Mixed-Up
Chapter 9: The Final Battle
"Everything's almost ready," Bumblebee said happily, fiddling with another dial.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Optimus asked hesitantly, eyeing the machine warily. Bumblebee and Black Arachnia had taken all of the broken, jagged pieces of metal and turned them into a rather strange looking machine that Bumblebee said would take them home.
"Nope," Bumblebee replied, straightening. "I have no idea if it'll work or not but theoretically it should."
"I'm not sure about this, Prime," Ratchet grumbled.
"It is entirely possible that something could go wrong and we could die," Prowl observed.
"Or we could go home," Bulkhead argued.
Optimus sighed wearily and said to Bumblebee, "We'll do it."
Bumblebee's gray faceplate lit up and eagerly he began flipping switches and pressing buttons. Lights started flashing and the machine emitted several loud beeps. "It's working!" Bumblebee cried in delight. "It's really working!"
"I'm not so sure that's a good thing," Optimus said as he began to back up when smoke started pouring from the machine.
"Is it supposed to do that?" Blitzwing asked curiously as he cautiously peered into the room.
"How should we know?" Black Arachnia snapped from her position on the ceiling. "We've never used it before."
"You're just now telling us that?" Optimus yelled as the machine began to smoke even more.
Before Bumblebee could reply Skywarp appeared in the middle of the room. "The Autobots are coming!" he shrieked then disappeared.
"Great," Bumblebee sighed as Skywarp reappeared, this time with Starscream. "I think this is usually the time when your leader, that's me, gives you an inspirational speech about how we're supposed to go out there and defeat the Autobots. But I'm not going to do that. Instead all I can say is; we're all probably going to get off-lined and more than likely the Autobots are going to win."
"I'm glad that he's not trying to depress us," Starscream muttered under his breath causing Skywarp to giggle.
Bumblebee scowled at the two Seekers then continued to speak. "I'm not asking you to die for no reason; I'm asking you to go out there and fight the Autobots like you don't have anything to lose."
"But ve don't," Blitzwing protested.
Bumblebee ignored him. "We don't have to win, just keep Sentinel and his goons occupied long enough for the portal to open and for them," he pointed to the four Autobots standing in the room, "to get home. Any questions?"
"Just one," Prowl said. "Why did all of you think we were Bumblebee's hallucinations even though you could see us?"
Black Arachnia turned crimson as did the rest of the Neutrals then, reluctantly, she said, "There was a slight incident with the high grade a while back and we all had the same hallucinations for years afterwards. Don't ask me how because I honestly don't know."
"Anymore questions?" Bumblebee asked and looked please when there were no more. "In that case," his weapons came online and he held up his energon blade, "Death to the Autobots! Long live the Neutrals!"
Mere minutes later the door was flung open with a loud bang as Sentinel Magnus marched in, followed by the rest of the Autobots. A growl was heard from Starscream as his sworn enemy, Barricade, came in. The black-and-white Autobot smirked when he saw the Seeker move protectively in front of his clone.
Sentinel ignored all the other bots in the room and went straight to Bumblebee. "You destroyed my office and the brig," he growled through gritted denta.
"Oh, what a shame," Bumblebee said innocently.
Sentinel let out a roar and launched himself at the minibot who merely stepped aside, letting the orange-and-blue leader crash headfirst into the wall.
Barricade, meanwhile, had rapidly advance on Starscream who was backing up just as quickly, still keeping Skywarp behind him. All too soon the two fliers hit a wall causing the Autobot to smile as his right servo turned into a cannon. Just as he was about to fire the Neutrals disappeared. Barricade frowned then howled in pain as he was shot from behind. He turned around to see Starscream standing there, Skywarp cautiously peeking out from behind his Creator.
"Ah," Barricade nodded sagely. "Warping. That's all he's good for. You femme clone on the other servo was brilliant not to mention pretty good at other things too if you get my drift," he winked suggestively as he said the last part.
Any brilliant plan Starscream might have had went flying out the proverbial window as he stopped firing and instead tackled Barricade, sending both of them to the floor in a frenzy of limbs. Skywarp watched anxiously as the two bots battled for dominance, neither one willing to surrender.
As Barricade was still able to think rationally the outcome was inevitable; he managed to rise to his pedes, leaving Starscream on the floor. He pointed his cannon at the downed flier but just as he fired Skywarp suddenly appeared in front of Starscream, taking the full force of the blast.
"No!" Starscream yelled in anguish as Skywarp's armor turned gray and the last ounce of color drained from his violet optics, leaving them black. For a minute Starscream simply sat there, holding the lifeless body of his clone. He leaned down and whispered something in Skywarp's audio sensors then gently laid him down. Rising to his full height Starscream pointed his weapons at Barricade and charge them.
"Slag," the Autobot cursed, realizing too late that he had severely miscalculated the Neutral's rage as Starscream fired at him. When the off-lined Autobot finally hit the floor Starscream said nothing but merely kneeled on the floor and gathered Skywarp's frame, holding it close to his chassis.
The rest of the Neutrals were having problems as well. Black Arachnia had lost three of her spider legs to one particularly viscous Autobot who kept trying to pull the rest of them off as well. Blitzwing's left arm was gone, and the right one was literally hanging by a thread, much to his dismay. Fortunately he still had his weapons but not for long if the three Autobots on his back trying to pull his cannons off had anything to say about it.
"Stop that," Blitzwing protested after one particularly painful tug. "I need those."
Black Arachnia suddenly let out a scream that had every bot turning to look at her. Someone had hacked her organic part off leaving a gaping hole where energon was now flowing freely. Completely disregarding the fact that Bumblebee had specifically told them to stay out of the way, Optimus pulled out his axe and headed towards the femme now writhing in agony only to stop when Blitzwing fired. The body jerked once then lay completely still.
"She did not deserve to suffer," Blitzwing said then he too cried out as the Autobots finally succeeded in pulling one of his cannons off. Starscream finally looked up from his position on the floor and suddenly he started beeping. Seconds later he and Skywarp both…exploded, bringing down most of the ceiling and crushing the Autobots along with Blitzwing and himself.
Sentinel watched as his soldiers were all off-lined then pulled out his sword, turning to face Bumblebee. "Let's finish this," he growled.
Bumblebee nodded in agreement and, pulling out his sword, began blocking Sentinel's attacks.
While all this was going on they had completely forgotten all about the machine that Bumblebee had turned on before the fight started. They remembered however when a swirling portal opened up behind Bumblebee and Sentinel Magnus, reminding Optimus of the dream he had had that night in the brig.
The four Autobots watched as the two bots fought, neither one particularly concerned by the fact that they no longer had an army to command.
It appeared that Sentinel had won for his energon blade had gone completely through Bumblebee's chassis. Before the Autobot Supreme Commander could enjoy his victory however the minibot smiled and dug both of his energon blades into Sentinel's spark chamber. Both bots pulled their weapons out of each other then stumbled back, weakly trying to stem the energon flows. Sentinel looked at Bumblebee in disbelief then fell backwards, armor and optics devoid of color.
Bumblebee sank to his knee-joints and smiled weakly at the Autobots who immediately rushed to his side. "I guess we won," he said shakily.
"Hold on, kid," Ratchet muttered, "and I'll patch you up."
The medic reached out to touch Bumblebee's chassis but the minibot shook his head, weakly batting Ratchet's servo away.
"No, Ratchet," he whispered. "I won; I beat Sentinel Magnus. I have nothing more to do here."
"But," the medibot began to protest.
"It's time for you guys to go home."
Optimus locked optics with the minibot who was slowly turning gray and he nodded. "Let's go," he said.
"Take care of me, Optimus," Bumblebee whispered, grabbing the taller bot's servo.
"I will," Optimus assured him then followed the others into the portal, Bumblebee's gray, off-lined body the last thing he saw.
A/N: 10 reviews then I will post the last chapter tomorrow.