middle of the lake, right where the purple stuff had started. Then the bogie burst out of the water in robot form without a single scratch on her.

We fired everything we had at her, but of course, it didn't damage her at all because of that damn force field. But I did see her falter. Maybe we can hurt her after all.

The civilians started screaming. I knew that they knew we had lied to them and this is the real deal. I risked a look down. They were running away as fast as they could, a few even had mobiles to their ears. They were calling people at a time like this?

I returned my attention to the bogie and then I heard the most horrible, ear splitting, animal-like roar I've ever heard in my entire life. She was going crazy. Both her arms combined and transformed into… was that a giant bazooka?!

It was. She started blowing vehicles up.

The general ordered over the radio, "All units, power down now!"

I had no idea why he gave us an order like that, but I reluctantly obeyed. I landed the chopper and turned the power completely off.

The bogie was throwing up. The water was being contaminated with her puke. Yuck. I made a face at the gross act. Then I got a stab of dread when I saw her fly to the opposite shore of the lake and land. I thought I knew what was going to happen.

Oh God, I was right.

She started picking up 3 or 4 people (civilians and military both) in her hands and eating them alive, tearing them to shreds, letting the blood spill, scooping up more and repeating the gruesome process. I was too horrified to look away.

"Why did the general tell us to land?" I moaned, feeling so defenceless and totally unable to help those people in any way, "we could at least try and help the people. Now we can't do anything."

She had eaten about a dozen people when she doubled over, clutching her gut. She threw up everything in her stomach. Then she repeated the whole process over and over again: eating about a dozen people and then throwing everything back up.

I didn't have much of a chance to think it through as to why she was doing that. Two of the Autobots, Ratchet and Bumblebee, generated an electromagnetic pulse. The golden shockwave swept all over the lake, and a little bit further.

So that why the general had told us to power down; The EMP shockwave knocked out all the electrical equipment it touched, including the bogie.

She just fell over, not making a noise or anything, just fell to the ground. People started gathering around cautiously, poking her, testing to see if she would move. She didn't move at all, so I guessed she had been knocked out by the EMP blast.

They called in 4 Chinooks, which lowered chains. Guys attached them to each extremity (ie wrists and ankles) and the Chooks gently lifted her into the air. The Chooks then flew off in the direction of our Air Force base, going chook, chook, chook all the way there. There were dozens of guys starting up their vehicles and aircraft and moving out. Our job was done so I assumed that the rest of us were supposed to go back to our respective bases.

I started up the Comanche and took off, following the Chooks back to the base.

oOo

Armageddon's POV

Finally, I could see an end to the darkness. I welcomed the light and warmth as it enveloped me, and I woke for what felt like the first time in years.

I opened my eyes.

I couldn't move my body. All I could move was my eyes and mouth. My hands were in cuffs. Then I noticed that they were black and metal... I was the black creature! The terrible thing which had caused so much damage! The monster from my nightmares!

I was propped up on the wall inside what looked like an aircraft hanger… without the aircraft. There was a huge blue and red robot (although, he was probably the same height as me), with its arms crossed over its chest, its eyes narrowed at me. This guy looked pissed off.

"Who are you?"

"My full name is Acheron Vitus Pittman, but just call me Acheron." I answered.

"Why'd you do it?"

"Do what?" I asked, "And who the hell are you? What are you? Where am I? When is it? What the hell is going on here? Did I miss something?"

He looked at me like he too was confused, "I'm Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots. You're in an Air Force base near Detroit, the year 2058—"

"WHAT?!" I shrieked. Oh crap, I was freaking out, "Last thing I remember, I was at high school, Canberra, Australia, right at the start of 2007! I had just been introduced to Spectre Hailstrom, whose nickname is Grim Reaper, by a friend. We were thinking of a nickname for me, then Spectre said 'Oh, what about..." then it all went black! Are you trying to tell me that I forgot the past 51 years of my life and I'm still the same age?!"

And you are who exactly?

Great, now I got voices in my head.

No, just one. I'm Chatterbox.

I think I'm Acheron, but I'm really not sure about anything anymore.

Perfect.

A/N: ok, I know I have an American fan - traffic. You know who you are, and thank you heaps! :D Why haven't you reviewed yet? What I don't get is heaps of you are skipping chapters, so I have the strangest feeling that you wouldn't understand what's going on. But thanks, anyway. Could someone explain that to me, cuz it's kinda annoying not knowing.

Also, a big general welcome to everyone who reads this. You've all been really awesome! But I just wanna know what you think. Good? Bad? Craptacular? What in hell's name have you been smoking? Anything, the only exception being senseless flames, is most welcome.