Well, I overhauled this one much more than I expected to. It also came out much longer than I expected.
Expect the unexpected, yes?
Anyway, I hope you enjoy! :D
Thundercracker felt something… something not right. She bellowed as pain hit her from everywhere at once, and then faded and struck again, this time on their trine bond. The bond vibrated weirdly. She'd never felt something like that before. She took a second to ponder it before it happened again, this time stronger, as if lightning was reverberating down the link. It was nothing like a lash. One of her trine had been hurt, seriously. At first, she thought it was Starscream, as he was one on one with Megatron.
She sought the bond to find that it wasn't Starscream… It was Skywarp! Skywarp wasn't sending or receiving, and the bond was all sorts of wrong. She tried to focus on him, to get something from him, but Skywarp was gone. Just… gone.
She was disoriented from the blast to her Spark from the bond. Feeling as though she could barely control her flight, or thinking she was still flying, she smashed painfully into the side of the mountain. She transformed to slide down to the flat ground below. It didn't damage her as much as it could have, seeing as she also wasn't going as fast as she thought she was. She grabbed for her Spark, unsure of what to make of what her trine bond was telling her. She was scared.
In fear and desperation, she tried to contact Starscream, but the trine bond was frayed, and only static and weird noise returned her. The blue femme screamed for her trine mate, "No! Skywarp!"
She reached for her Spark as another pain unlike the previous shot through her and a strange sensation took her over. She continued to search for Skywarp, hoping he'd gone temporarily out of range, but dread made her think again. A few seconds later, the sensation was gone.
In the meantime, Starscream had finally gotten the upper hand. He'd tricked Megatron, and it worked! He was on top of the tyrant. The claws on his feet were embedded in his abdomen and chest, and he was ruthlessly punching him, slamming him with everything he had, firing weapons as fast as he could to do as much damage as possible. He went to throw a devastating punch with a null ray when he suddenly short stopped, his optics going wide, and he staggered. It felt like his Spark had shattered.
Megatron took the moment and threw Starscream off of him, growling as he watched the Seeker stumble out of balance. He moved to stand, noting his injuries. His chest was bleeding pretty badly, and his left shoulder was injured almost to disuse. That was a nasty trick the Seeker had pulled. As Starscream stilled on the ground, he had heard on his own links what Sunstorm had done, and a wicked smile crossed his features, knowing that's what Starscream was reacting to. "Ahh… Skywarp…" he said as he looked up and then looked back at Starscream. "Ain't that a bitch."
Starscream tried to gain his balance, fumbling backwards, confused. He turned for Megatron again, watching where he was. Rapidly blinking, he tried to chase away the distractions and confusion that clouded his vision. He then looked toward the sky. "Skywarp?" he asked, "Skywarp!" he then cried out. "No! What have you done!"
He looked back at Megatron. He'd had him! Growling, he knew not if he could get him again. He still had to fight, he still had to beat the tyrant, but he was disoriented and temporarily weakened, afraid Megatron would attack him in his confusion.
Megatron grinned as he approached the Seeker while he seemed confused and he swung hard downwards with a fist, landing a blow on Starscream's left leg, nearly breaking it at the knees, saying, "It wasn't me. It was Sunstorm. He killed him." His voice was eerily quiet.
Starscream shrieked and buckled, catching himself on his hands. "'Warp…" he whispered, scared that his Trine-mate had been killed. It hadn't even registered to him who Megatron had referenced with the kill, as he was too upset about Skywarp.
Elsewhere in the world, Jess felt his world return. His head felt like an ice pick had run through his temple, but he didn't have time to contemplate that. The teleport wasn't as quick as it should have been and Skywarp's body sizzled.
Why was he sizzling?
He quickly looked back at the teleport screen, and realized his vision was weirdly swimmy. He had been hoping it had some information about where they were, but the colors going through his eyes made it hard to see anything straight. Wiping his eyes, he found them unclear. What was going on? Squinting, it was more difficult to actually see what was there since the jet was vibrating so badly as well. What he could make out, he didn't like.
Destination ERROR (Cybertronian): MALFUNCTION
Incorrect Element to Sustain. ABORT.
Emergency Ejection (Cybertronian) Grid.
FAULT (Cybertronian): 34435.233 FATAL ERROR.
Jess stared as he tried to make out where they'd reappeared, except it made no sense. What the hell did 'Ejection from Grid' mean?
"'Warp?" he struggled to say and looked up when the jet started to dive again. That was about the time he barely noticed the forest they were flying over – one with leaves. He clearly remembered being in the desert. "What the…?" Where the hell were they?
"Hey! Answer me!" the man kicked the jet while holding the side of his head, hoping for a response. When the Seeker clicked, he sighed with relief, "Aw, man, 'Warp, you alright?"
"I…" A weakened, digitized voice returned. It sounded nothing like the Skywarp he knew. It was much deeper, and had strange intones he couldn't make out, "I d-d-don't… know…" the lights on the interior flickered. Jess felt the body of the Seeker shake strangely and this time it didn't stop.
The controls inside the cockpit started to pop and snap as they shorted or went off. Reaching with his hands for controls and being a fighter pilot, he normally knew how to think fast. His vision and that blasted headache were making things a little more difficult, but he still thought hard on how to help the Seeker. "Come on, Stay with me, bud,"
"You (Cybertronian)… leave, J-J-Jess. Ej-ject-t." Skywarp stuttered.
Jess inhaled sharply, hearing Skywarp mixing languages. "No, damn it, no! Don't you dare die on me!" Jess begged, trying to think of what more he could do. He tried reaching out on different frequencies, seeing if anyone was close by, using muscle memory to hit the buttons and such needed to activate Skywarp's system manually. The Cybertronians' communication distances were legendary. Surely, someone would pick him up and tell him why he was flying over forests. Nothing. "Skywarp, God damn you, stay with me!"
"I'm… t-t-trying. I don't know… (Cybertronian) m-m-m-much… longer…" The nose of the F-22 began tipping downward again. Jess immediately grabbed for the controls and pulled back hard. It worked, but the controls were more sluggish than before. Skywarp's interior lit up with warning upon warning as he basically started gliding. The Seeker's thrusters were barely putting out power which made flying damn near impossible. He felt the body of the jet begin to nosedive, and he knew Skywarp was going down.
Jess tried to ignore the warnings even though some came across about imminent shutdown. He needed to get Skywarp to a safe place to land or they'd both be in a heap more trouble than they already were. No one needed to see this. "I'll fly you. Just, hang on. We'll get you landed, buddy, stay with me."
"I'm leaking… TC…"
Manually flipping on the headlights of the Raptor, Jess froze a second when they flickered. He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding when the flickering stopped, and they remained on. It felt like the F-22 jerked. Being he was already having a hard time controlling Skywarp and seeing, he feared more and more that they were going to crash. They were over trees – a forest. Good. That was good. Even if he did manage to land the Seeker, at least no one would be close by to see it. He was thankful for that much, being he was scared he was going to die, and he didn't see any clearing in sight as the jet continued to descend. Skywarp jerked a few more times, hard enough for him to have to reach out and hold on.
They were slowing and he fought to keep the Seeker airborne. looked around for a place to land. And that's when he saw it. There was a clearing not far off, which appeared to be a field. How convenient. Fields meant people. Hopefully no one was home, or at least, awake, seeing as it was apparently in the middle of the night wherever they were. Jess just hoped there would be enough room to stop the Seeker before they hit trees the that were on the other side.
He watched a blur run as the jet came closer to the ground, unable to clearly make out what it was. Hearing the trees under them, he felt Skywarp hit the tops of them. He tried to pull up more, but Skywarp's body was going too slow to respond correctly. He flicked the manual controls for Skywarp's landing gear, hoping to hear the sound that would tell him they were appearing. After a heart stopping few seconds, he heard the transformation sounds of Skywarp's wheels appear. They made it to the clearing and Jess knew there was no easing the jet down. They were going to slam pretty hard.
The Seeker's front wheels embedded in the ground as Jess hit the brakes before plowing into the other side of the clearing. Still rolling, the jet dug deep into the soft land with the back wheels as well. The black F-22 finally came to a stop, jerking Jess in his seat from the abrupt halt as the wheels dug into the dirt. Jess finally had the chance to look down to see Skywarp's entire instrument panel had gone black. Jess sat there a moment in shock that he wasn't dead and Skywarp was still upright.
They weren't far now. They were on open road again, going as fast as they could without getting attention. On the way back to the Autobot base, Hot Rod and Mirage and very likely their riders heard a sharp but quiet crack of thunder in the distance… "Huh," said Teri, clearly hearing it, "Was that TC?" She'd never heard her weapon before, but she'd been told it was loud and powerful.
Hot Rod cursed under his breath, while his voice filled Mirage's interior, "I don't think so, Teri. That sounded like Shockwave."
"That was Shockwave?" Teri asked in disbelief. "Is that why he's called Shockwave?"
"Yes, that was Shockwave and no, that's not why he's called that," drawled Hot Rod. "Someone just got seriously hurt or killed."
Meanwhile, back at the Autobot base, Blaster walked back into the building and headed for Optimus' office to give him an update. He stopped when he saw him coming, meeting him halfway.
"Blaster," Optimus acknowledged gently.
"You'll be happy to know that Kup and Ultra Magnus are close by. They're using the planets to accelerate their arrival." He paused, "Unfortunately, Kup reported there are Decepticons behind him. They are too far away to be considered a threat at this time,"
As Blaster went to say more, he was cut off by a voice that broke through the Autobot spread-link. "Opt…. Optimus?" He almost always had his coms on external and stopped when he heard it was Mirage's voice. "Blas…, if you can …ear this, get … Optimus. It's urgen…" He flicked his com system, wondering what was causing his voice to be broken up.
"Mirage? He's right here," Blaster replied. "Where are you? You're breaking up."
"On our way … … base from Starscr…'s base. Inbound eta is ten minutes, you guys are breaking up badly as well."
"…imus, there's a situ…." Mirage told him.
Optimus wasn't a leader for nothing. He could fill in the missing words. Mirage's voice sounded desperate. Everyone who was within hearing distance stopped to listen.
"What is the situation, Mirage?" Optimus asked.
Blaster gave an annoyed glance, curious why his systems were not receiving properly. "They're well within range… What the slag is going on with my systems?"
This time it was Mikaela's voice. She sounded like she'd been crying. "Starscream … in seri…s trouble. He sent us … his Spar…ngs away,"
"What kind of trouble, Mikaela?" Optimus asked.
"It's Mega… and S…kwave! They're a-a-attacki…!" Mikaela yelled.
"What?" Blaster's face fell, looking to Optimus. "Oh, slag,"
"Megatron?" Optimus asked no one in particular, somehow managing to sound both confused and worried. "Megatron is alive?"
"Yes!" Mikaela said, worried. "Je…us, Optimus, … something!"
After a few moments, everyone turned when Mirage arrived with a rather large reddish colored, lifted pickup with golden flames that seemed to blend into his color. Everyone glanced at the truck. Jazz assumed who it was right off the bat – he was the last one with Mirage. "Ya, uh, go through a growth spurt, there, Roddy?"
"Now is not the time, Jazz," Hot Rod replied, his doors opening. He wasn't in the mind to explain to them what was going on with him. The change in his voice only made those around give questioning looks. "Alright you little troublemakers, out." He told the Sparklings, who were having an absolute blast in the larger truck.
Mikaela stepped out of the driver's side. Teri stepped out from the passenger side of Mirage. Daniel climbed out on the passenger side as well. Radar and Sonar jumped out of Hot Rod's driver side just as he began transforming.
Jazz watched all of the humans piling out, her optic ridges shooting up in surprise. "Of course it's not," she sneered at Hot Rod with a frown seeing four other vehicles following Mirage and Jazz. "Who're you?" she then stopped, recognizing them, "Wait, Race Track, why're you here?"
"She sent us to protect the humans and Sparklings."
"Protect them?" Jazz asked as she hiked an optic ridge at the obvious medic coming up behind Hot Rod and Mirage, "And why're you here?" she asked, "Shouldn't ya be helpin' Starscream with his issue?"
"Starscream sent me away for everyone's safety."
"Oh? What's happenin'?"
"My full team, including Bonecrusher, is at Starscream's base, and none of them are siding with Starscream."
"Bonecrusher?" Jazz asked with a frown. "Didn't Optimus kick his aft in Mission City?"
"Perhaps…" Hook responded.
"Ain't that some shit," she said. Thinking of only one reason he was hiding from the other Constructicons, she said, "Oh, ya think they're gonna try to subdue ya, huh?"
"Yes," Hook answered. "I don't think anyone wants that."
"Most definitely not."
Further away, Teri found Will and Rob, who were standing by a counter in a smaller room. It was a breakroom or kitchen by the looks of it. Daniel made his way there as well to get a drink.
"Hey," Daniel said, pulling a cold Coke from the fridge.
"Hey, yourself." Will turned, raising his drink, "So, Starscream's in a heap, huh?"
"Yeah."
"He's got all the guns he should need against Megatron, doesn't he?"
Teri spoke up, hearing the two, "Not a contest for leadership. TC told me, no one is allowed to help." Thundercracker had told her about Starscream's fight with Sunstorm, and how no one was allowed to interfere, no matter what the cost.
"I'm surprised the military hasn't shown up there. They wouldn't know any better, they'd shoot everyone." Robert said, stopping next to Teri.
"Yeah," Daniel replied. "You know how many people would be killed in that fray?"
"A lot?" Robert said, remembering what happened at Mission City.
"Try all of them." Daniel said with a half chuff. "Our jets don't hold a candle to what the Seekers can do. I ride with Ramjet, and he's shown me how they can stop dead in mid-flight and flip to go the other way. Our fighters would be dead in their first turn."
Will asked with surprise, "They can full stop in the middle of going fast?"
"Absolutely," Daniel nodded, "Physics is their bitch."
"How are you not splattered?" Rob asked with a half laugh.
"They can't or won't tell us the details," Daniel said with a shrug, "It's like they have some kind of force field that holds us, and we feel very little of the Gs."
Will shook his head in amazement, "That's crazy,"
Daniel laughed. "They're fucking lunatics," he agreed.
"And so are you for flying with them!" Rab laughed.
"Hey, how're the kids holding up?" Will asked, "Barricade and Starscream are obviously in trouble, so they've gotta be worried,"
Teri turned her head to see Mikaela standing with Sonar and Radar, who hadn't left her side. "Mikaela and Miles are both reasonably upset." she informed. "They had bad feelings coming here. Neither can explain what they're feeling."
"Bad feelings?"
"Yeah. They were both saying they were uneasy about leaving Starscream and Barricade. Mikeala wanted to go back but Hot Rod talked her down."
'I'd be worried too if Ironhide went into a fight against someone stronger than himself," Will nodded, watching them as well. He saw Miles look at them and raised his cup in a hello to him.
"Prowl!" Mikaela called, seeing the tactician walking out of the med bay. She and Miles started for him. If anyone would understand, he would.
Prowl turned his head for the voice and then headed to the girl, "How are you two doing?"
The Sparklings, recognizing their femme creator's brother, climbed onto him. They knew he would keep them safe. They twittered and beeped to him, although he couldn't understand them.
Sam approached them with a curious gaze. He wondered if there was some way he could help them. Both Mikaela and Miles appeared very worried. Although he was no Decepticon sympathizer, he still couldn't imagine if Bumblebee was in the same situation.
Miles was still feeling the rush of adrenaline. "I'm scared for Starscream. You know who 'Star is taking on,"
"Megatron," Prowl acknowledged. He thought about it for a moment. Starscream didn't have very good chances against him. "I thought he would send Runner away."
"He tried," Miles responded. "She wouldn't go."
Jazz walked up to where Prowl was standing, seeing Radar and Sonar but no Blacklight, "Hey, Roddy," she called, turning for the gunner, "ya grabbed Blacklight, right?"
Hot Rod looked over at the saboteur, "I thought he climbed in with Mirage."
Mirage looked toward Jazz and then to Hot Rod, "He wasn't with me. I thought he was with you."
Hot Rod sighed and looked out the doors in thought, "Great…"
"Shit, are you serious? We need to find him! Anything could happen out there!" Miles called. He and Mikaela had both been sitting on pins and needles since this started and they had feelings they couldn't understand. This only riled them up inside again.
"Me and 'Bee can take ya," Sam said, looking up at the yellow Scout who nodded. He'd be more than happy to help find the missing Sparkling.
"It's going to be a war zone out there," the Constructicon suddenly said to Sam, "You'll very likely be killed in the fray,"
Suddenly, Cliffjumper looked out and saw something coming. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, but it seemed small. That is until it got closer. He continued to watch, recognizing one of them as Ravage, "What the pit?" He said to himself before alerting the others, "Hey, Ravage and the other symbiots are here!"
"They're not symbiots, you dolt," Hot Rod called to him.
"Hopefully they give some answers," Jazz said immediately, headed for where Cliffjumper was standing, "Ya see 'Light wit 'em at all?"
"No," Cliffjumper said, looking to see if he was somewhere in the dust or even riding on one of them.
Back at the Decepticon base, Starscream took a moment to look around when Megatron was distracted. He felt like he hadn't made any headway with the mech. The Seeker felt like he'd had his chance and lost it.
As he took in the carnage, he noticed that his men were losing... How could this be? There were more of his 'Cons than Megatron's. He should have known better than to try this without the Autobots' help. It was suicide.
Horrified by what he saw, he said to himself, "Unreal…"
His army was becoming tired, and it was a sure bet Megatron's own Decepticons were tiring as well. He'd lost so many of his men already. He'd heard Acid when Lightstream had been killed. Now one of his own trine mates had been killed. His injuries were beginning to take their toll on him and the loss of Skywarp was still coursing fresh in their trine bond.
Further away, Bruticus was swinging at those who got too close, and Sixshot didn't seem to be making as much progress with him as he had with the other combiner. This was mostly because the Constructicons were sniping at him when they weren't fending off or taking on other mechs. He could clearly see Sixshot's damage from where he was and wasn't sure how much longer he could last. Why were they being defeated so easily? His army outnumbered Megatron's.
Starscream said aloud, "No! It's not possible! We are so screwed…" From that moment, he started deciding how to get his Decepticons out. He needed to call a retreat; however, the only way to get it across to his Decepticons was by Soundwave's message system since he found their spread link was still impaired. If he didn't call a retreat now, they'd all end up dead, he was sure of it. The young leader didn't know Soundwave's condition or where she even was for that matter. He broadcasted via message to everyone while he still could. "Everyone, retreat! I will follow once I know everyone has gotten away. Do not argue, that is an order!"
His attention went back to the fight around him, taking in the battle and those that had been damaged or killed. Too many… Distracted by sending the message, Starscream hadn't seen Megatron come at him in time. The tyrant had knocked him to the ground again and Starscream struggled back to his feet, scampering away as much as he could.
Megatron watched his look of surprise and shock. He was smirking at him, watching his struggle to stand. Looking at the damage he had caused, his optics followed what Starscream had been looking at. A chuckle came from him as he assumed Starscream's forces were leaving him. He noted darkly, "And you thought you would win…"
Starscream ignored his goading. The trine bond was still vibrating weirdly from when Skywarp had been offlined, and the residue was still fresh in his Spark, also distracting him. He could tell that Thundercracker was still alive because he could still sense her presence, but he wondered how she was fairing with the injured bond and hoped she could handle it.
He looked between the battlefield and Megatron in indecision. The ex-leader could wait. There were more pressing matters to attend to. Megatron growled as Starscream quickly moved away from him and took off. He heard Megatron bellow from behind him, "Coward! Get back here and let's finish this!"
The first thing the silver Seeker did was go for Barricade. This was far too dangerous for the small hunter, but she was stubborn and refused to leave. He got closer to her and landed, grabbing for her arms to get her attention. He turned her roughly to him.
"Hey!" Barricade had almost hit him with her flail but stopped when she realized who it was. She pulled at his grip.
"Barricade, listen to me!"
Starscream saw the mech she was engaged with and turned to him, a dark look overshowed him and he glared hatred at him, lifting his arm, he fired a missile. He turned back to Barricade when the mech ran from his concentrated fire.
"You gotta get out of here. Do it now, leave!" Starscream said to her, "Please, for the love of Primus, leave…" he begged. "We're losing. We need to retreat!"
"What about you?" She asked.
"Never mind about me! I'll follow!" He called as he took off again. "Run!"
Barricade saw his injuries and watched him smoke as he took off for the skies, energon and other fluids were dripping from him.
Many of Megatron's men were down, but not dead. All of Starscream's forces scattered, some limping away, taking the chance that Megatron's forces wouldn't follow. Megatron himself didn't give chase, as he was busy elsewhere. His forces didn't follow either, as they were also tired.
Astrotrain caught up with Acid, who flew with Thrust. The trine leader was carrying Dirge. Ramjet had managed to grab the oversized Motormaster from inside the base, barely managing to lift off with him. He figured it was luck that he was able to grab him, but he realized luck wasn't with him now as he flew with the heavy Stunticon, trying to keep up. They were luckily able to escape. They followed those on the ground as they went to the first place they could think of, the Autobot base.
Thankfully, the Stunticons were mostly all right and would live with medical attention. Drag Strip was badly wounded and was running on borrowed time. Breakdown had been run through with a sword type weapon and was bleeding severely. Dead End was not as badly hurt, able to help with grabbing the more injured 'Con, Blitzwing. Wildrider was missing and they figured they'd left another way.
Runamuck, one of the last to leave, thought he saw Starscream with Megatron. He had gotten close enough to see that Megatron had him. Turning to run, he didn't get far before he was destroyed from focused firepower from Bruticus, who'd been standing not far off, staying out of the argument between the four. His notice would go unheard.
Thundercracker, who had been on the ground, was trying to walk, bent over in apparent pain, unable to fly in such a condition. Getting her bearings, she took off. She didn't know what was wrong with her Spark, but it hurt something fierce.
Soundwave saw Thundercracker, and being tired and injured badly herself, decided to keep an eye on her. The telepath knew immediately that Thundercracker would require assistance, so she followed her to protect her. The two headed off in a different direction than the rest, seeing the only opening to the south.
Meanwhile, Starscream returned toward Barricade, hovering over her as he took in the scene before him. Most of his 'Cons were gone, so it would be safe to grab Barricade and go. He began lowering to grab her to take her with him. What he hadn't seen, was when he landed for his mate a second time, intent to grab her, Shockwave was sneaking around off to the side and took a shot at him with his primary cannon, making the tattooed Seeker cry out and throwing him to the ground.
This got Barricade's attention, who turned for her mate. The hunter gasped and ran for him to help him up, but as she did, she screamed when she felt her arm grabbed and she was whirled around to see Shockwave. If she could have paled, she would have. She yanked her arm, and he held her tightly, "Don't." she heard him say, though he was looking at Starscream, not at her. Shock hit her and she instinctively reached out with a fist to punch him. He moved enough to not take the blow and grabbed that hand as well, holding her by her wrists. "Look what we have here," he said to her, his primary optic looking down at her.
Fear covered Barricade's face. She tried to pull away from him, but he only glared down at her. "I need your… cooperation." He said to her, looking over toward Starscream. She turned and looked as well. "You're going to help Megatron defeat him."
The ex-Commander of Kaon figured the best thing to do was to take what meant the most to Starscream – the femme – his mate. He knew Barricade in danger would make the Seeker upset and therefore he would make a mistake. He felt Barricade try to fight him and he held her tighter, turning her around so she could see what was happening.
Starscream turned when Barricade's fear ran down their link and he immediately went to go after Shockwave to free her. "Barricade!" he called. Shockwave saw the mech coming for them, and then looked up to where he saw Megatron.
Barricade also saw Megatron above Starscream preparing to attack. She went to call out to him, "Watch ou-." Before she could finish, a hand covered her mouth, stopping her.
As Starscream blindly charged at Shockwave, who's face turned into a predatory grin at the sight of Megatron, the ex-leader hit the Seeker from above, plowing him to the ground. Starscream panicked when he felt himself being crushed. He was weakening and wasn't sure how much fight he still had. He then felt himself tugged sideways with such force, his body dragged on the ground and spun sideways through the air to where he landed on the ground on his chest further away from Shockwave and Barricade.
Megatron headed toward Starscream, watching him struggle to get up. He knew Starscream was getting weaker. He grabbed the disoriented Seeker and slammed him to the ground for a second time. He then stomped down on Starscream's back, pinning him to the ground. He stomped a third time just for good measure, making the tattooed Seeker buzz and squeal. Satisfaction glinted in his optics. "Gotcha!"
Barricade went to look away, unable to stand to see what Megatron was doing. "Oh, no, no, no, don't look away… You'll want to see this," Shockwave held the femme's face tightly with a smirk, making Barricade watch.
"Let…! Let her go!" Starscream called, trying to pull himself out from under Megatron. He used all of his strength in his arms to try to get free. He scratched at the dirt with his claws, trying to get leverage, but the dirt and sand parted too easily from his powerful, yet tired grip. "This doesn't include her!"
"Oh, it very much does," Megatron said, leaning down to Starscream's face, watching him watch Barricade. "I hear you've got some special fascination with that femme. Wonder what that could be,"
Barricade watched, the frown on her deepening with each assault on Starscream. It broke her Spark to hear his cries like that. In all her years around him, she'd never heard him cry out like he was now. She couldn't stand it any longer and spoke. "Stop," she said softly. "Stop it, stop hurting him!"
"Oh, we are way past that point," Shockwave hissed in her audial. Looking down at Barricade, past her shoulder-mount as she wiggled in his grasp, he pinned her from trying to free herself from him so she could get to Starscream. He held her tighter as she struggled, shifting and squeezing harder, hurting her, when she tried to smash him in his chest with her head.
"No! Get your fucking hands off of her!" Starscream suddenly called from the ground, furious. Even with Megatron's weight on his back, he continued to try to get himself into a position to at least fight back.
Shockwave smirked, watching between Barricade and Starscream. Deciding to distract Starscream even more, he said to Barricade, "The Allspark was destroyed, so Megatron's going to want you unharmed…" He then glanced up at Megatron and the weaking young leader with a devastating look coming across his face, "Him, however, he has no need for…"
Megatron looked up at the femme and growled while pointing at Starscream, "This is what you spark-mated with? Look at him!" The tyrant looked down at Starscream, then back at Barricade and frowned, watching her as she continued to fight with Shockwave. "Foolish femme. He's weak."
Megatron stomped down on the Seeker again, feeling his weakened struggle. Crushing a turbine, he laughed and said, "What did I tell the Decepticons? No Spark-mates! Do you remember when I gave that order, Starscream?" He then plunged a clawed fist at Starscream's shoulder, ripping at it.
Starscream was losing his mind over the pain and the warnings that came over his HUD. "You're not in command any longer! I am!" The young Seeker knew he'd lost. But he wasn't about to give up.
Megatron twisted and turned his talons deeper into Starscream's back, growling, "Not anymore… Look at you… You're too weak to rule anything." He laughed when one of Starscream's thrusters began to turn red, a sign of obvious severe damage. Leaning down to Starscream's head, he grabbed it and pulled it up, saying, "You lose." The tyrant then moved off of the Seeker and kicked him hard enough to send him rolling, "Again,"
Seeing her mate bleeding on the ground like that made her Spark hurt. "Stop!" she cried, doing her best to flail from Shockwave. She then stopped fighting and lowered her head in resignation, "Stop… I'll do whatever you want. Stop hurting him…"
"No! Barricade!" Starscream suddenly hissed at his mate as he tried to move to get back up. "Don't you dare! Don't let them win!" Without even knowing, he sent a burst to her. It was something he'd never done and didn't know was possible.
If anyone had been paying attention, they would have seen a dark blue cast over Barricade's optics for a split second. She'd felt something from Starscream just then. She couldn't explain what it was. Perhaps… strength? Willpower. If he had so much to give her, she would not let him down.
Starscream regretted calling the retreat now. Even if it would have voided the fight, he would have accepted the help. His communications were fried now, so he couldn't even message anyone. At the time, he'd planned on escaping with the rest of them. His soldiers didn't know he'd been caught, as they scattered as soon as he called the retreat.
Shockwave stood there with the femme, holding her so she could watch as Megatron ripped into Starscream, grinning darkly each time Starscream fell and each time he tried to stand back up. He watched as Starscream struggled to get his arms under himself enough to push up, but it was of no use.
"Let him go!" Barricade cried. It tore at her having to watch this happen. "Just… stop."
"Oh, does it bother you that I am doing this to him?" Megatron sneered toward the femme. His main weapon, a very large cannon formed on Megatron's forearm, and he pointed it at Starscream's head. The barrel glowed with power begging to be released. "If I kill him, you'll be open," he said to the femme.
"No! You can't!" Barricade cried fearfully at the sight of the weapon. She knew what that would do to Starscream at such close range. There was no way he could move in time to not be blown apart by it. With all she could, she tried to fight herself free from Shockwave to get to her mate, to try to do something to help him.
Shockwave turned the femme, holding her far enough from him she couldn't attack him. He pulled her body against himself and wrapped an arm about her and with the other hand, put a finger to her chin and lifted so he could look into her hate filled optics, "She's feisty, Starscream. At least I know where your dead little femme got it from."
"What? No!" Barricade raged at hearing that. With renewed vigor, she pulled at her captor to get to Starscream. Shockwave tightened his grip on the femme causing metal to bend and snap in her arm. She squealed in pain.
"Oh? You didn't know she died? She's at the bottom of the ocean now."
"It's still amazes me that my little hunter has been a femme all this time…" Megatron smirked, glancing down at Starscream who seemed to barely be able to put up a fight anymore. "Seems someone was good at playing hide. And what a coincidence that you found her and brought her to me just when we needed her. Good work!" Moving off of Starscream, he knew the Seeker wasn't going anywhere easily. Though he still trained his weapon on him, threatening to fire.
Relief filled Starscream at being let go, but he knew he was too damaged to get away. "Leave her alone! Leave her out of this!"
"This is what happens to traitors of the real Decepticon cause!" Megatron yelled. The Tyrant stood over Starscream triumphantly, smirking at the Seeker's failed attempts to get up. "See, you can't even protect your title. You always have been and always will be a failure!" Megatron stared down at the disabled Seeker. Starscream looked up at Barricade and frowned. He'd given it all he had.
Suddenly Megatron's cannon started to power down and he lifted it away from Starscream. "On second thought… take them to my brig," Megatron laughed. The tyrant grabbed Starscream by the shoulder and lifted his weakened body to his feet and got in his face, saying, "It's amazing how your followers have chosen to leave you at such a crucial time, Starscream. What a disillusion to think they would stand by you as the leader. I'm the only leader of the Decepticons. Remember that."
Well into the night, those at the Autobot base got an unexpected surprise. Seen in the distance were mechs, and they were moving fast.
"Someone's here!" Red Alert called.
It was Sixshot and the rests of the Decepticons. Red Alert looked and his optics grew wide when he realized who he was looking at, "Everyone get back!"
The six-changer came to a stop at the end of the runway in some beast mode, looking down at the blue optics that stared right back at him. By the looks of him, he was badly injured. "Where's your leader?" Sixshot asked, ignoring the Autobot.
Red Alert looked past him to others who were coming up behind the six-changer. They were also injured, some carrying others that were either injured or sadly, dead. "Wh-what happened?"
Sixshot said with exasperation, "I don't have time for this!" he scolded. "Where's Prime?"
Seekers that could still fly, landed, setting down the ones they were carrying. Their optics went behind them, watching for Starscream and Barricade, as they hadn't heard anything from them yet. They should have been with them.
"They got away, didn't they?" Acid asked.
The question went unanswered.
"Don't suppose they like you very much, eh?" Thrust asked in a show of humor as he stepped up beside Sixshot.
"How'd you guess? The appealing welcome?" Sixshot deadpanned, turning to see who all else followed. He watched as more appeared, waiting for the rest to come. There weren't as many as he thought there would be. He'd also noticed Starscream and Barricade hadn't come. Where in the pit were they? …And where was Soundwave?
Hook stepped out of the building, nodding in Sixshot's direction, "I told you to stop trying to see if you're immortal. What happened?"
Sixshot shifted his weight, relieving his left leg, which was more injured that the other, "Two combiners this time,"
"Two? The pit is wrong with you?" Hook asked. His optics glanced behind the six-changer, seeing the carnage. "So many of them…" he said.
Red Alert and several other Autobots watched Groundhog and Motorhead go right up to Sixshot as he began walking up the runway, when Red Alert wouldn't answer his very simple question. Hook was right next to him, scanning his injuries.
This time Optimus stepped outside, approaching the six-changer. "Sixshot," he said, assessing the situation. "It's over?" he asked, his gaze watching all of the injured Decepticons. He was unsure of what to make of the sudden condition and invasion.
Sixshot shook his head and spoke, "Far from it. Starscream called a retreat. We lost a lot of mechs out there." Glancing back behind himself with concern at a few of the more injured, then back to Optimus, he said, "We need medics. A few of the others might die, still."
"Where's Runamuck? He was behind us," Dirge then asked, stepping around to get a look at who was here and who wasn't. He didn't see anyone carrying him. he then said, assuming Runamuck had been killed, "Aw, pit…"
"Where's Starscream?"
Sixshot replied simply with a shrug, unsure himself, "Not here. Judging by your surprise… I am guessing you don't know a slagging thing as to what is going on,"
Optimus had just set up to send a few Autobots to the Decepticons' base when they began showing up, "Where is he?"
"We hadn't been paying attention to numbers. We were just told to retreat. He said he was going to follow. I guess all of us expected them to be behind us." Sixshot answered, looking back in the direction they'd come from, hoping to see them, "But I guess not…"
"Do you think Shockwave has them?"
"At this point, most likely."
"Do you think they killed them already?"
"Nah, hate to say it, Megs is gonna want to kill Starscream slowly." Sixshot answered, then looked back at Optimus. "What information do you have?"
"Mirage told us the basics of what was going on and what he knew. Mikaela and Miles filled us in as well. But how can this be?"
Sixshot almost scoffed. "What do you mean? This is Shockwave and Megatron we are talking about." He twitched his arm when Hook did something, looked at him then looked back to Optimus.
Hook twisted and pulled at Sixshot's armor. "Hey, do you know why Rumble keeps trying to get to Frenzy? Wasn't Frenzy killed?"
Sixshot hadn't expected to hear that, "What are you…" his voice trailed off, realizing that if the other Decepticons had come back to life, maybe Frenzy had too. "Primus," he said aloud. He realized why Soundwave had been damaged now. Frenzy had probably been involved. "Where's Rumble and Ravage?"
Sam, who'd come to see what all the commotion was about, stopped by Bumblebee. He heard Sixshot's question and answered, "Ravage has been secluded in a room with Rumble trying to keep him held down. He keeps trying to get back to Starscream's base." The young man turned and pointed in the direction of a smaller, isolated building, "They're in there. Sounds like they're beating the tar out of each other."
Optimus hadn't missed the look that came across Sixshot's optics at the mention of Frenzy, even though it was for a split second. He turned to Bumblebee, who was eyeing the six-changer curiously, and he then looked back at Sixshot, "Where is Thundercracker and Skywarp? Soundwave?"
" Skywarp is gone – presumed dead-"
"Dead?" Hook asked with surprise. "You can't be serious."
"Yeah, Sunstorm hit him, and he vanished," Acid said, "I've never seen a teleport like that. It looked like his body literally scrambled and disappeared."
Hook just stared at the weapon chemist without a word. He never thought he'd hear that Skywarp was taken down. Those three Seekers were the hardest to kill.
"Thundercracker was seen taking off in a different direction, I assume she's going to come around everything and show up later,"
"If Skywarp died, isn't that affecting Starscream?"
Ramjet stepped up to see what he could help with. "Yes, it's probably one of the reasons he called a retreat. I don't think he can fight effectively," he informed. The pseudo-medic couldn't imagine what it was like to lose a trine-mate in the middle of a battle.
Sam didn't understand why they were all talking about running away and not going back for their leader. "Hey, why didn't you guys go help Starscream?" he suddenly interrupted looking up at the 'Cons. "He's your leader, shouldn't you be there for him?"
All who were talking looked down at Sam, who seemed to shy a little at all the optics. "Because it is a contest for leadership. We aren't allowed to help." Ramjet informed him.
Sam tried to understand, but it didn't make sense to him. That didn't sound like Decepticons to him. He said thoughtfully, "But you're Decepticon's. You break rules, that's what you do,"
"Yes, we do," Hook explained to him, "Starscream wouldn't forgive us if we interfered. The contest would be void."
"So, you have to sit back and watch knowing he could get his ass kicked?"
"Unfortunately, yes,"
Sixshot returned his optics to Optimus, continuing, "Also, no one has seen Soundwave." He was quite annoyed that she had disappeared, but he didn't let it show. "Blackout has managed to block her somehow, so our communications are down, and we can't get a hold of anyone. Starscream was using some sort of messaging system, but without either of them, I have no idea how it works."
Blaster, hearing this, now understood why his comm systems were on the fritz. "That explains a lot. Listen, I can open a temporary channel link for you, if you want," he offered. "At least you'll have some communications."
"Wait, you said Blackout," Sam suddenly said, "Can't be him. Blackout was killed in Mission City. Will did it,"
Sixshot gave Sam a skeptical glance, then looked back to Optimus, annoyed at the human for thinking he knew more. He wasn't there. He didn't see Blackout, but Sixshot surely had.
Optimus knew something horrible had happened, especially with what his mind was putting together. So many were missing. Thundercracker, Soundwave, Barricade and Starscream were MIA? Skywarp dead? That wasn't good. "I can send Ironhide and Prowl immediately."
"I don't recommend sending anyone out there right now. There are two fully functional combiners. Thankfully Starscream had the foresight to send Hook away, so Devastator isn't added to that mess. I managed to separate the Seacons and injure them, but they're not dead so they can still combine, and I couldn't bring down Bruticus yet."
"You separated a combiner?" Will asked. He'd heard about combiners. They were incredibly large and powerful from what he'd been told.
The Six-changer glanced over to who'd asked that. It was another human. "Yes. I am a combiner killer. It's what I do." he looked back at Optimus, "I need medical before I can take on another."
"Whoa, whoa…" Jazz, who had wandered to him and Optimus, stopped the six-changer, "Hold up a minute. What's a Seacon?"
"A surprise combiner team, one of the ones who'd gotten by Soundwave," the mech shifted, "My guess is they had some kind of cloaking device,"
"A cloaking device even Soundwave couldn't detect?" Jazz asked with surprise.
"We assume so," Sixshot then said, "It's the only thing that makes sense. We don't even know if there are other Decepticons out there that we don't know about,"
"Well, that'd be hell on earth," Will said nonchalantly, still listening to the Cybertronians.
"Is that what attacked 'Flight?" Jazz asked, "The mech damaged 'im pretty bad on his wing and he can't transform or combine. He did say the mech came outta nowhere and he had no idea who it was,"
"What?" Sixshot asked with a little surprise, "When did that happen?"
"Earlier – Fireflight said it was dark blue and he'd never seen anythin' like it,"
Sixshot thought about it. Dark blue… He remembered seeing a mech with that description falling out of the sky at some point earlier, "Oh, no, that was a Predacon – Dive Bomb. That's the one Thundercracker destroyed, I think." The assassin then said condescendingly, "The other surprise combiner team – No need to worry, I took care of them already,"
"What did you mean by Bruticus?" Optimus asked, "I thought Swindle and Brawl – two of the Combaticons required to form him – were dead."
"Oh no," Sixshot couldn't help but chuckle in disbelief at Starscream's very bad luck, "Whatever Shockwave did with that Sparkling, he did it real good-"
"-What do you mean 'with that Sparkling'?" Optimus asked, interrupting Sixshot.
"Too late, Soundwave surmised that Shockwave took Typhoon to use her Allspark power to bring Megatron back to life. I was on the other side of the continent, so I couldn't catch them in time," Sixshot explained. "It seemed to have worked a little too well. They're alive. Every single slagging one of them."
"He did what?" Optimus asked, dumbfounded.
"Listen," Sixshot said, waving a hand. He was tired of explanations, and he wanted to see Rumble. "I can explain everything later." He nodded toward Ramjet who only had minor injuries. "Get the other 'Cons some help, would ya?"
"You're serious…" Optimus said with an observant tone. "No!" He then got an angry look to him, "I wish Starscream had said something sooner. We could have helped!" He punched a wall in frustration at everything.
"You know how he is… Pride and all that."
Others looked to Optimus' show of anger, something rarely ever seen.
"Where's Motormaster?" Sixshot asked Ramjet.
"Inside, I took him in there as soon as I got here," Ramjet replied, assessing Breakdown and Drag Strip. "Where's Wildrider?" he asked.
Breakdown and Drag Strip both shrugged, "He's around somewhere," Breakdown answered.
"You both are lucky you were able to make it here without assistance. Come with me, I'll take you to get your injuries taken care of."
Sixshot watched the Stunticons and Ramjet walk away, then looked to Optimus, "Like I said, odds couldn't be less in Starscream's favor."
"How many didn't make it?"
"Whoever isn't here…" Sixshot said, turning slightly to look at the others, knowing they had to leave some behind. "I didn't have time to do a body count, if that's what you're asking."
In the land of only-God-knows-where-we-are, Jess was trying to gather himself so he could assess the situation with Skywarp. He succeeded in landing him, if that could be called a landing. Knowing the Seeker wasn't out of the woods, he started to unbuckle, readying to get out. He could hear strange noises coming from the Seeker, assuming the worst. He stopped when he could hear humming and gears going. With a sigh in relief, he reached for the hatch lever and pulled it, hoping it would still work. It was something the Seekers had made for the humans in case things got hairy, like now. The canopy slowly opened, crunching and screeching as it did so.
Jess looked down as he climbed out of the cockpit, hearing hissing and other sounds from outside that he knew were not normal. He wondered what could be wrong, having not been in the know of Cybertronian anatomy all that well. Making his way up, he was still having a hard time seeing. If it wasn't blurry colors, there were sparkles in his vision as if his blood pressure was high except they were all kinds of colors. And his head still hurt something fierce. Assuming it had to do with the weird teleport, he got to work, finding his way down and off the Seeker.
Making his way to where the ladder was supposed to be, he saw it hadn't appeared. He said to himself, "Shit," when he realized there was no way to get down but try to climb down the jet and then jump. It was still going to be a long jump.
Finding his way down about halfway, he jumped the rest, stumbling. He stood and turned, looking at the Seeker. Blinking a few times, he realized he was almost blind. "Dammit," he said. It was dark, which made this even harder. He could barely make Skywarp's outline, however, he could see all the damage from the sparks and Energon around.
His next move was to see if there was service and if he could call Teri or Daniel. He reached for his cell phone and looked at it, held it up and as luck would have it, there was no service. He shook his head and fingered for the flashlight. He wasn't worried about the battery, because one of the cool things about being around these guys was the fascinating fact they never needed to charge their phones. It was as if they gave off ambient energy.
Looking out, he tried to recognize anything in the area. Being they were in the middle of a forest; they could be anywhere except in the desert. Maybe they were in Flagstaff? No, the trees weren't right, and it didn't smell like the desert. These were what appeared to be oaks or maples and he could smell dirt. Flagstaff had pines and brush, anyway.
Jess sighed and looked back toward the disabled jet. Approaching, he knew he had to do something, even with his own problems, Skywarp's were worse. There was also the question of where to start first. He moved closer, feeling up the Seeker's underbelly to where the closest sparks were.
Skywarp was talking about leaking and he didn't imagine that he would complain about Energon. He tried to focus on some kind of strange liquid that was changing colors. It was slowly seeping from the Seeker. When he reached out to touch it, it was incredibly weird. It felt as if he couldn't actually touch it but it had mass. It acted as if it were a gas, but it was clearly liquid. It also froze and fried his skin on contact. He quickly took his finger away, looking at it. "What the hell?" he asked himself, wondering what it was. Ramjet never told him of this.
Passing it by for now, the Energon leaks were easy to see, lighting up light blue where Skywarp was bleeding. When he saw the true extent of it, he frowned. Wires, cables, and metal hung from a large, gaping wound, which was sparking badly. Energon and some other yellow liquid was coming from it in larger quantities as well.
He could have sworn he saw glitter in all that mess. With a smirk and a shake of his head, he remembered how the glitter got there. Carefully, he reached up and touched the fresh Energon and other fluids that were flowing in small streams. Jess brought it to his nose and smelled it. It had a strange char smell rather than the o-zonal smell he was used to. He didn't have to be a medic to know it wasn't normal. "Shit," he said and shook the extra off then looked to the puddle forming beneath the Seeker.
Placing both hands on Skywarp's intake, he put his head down in frustration for a long moment before looking back up at the jet. There had to be a way to bring Skywarp back online. The black Seeker's Spark was pulsing – as he could barely see it through the tangle of his wrecked body, but he was obviously bleeding to death. Unfortunately, Jess had no way of telling what was hit, and his eyes being all screwy made it much harder to tell. He also didn't know a whole hell of a lot about Seekers. Skywarp had told him a few things, even Ratchet when he was hanging out there. He never thought in a million years they would end up in this kind of a mess.
With a deep sigh, he would try. He would start where he knew. Cut the leaks by squeezing lines shut. He could feel for those. Ramjet had showed him one day how to 'cauterize' a line or vein.
He could do that.
In the dark.
Blinded by colors and sparkles…
With no tools.
It was going to be a long night…
A lot going on, still. Hope it was easy to follow.
Now... what happens to Starscream and Barricade?