SYCMD: It's update period again, and I'm having a blast getting back to writing about these two dorks! I've missed their nonsense in my life. Alas, the laughs and cuteness cannot continue forever. Readers, beware~
Hellbat had scoured every inch of the ship, even daring to wriggle into the vents above the command room, to see if somehow Leozack had found his way into there. With the exception of Deathsaurus stalking in place, there was not another spark to be seen, and the spy had writhed back out of the constrictive column in record time. His sensors failed him, Komoribreast was just as unsuccessful, and with every passing klik since the youngling's disappearance, Hellbat was growing more and more distressed. He was astroseconds away from peeling back the steel paneling on the Thunder Arrow with his bare servos just to see if maybe -by the dark humor of Unicron- his small charge had somehow found himself wedged between the walls.
Instead, his comm went off with a shriek (that certainly did not come from his own vocalizer!), tearing the rafale from his deranged study of the corridor walls.
"Y-yes...?," he answered timidly, when he could finally focus his frazzled thoughts for longer than a moment.
A stream of the crudest vulgarity poured through the connection immediately; phrases intertwined in a craft that was beyond Killbison's ability and some terms so alien that Hellbat couldn't tell if they were made up or from an era that had passed long before their time. Either way, it was an audial blast of planetary proportions that the blue Destron would never have expected to be on the receiving end of, nor would he have ever imagined that it would be Drillhorn delivering the blow. Just when the rafale was beginning to wonder how long this assault would continue, there came the sound of gunfire erupting in the background and the older mech's dentae chafed audibly down the line as he cut off his own litany of curses.
"Get up here before the brat's killed!," Drillhorn shouted in parting. Then, silence.
A few astroseconds passed before the implication of the purple Destron's final words wriggled through Hellbat's shock. Once it had, his fuel tank dropped and a stuttering panic overtook the poor jet. Somehow, some way, the wily youngling had hitched a ride with the others to the surface. Now, Leozack was caught in the middle of a literal battlefield. Panic was quickly mounting to a spark-crushing terror, as the blue mech bolted for the nearest airlock.
xxXxXxx
The shuttle bounced roughly as it touched down somewhere, rattling Leozack in his hiding place and pinching his little wings against the cupboard walls. Biting back the yelp that nearly escaped, the youngling curled tighter into himself; audio receptors tuned up several notces to the events unfolding in the ship's cabin. Unsurprisingly, it was thunderous as the six members of the Dinoforce moved their hunkering weight about the tiny interior, bumping into each other and stepping on each other's limbs judging by the sound of it, as they circled about from aft and stern in a seemingly pointless meander. Just listening to the gigantic oafs stomp around aimlessly was beginning to grate on the teal mechling's patience; his poor rotary joints were beginning to ache the longer he stayed folded up in his makeshift hidey-hole, only adding to his ever climbing aggravation. It was enough to make Leozack almost cry out an exasperated 'Finally!' when he heard the loading dock hiss as it disengaged from the rest of the shuttle, its slow-creaking descent hurried along by the Destrons' reptilian shells as they, too, were eager to disembark.
When the shaking had subsided and the buffoons were a distant echo to his audios, Leozack finally moved; smacking the cupboard door open with a tiny shoulder and tumbling out onto the shuttle floor with a disgruntled squeak. He recovered quickly, crouched beside a passenger chair, trying to crane his helm over the comically-large seat. Thankfully, he could see straight down the ship and out the square of the loading door's mouth -not a mech could be seen at all, but instead a sea of golden light and the strangest wisps of colour moving unbidden.
Enthralled, the teal jet crept down the ramp, his processor distracted from keeping out of sight, as a strange, new world unfolded before the mechling's optics. Compared to the confines of both the Thunder Arrow and the shuttle, this place was impossibly big. A sky above stretched farther than Leozack could see or fathom, vibrantly blue and speckled with spots of white on its face and lines of green at its feet. That same green spread from the horizon all the way to the shuttle, in a myriad of shades, segmented into a thousand pieces and asymmetrical shapes that danced and twirled to some unheard melody. Curious, the youngling fell to his knee joints, reaching out and touching the odd blanket of colour. A gasp escaped as it bent beneath his palm, soft and damp at the same time, the tapered ends tickling into the fine seams of his fingers.
But the back of his servo, it thrummed with a gentle heat where the golden light touched, a gentle contrast to the strange organic matter beneath his touch. Optics sparkling with wonder, Leozack quickly rushed out of the safety of the shuttle's open mouth, standing fully under the warm rays as he searched out the source. The tiny Destron's jaw went slack as he found his sensors zipping to the giant, yellow ball hanging squarely above his small frame. It was a star -the closest he had ever been to one, and so young too! Awestruck, the tomcat remained staring at the great gas ball, oblivious to the rest of the world, until a burst of wind buffeted the youngling. Instantly, Leozack remembered where he was and what he was doing, as his helm anxiously darted about, looking for the jet that had clearly flown by.
Imagine his surprise when he found no nosecone or tail fin of a fellow flyer landing; instead, that same invisible brush of force whipped around his little wings, moving the various pieces of green organics and carrying with it a whole plethora of unknown scents. It seemed the wind just occurred naturally on this planet, not as the after-effects of a mech's flight path. A giggle was bubbling forward at that point; the earlier fright and wonderfully outlandish state of this world he found himself in filling Leozack with uncontrollable glee. He wanted to touch every bit of strangeness bursting from the crust beneath his pedes and cartwheel between the sun and wind forever!
His fantasies were interrupted when he heard a deep vocalizer yell out somewhere off to his left; glancing quickly in that direction, the youngling saw that he had been spotted the club-wielding brute of the pack. To his fortune though, the short, fat idiot was half a mile out from the shuttle. Way too far for Goryu to catch the tomcat, even if his beast ran. Making a face at the reptile-riding Destron, Leozack spun about and bolted for the heavy swathe of trees on the opposite side. Cackling at the sudden prospect of freedom as his thin legs carried him deep into the foliage and away from his would-be jailers.
xxXxXxx
It had happened so quickly...
One moment he was taunting the bigger Destrons -by wriggling through bushes too compact for their wide frames and disappearing into long, reaching tree branches thick with natural covering- and the next, there came a strange whistling sound from nearby and then blasters were drawn and laser fire began to rain through the forest and-
White digits dug deeper into the bark, Leozack pressing his tiny frame harder against the tree's crooked form as the entire earth shook. He couldn't see what was happening anymore. The Destrons had turned to meet the fight head on, and in terror, the youngling had plunged deeper into the forest -but he could hear every shot and each bellow still, growing in volume and intensity as the kliks raced on. Now the whole world was being rocked violently and the trees quivered, as their brethren were blasted to timber or sent careening through those still rooted. One such broken log flew right past the tomcat's hiding place, whipping the leaves around and breaking thinner branches off entirely with the hurricane-like force. Leozack screamed in the eye of the unexpected organic storm, barely able to cover his face in time, as the rest of his plating was gouged by the swirling debris. As quickly as the projectile had come, the wild storm passed, and trembling with fear and pain, the youngling scrambled to get out of the tree.
He just needed to get clear of the forest, the teal mechling tried to rationalize, get on the shuttle and he'd be safe again... But turning to look around, Leozack realized that he didn't know where it was he'd first come in. The whole forest was demolished, decimated trees leaning up against each other in odd patterns, while fragments of themselves and smaller foliage was ripped up and tossed about in wild abandon. Any sight lines back out of this green bubble were gone now; darkened by the chaos brewing somewhere not too far away from the tiny jet and the thick dust that was slowly rising from the scuffle. Panic settled into Leozack's processor. Aimlessly, he bolted in a direction that he hoped was farthest from the fight, pistons and neural net squirming with prickly anxiety. Nothing could slow the youngling down in this state, and in fact, it felt like he was flying as he leapt over bits of brush and fallen pines, ducking beneath wide-sweeping branches and scrambling over the side of fungus-slick rocks. Yet, it wasn't enough to stop the crushing grasp of terror that held his spark prisoner -until he caught a glimmer of celestial light piercing through the green veil as he rounded the girthy trunk of a wizened tree.
Any ache in his poor, under-developed frame vanished at the sight of those glimmering pockets; the tomcat pushing himself into a mad sprint as he rushed headlong towards freedom...
Only to break through the foliage and crumple into a graceless stop before a pristine, white shuttle.
Wiping the mud from his face, Leozack hurried to scramble back up onto his pedes, his optics darting along the craft in wild confusion. This ship looked much nicer than the one he remembered riding; perhaps it was a secondary craft for the Emperor himself? Had he come to fight the unknown assailants as well?
"Hey, you!," a vocalizer shouted from behind the youngling -a decidedly, not Destron vocalizer.
Laser fire burned the ground beside the teal jet's pedes as he spun about jerkily, a chill like the dark ocean he'd nearly drowned in filling his internals once more when Leozack looked up to find three, blaster-wielding Autobots rushing towards him. The one leading the charge -a white mech with a red torso- took another shot at the frozen tomcat, singing his forearm with the glancing blow. The burst of sudden agony electrified Leozack's neural net, dropping the tiny jet to the floor with a shriek as he curled around his injured arm.
"Don't think you can take us from behind, slag-sucking Destron creep!," the leader yelled, his pounding pedes drawing ever closer to the fallen mechling.
"Yeah! Eat laser, exhaust-face!," shouted a second, the sound of a blaster readying for another round echoing under his words.
Quaking from helm to pede, Leozack snapped his helm up, barely able to process what he was seeing through the fear strangling him. "L-leave me alone!," he squealed, rolling back on his stubby, little wings in his panic to put some distance between him and his attackers as they closed in. That third laser fire melted through the earth where his pedes had been just a moment before, but the teal jet didn't notice; clawing himself to a stand, he ran around the shuttle's wide berth, wheezing in uncontrollable fear.
"Wait! Stop!," the third member shouted as more staggering shots rendered the air. "That's not Leozack! It can't possibly be!"
"Are you crazy, MachTackle?! That's totally him!"
"Are you blind, WingWaver?," the so-called MachTackle snipped back. "He's way too small. We need to comm the Supreme Commander at once."
"No! This is our fight. We can handle this on our own!"
"There's nothing to handle! He can't be who we think he is and-"
"I'll get him!," the unnamed Autobot yelled, taking off after the stumbling youngling with a vengeance. Leozack heard his approach like it was a stampede of starving sharkticons narrowing in on their first meal in a vorn and let out a wailing sob as his panicked sprint brought him skidding to a dangerous stop before a cliff edge. Face drowning in coolant and HDU blaring with alerts, the teal Destron turned about sluggishly, hiccuping in distress as he faced the red-green brute looming over him.
"Gotcha," he grinned darkly, a clawed servo detaching from his still-pointed blaster to reach out for the youngling. Leozack yelped wetly at the sight of those curled fingers, folding in to himself as a weak defense.
But his capture never came.
A nasty, sloshy sound gurgled out of the Autobot above him; the next second, he'd crashed to the ground, the gun tumbling out of slacken servos and limbs twitching sporadically. Wiping roughly at still-weeping optics, the teal mechling glanced upwards, finding a strange, silver bat hooking its claws deep into the fallen mech's plating. Realizing it was being watched, Komoribreast unwound his glossa from around the bigger Cybertronian's neck cables, energon glistening brightly along the dark appendage as it rolled back up in the breastanimal's mouth. The small, gentle chittering from the tiny creature made Leozack flinch, though it was not a motion made in terror this time. If Komoribreast was here, that meant-
Agonized cries echoed out from up ahead. Crawling around his attacker's unconscious frame, Leozack watched as MachTackle hit the ground hard; several black holes smoking sharply along his torso. Landing with a flip, Hellbat instantly unsheathed a spear, spinning it expertly to ward off the rain of laser fire that came from the only Autobot left standing.
"Bastard!," WingWaver roared, tossing his two guns to the ground below. He pulled his arms tight to his chestplates, throwing them back out rapidly, with a cry of, "Multi-Dead Hurricane!"
A gasp was wrenched from the youngling as a twister of wind and water erupted forth from the enemy, jettisoning toward the other jet. Hellbat didn't even flap a wing tip. He stopped his swirling spear, sinking its pointed tip deep into the earth and pulled himself on top in one, fluid motion, using the lifted base to launch himself over the piercing gale and directly into the Autobot. WingWaver had no time to put up a process the change. Together, the two mechs collided with the grass, frames rolling and limbs jerking as they grappled violently along the ground. For a moment, WingWaver broke free and lunged for one of his forgotten weapons, only for Hellbat to pounce on his exposed backstruts and pull the other Cybertronian back in a rough choke hold.
Gears grinding as he was forced to curl backwards farther than comfortable, the Autobot pounded at the Destron's arm, glaring up at the blue mech distractedly. "I sw-swear," he grit through clenched dentae, "Y-you'll re-regret th-"
Blue optics flared at the muffled 'choom', their light quickly flickering to black as WingWaver went limp in Hellbat's grasp. Silently, the rafale dropped the other mech, rising to his pedes and tossing the enemy's second gun under the shuttle. He didn't even look down once, stepping over the Autobot's smoking frame, dregs of dirt trickling over his fallen enemy callously. Instead, red orbs were focused solely on the frozen youngling; their hardened edges softening as the older Destron rushed over to the traumatized jet.
"Leo...," Hellbat vented weakly, falling to one knee before the tiny Destron, "I'm so glad I found you."
All the terror and pain of the last cycle swelled sharply within Leozack for a sickening moment; the entire world obscured through a sea of coolant as the tomcat threw himself at the older mech. His caretaker's arms wrapped tight around him instantaneously, pulling the youngling upwards, gently working around the miniature claws sunk into his plating as he shifted the quivering mass to a more secure position. Each of them silent as they processed the situation they were in.
Relief was short-lived though.
The sound of organic matter crackled and snapped under spinning tires, rushing right for the pair. Leozack clasped tightly to the spy's shoulder plating while Hellbat removed an arm from his protective circle; Komoribreast morphing into a gun that fit snugly in the larger flyer's free servo. Its muzzle pointed directly at the vehicles transforming beside the two fallen Autobots, the newcomers also brandishing weapons and enemy sigils.
"Slimy coward!," an aggressive black and red mech snarled, shooting rapidly.
Hellbat managed to spring backwards over DashTacker's prone form, avoiding the worst of the laser fire, though he took a few hits against his arms and wing shielding his charge from harm. Leozack shrieked when the shots drifted uncomfortably close to his own frame, fingers prying into seams as he pushed harder into the rafale's one-armed hold to get away from the danger. The high-pitched sound caused even the Autobots to pause, the shooter's yellow companion lowering his weapon just a smidge.
"...is that Leozack?," he mumbled in shock.
The blue Destron glared at the trio, firing off a couple warning shots as the newcomers attempted to shuffle forward.
Blacker was not one to be deterred so easily; he cast his gun aside and curled his fists tightly before himself. "I'll just tear those wings off with my bare servos," he threatened with a growl, "And then we'll see what nasty tricks you're up to, fragger!"
In response, Hellbat took three steps back -Leozack gasping frightfully as he found it left them balancing on the cliff's edge. Far below, an ocean of green stretched out to the horizon, the twisting branches that pierced the canopy appearing like jagged spikes in a trap. The youngling looked between the crushing fall below and the attacking brainmasters, coolant glazing his optics once more as dread opened the door for panic to settle back in. They were never going to get out of this alive, were they?
"Blacker, please," a blue Autobot said, trying to calm their irate leader with a gentle servo on his arm. Blacker only shook it off though. Frustrated, Braver turned his attention to the jet. "Hellbat, I have no idea what is going on, but your companions have already fled. You've lost this fight. Surrender peacefully and release the sparkling into our custody. They will be safe."
A hiccuping sob escaped the teal Destron. These monsters wanted to take him away from his kind? The only connection he had to his home? Leozack turned his helm up to his caretaker, a gnawing terror starting in the pit of his fuel tank. Hellbat's attention was glued to the brainmasters; he did not spare even the quickest glance with his charge to assuage his worries. Worse yet, he hadn't refused the enemies' demands. The youngling was ready to wail. Was the blue jet actually about to give him up to these evil strangers?
"Hellbat...," Laster added in warning.
The call of his designation seemed to be a trigger point for the rafale. With a rapid flick of his wrist, he released Komoribreast and raised his middle finger at the trio -before leaping backwards off the cliff and rushing helm-first to the forest below. Screaming, Leozack lost his grip in the free-fall, spinning confusedly in the air, before silver wings and a chittering sound slammed against his backstruts, ending his wild twirling. The tomcat only had an astrosecond to notice that the older Destron was transforming below him, before he crashed unceremoniously into the jet's cockpit; safety harness zipping around the tiny mechling and Komoribreast both, locking them in place as thrusters fired.
Gone from the cliff and the enemy in a thunderous flash.
xxXxXxx
He'd traveled over one whole continent and several smaller countries before Hellbat began to think it might be safe to land.
His rapid progression across the globe was far enough to escape any current detection from Autobots, he believed, and also a wiser option than returning immediately to the Thunder Arrow at that moment. The blue Destron knew there would be some choice words to bear the brunt of when he got back (and probably more), but those were concerns he could address later. Right now, his thoughts were on the mute youngling curled up in a ball within his cockpit. Circling a mountain face, Hellbat began to slow down, sensors mapping out a spacious enough landing among the ragged stones that could proved them a safe place to perch on for some time. Thrusters tipping downwards and coordinates set, he approached the mountain at more of a hover, mindful of his wings as he lowered his nosecone delicately and thumped softly on the natural-forming platform. Leozack didn't respond, even as the older jet's engines went silent and his cockpit began to cool.
"...Leo," Hellbat's hesitant vocalizer echoed from the dashboard, "Could you climb out?"
The tomcat remained curled in a ball, Komoribreast looking between the teal Destron and its master worriedly.
The spy vented low, protective glass sliding back and seat bucking to throw the youngling out of his cockpit; transforming back to bipedal mode before Leozack had a chance to squabble. It was eerie turning around, not to be met with the face of an indignant brat, but instead, the fetal form of a softly weeping young spark. Icy, crippling grief pierced Hellbat's spark. For as much as he argued with himself that this wasn't forever, seeing his once-great lieutenant commander laid out on the mountain top, weak and vulnerable in this tiny form, cemented everything into reality. Leozack -whatever he had done to himself- was gone. Utterly and truly, vanished forever.
Perhaps the blue Destron had a nasty inkling that violence might reawaken the ferocious, conniving superior that had shaken his logic circuits and hooked the rafale with a lustful obsession that could not be dissuaded... Well, that theory had now proven itself false. This small look-alike was loudly out-spoken and prone to vicious temper tantrums, but beneath it all, the tomcat was still just a youngling. Barely older than a sparkling and living a life devoid of all his previous incarnation's battle experience, tribulations or worldly knowledge.
And Hellbat had fragged up enough to let an innocent spark find itself between enemy crosshairs.
The older mech thought he might purge.
"I-i... I n-never wanted you t-to experience that," he mumbled sickly, awkwardly crouching next to the shrunken youngling, "Y-you aren't a soldier..."
And never should be, Hellbat whispered to himself. War was not for newsparks barely capable of transforming. A foolish notion that would probably have him executed by his Emperor, but it was true. His way of life was... unconscionable for a being so young. Optics slid away from the teal jet, staring at his servos guiltily. Even now, the spy rued, he was thinking only of himself and not the 'bot that he had irreversibly damaged through carelessness and selfish wants. How was he supposed to make it better now?
"...i-it hu-hurts," Leozack whimpered faintly, tucking tighter as a sob slipped out, "...w-why... why di-did they h-hurt me? I-i-i n-never did a-anything t-to them..."
"Hurt? Leo, a-are you injured?," Hellbat stuttered, reaching out for the youngling. The tomcat turned his face away from the blue Destron, giving up the struggle quickly when his arm was gently pried away from his self-made cocoon. Here, away from the heat and anxiety of battle, it was easy to see the blistering mark cut across the tiny mechling's forearm. Blue wings shook in boiling rage at the sight of such an injury. What sparkless beast could mar a barely-vorn-old Cybertronian this way?!
Weak tugging came from the limb in his grasp; the spy looking up to see his charge trying to pull away from him, fear present in wide, glazed optics. At the sight, the anger quickly dropped from Hellbat's face.
"'M so-sorry. Pl-please, d-don't be m-mad," the youngling begged brokenly.
"N... n-no," Hellbat mumbled in horror, his tone strengthening as he reached out his other servo for the now trembling jet, "No, no, no, no... Oh, Leo... I-i'm not mad. A-at least, n-not at you..."
He pulled the teal Destron up and into his lap, mindful of the other's damaged plating as he leaned against the mountain's face, arms wrapped loosely around Leozack. The spy's spark withered when the tiny mechling twisted deeper into his hold, seeking out comfort while also trying to bury his tear-streaked face from view.
"I-i'm... I'm sorry t-too, that you had t-to get h-hurt at all," the older jet continued, not commenting on his charge's attempts to hide himself away. "You sh-should never have been there; s-should never had to get caught up i-in that fight. T-this is all my fault. Y-you were unhappy, a-and I... I-i-i didn't listen well enough. I'm s-sorry that you felt the need to sneak away. I s-should have done better by you."
Silence stretched on for several, uncomfortable kliks. Leozack, silent in his tears, and Hellbat trying to sort out his thoughts and feelings. Being around this youngling brought forth a kind of honesty that the spy didn't often engage in; it also left him emotionally vulnerable and double-guessing all his actions and responses. Is this why their Emperor had locked up their kin, sparklings and conjux enduras alike, in the massive block that housed his beloved weapon? So that he might not be even marginally swayed by external forces from his path of destruction?
"...I hate t-this planet...," Leozack whispered from within the cage of his caretaker's arms. "I wa-want to g-go home..."
The soft spit of static in the youngling's words made Hellbat curl closer around the tomcat, his chin resting on top of the lowered teal mane.
"W-we... We'll be home again, someday soon," he lied, staring out across the swollen, grey clouded sky and shadowy mountain peaks nearby, wishing that his words could be true. Even if just for Leozack's sake. "The Autobots can't stop us forever."
The tomcat shifted slightly at his chestplates, delicate fingers clutching at a larger forearm. The blue Destron felt lip components part against his plating, though no sound was uttered from them for a horribly, lengthy stretch of time. "...are we the bad ones?," eventually came the spark-breaking question, Leozack tightening his grip, already fretful of the answer.
Hellbat shuttered his optics slowly, watching as the clouds around them darkened. "We all have our reasons for fighting," the rafale replied softly. "No matter your side. We've all done good and bad things in the namesake of that which we care about."
Light began to bubble through the heavy curtain of cirrocumulus, blinding the blue Destron for a moment as the sharp rays fell on the mountain face. Once his visual pixels had resettled, he could see that the clouds had peeled back to a wispy, translucent veil, leaving the pair with a wide view of the horizon as it transformed. It was a wonder to behold, watching as the sun began its descent from the sky, painting the stratosphere above in swatches of vibrant orange, gold, pinks, violets and snippets of ocean-blue; each colour ebbing as it blended into the next, the gradual gradient to the first trickle of stars a living tapestry that seemed to breathe with the very planet under it. The final, reaching rays of the celestial body spread over its audience warmly, tempering out some of the cold that had settled into Hellbat's pistons. It appeared to have a similar effect on Leozack, if his stirring in his caretaker's lap was any indication.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?," the older mech started kindly, tilting his helm downwards at the soft vent of wonder from his charge. "This place isn't ours, but it still has a few wonderful things to see. I could show you sometime, if you aren't afraid to go."
It wasn't much of an offer, but Hellbat hoped it might bring some peace to the poor youngling. And indeed, when Leozack tore his gaze away from the fleeting masterpiece before them, there was a sparkle of hope and curiosity glittering through the coolant still clinging to round, flared optics.
"Promise?," the tomcat asked the blue Destron in a hush.
It was an odd sensation, looking down into that face, so open and innocent, knowing that whatever he said -however he said it- would shape the galaxy building behind pink orbs. It left the rafale in a position of power unlike any other; along with a weight that burdened not only his frame, but his spark and conscience, too. Wars could start and end, and trials would fill every moment in between, yet the real impact was the ones they imprinted on those that would come after them. From spark, to spark, to spark... An ever-lasting legacy of emotions and wishes.
"Promise," Hellbat swore, his intakes catching on the humbling realization. His neural net was tingling with the swell of unexpected feelings, that he almost missed it when Leozack eased back into his hold; vibrant optics dimming in waves as the youngling relaxed completely, his calming processor fixated on the lovely brush of colours while they rippled to extinction at the sky's bottom edge. From behind, arrms encircled the teal jet just a little bit tighter, the spy's gaze focused on his own star drifting off to recharge.
An ember, he vowed to himself then and there, that he would do anything to protect from this orn on.
SYCMD: Ack, so much sadness and sap! It's like a perfect honey-poison... I wonder if there'll be an antidote in the future~
Be kind; give me your mind~ REVIEW, please?