Chapter 15 - Phase Six
By all accounts, this is the End of the World.
"Saber, Tail Light?" Jazz called into the Autobot comms channel from the peak of the Sandia Mountains. "Roger me, wilco me!"
"Jazz!" Tail Light was first to answer. "We have visual on a Decepticon!"
"A Decepticon?" Jazz asked. "Are you sure?"
"I can see the Mark of the Fallen from here."
Wheeljack took up residence beside the Autobot Spec Ops leader. "Where the hell did he come from?" He asked as he tucked his Astro Interferometer squarely away.
"I don't know, but he just blew up the Humans' Array!" Tail Light exclaimed.
"Is he alone?" Jazz asked.
"For now. But I wouldn't bet on that being the case for long."
Jazz and Wheeljack exchanged glances rife with concern and worry. "Why would they send a single con?" Wheeljack asked.
"Dunno, and we're not stickin' around long enough to find out." Jazz said. "You two, load onto Sky Lynx. We're bookin' outta here!"
Back at camp, Tail Light gave a nod. "Copy." She said before focusing on the others. "You heard him, we're leavi-" Tail Light paused when she realized that Saber was no longer in hers or Sky Lynx's company. "W-wait, where's Saber?" She asked as she frantically looked around for the son of Optimus Prime. "He was just here! Where could he have possibly gone?!"
"Psst." Tail Light turned towards Skylynx, who'd taken up residence next to her. The giant, Quadrupedal Autobot tilted his head downward, motioning for her to look beyond the camp and down the mountain.
Tail Light raised a brow then followed Sky Lynx's direction and peered down the Sandia Mountain slope; the sight she found filled her with a wide berth of emotions, disappointment being the chief among them.
"Oh no…" Tail Light had found Saber. She was watching the guy move down the face of the mountain in a dead sprint, headed towards the Decepticon as fast as his legs could carry him.
"That idiot." She sighed. "Hang on, I'll go get him."
Before Sky Lynx could offer a second opinion on her proposed action, the young Autobot transformed into her oversized bike mode and drove off down the mountain after Saber.
It didn't take Tail Light long at all to catch up to the Autobot. Running as fast as he was, Saber was still no match for the speed of her Alt-mode.
"What're you doing?" She asked him.
"Running!" Saber exclaimed.
If Tail Light had eyes in her bike mode, they would have been narrowed. "...Why?" She asked.
"Well, my Alt-mode runs on 4 Wheels." Saber explained. "The drive down the mountain would be killer on my suspension."
Saber's explanation nearly blew out one of Tail Light's Gaskets. "No you dumb ass! Why are you going towards the Decepticon blowing everything up?!"
"Oh! I'm not-" Saber said, he and Tail Light finally reaching even ground, which allowed him to transform and drive alongside her." -I'm gunning for the Star Saber."
"Not this again..." Tail Light sighed. "Saber, you're obsessed…"
"Come on, Lights…"
"Ew, don't call me that."
"A Decepticon shows up in New Mexico not even a full 24 hours after I send out a message saying the Matrix is here, and he immediately blows up the Array I used? That's not a coincidence..."
"Even if it isn't, the hell are you gonna do? Jump the Humans and take it?"
"Yes!" Saber said proudly.
"No!" Tail Light exclaimed disapprovingly. "We need to be going in the opposite direction, not towards the Con that just blew up half of New Mexico!"
"Oh younglings!" Both Autobots paused their bickering and used their Alt-mode's sensor panels to find the Dino Bird gliding down the mountain, just a few meters away from them. "If you two are done bickering like Conjunx Endura, might I suggest climbing aboard?"
The Dino Bird Autobot soared overhead the young Autobots and extended a ramp from his underbelly. Saber and Tail Light said nothing more before transforming, jumping onto Sky Lynx's ramp and then boarding him.
"Sky Lynx!" Tail Light exclaimed. "Thank Primus, a bot with a brain. Now, turn us around so we can pick Jazz and Wheeljack up and get out of here!"
"Now why would I do that?" Sky Lynx asked, to Tail Light's immediate dismay. "I haven't seen action in 4 million years! I'm itching to pay the bastards back for clipping my wings!"
Tail Light let out an exhaustive groan while Saber did the express opposite. "Yes!" He cheered. "Sky Lynx, you're a real one! Take me down to the Star Saber, let's get to it before the Con can!"
"Hang on to your helmets!" Sky Lynx ordered before transforming his entire body. The lower half turning into it's crawler form fit with a Cargo hold while the upper half turned into one of Nasa's Space Shuttles, the name: The Magnificence, painted into the side of its hull.
Back at camp, Jazz and Wheeljack returned just in time to watch Sky Lynx rise into the air, westward bound for Albuquerque with the two younger Autobots nowhere in sight.
"Oh, for the love of..." Wheeljack groaned.
Jazz pulled up his comms. "Saber?" He began. "Wanna tell me where you, Tail Light and Sky Lynx are going without us?"
"I'm not affiliated with them!" Tail Light exclaimed on the open network.
"What? -kersch- I can't hear you! -kersch- Wheeljack might not have done as good a job as I thought!" Saber explained, feigning communications difficulties.
"Ok, I resent that." Wheeljack said on comms, taking offense.
"What? -Kersh- we're flying through a tunnel! -Kersh- Gonna have to call you back!" Saber continued to feign difficulties as he, Tail Light and their transport continued on.
Off comms, Wheeljack gave Jazz a look. "What a jackass." He said.
Jazz let out a sigh. "Come on." He said. They were going to have to follow the Autobots on the ground.
Back in Magdalena, Sixshot engaged his Energon scanners. In addition to his already lucrative arsenal, he and all Phase Sixers were fitted with long range Energon detection equipment. Their primary function was so they could hunt down straggling Autobots. But, with the Matrix on-world and presumably out in the open, the scanner would prove useful in pinpointing its location as well.
A quick activation and the Scanner does its job. On his Hud, Sixshot took note of a massive, unchecked energon signature just on the outskirts of the nearby indigenous town.
"Got ya." The Phase Sixer readied his body and was just about to change forms again when he heard sirens in the distance. The Bot turned and watched the indigenous population's Authorities make their approach from down the road. Black and White vehicles with blaring sirens and Red and Blue flashing lights headed a convoy of larger, red vehicles with fire fighting equipment.
Sixshot pulled one of a pair of 'Planet busting' Blaster cannons off of his person and took aim. One pull of the trigger and the entire convoy - and the road they drove on - went up in flame.
"Oh my." Sky Lynx commented as he watched another fireball rise from Magdalena, New Mexico.
"What?" Saber asked. A screen formed inside of Sky Lynx's cargo hold. On it, the Autobots could see a live visual of Sixshot who was several miles away. "That's our con, huh?" Saber wondered.
"He looks big." Tail Light noticed. "Never seen one like him before."
Back on the ground Jazz and Wheeljack had descended the Sandia mountains and were driving now. From their own instruments, they also watched Sky Lynx's feed. Unlike their younger teammates, Jazz and Wheeljack actually recognized the Decepticon they were seeing and the sight of him gripped them both with fear.
"Oh scrap!" Wheeljack gasped out.
"Sky Lynx, Saber, Tail Light." Jazz said on comms. "Pull out!"
"What's got you so spooked?" Sky Lynx wondered. "It's just some Decepticon."
"No, Sky Lynx, listen to me. You and the others are in danger!"
Saber and Tail Light exchanged looks inside of Sky Lynx's cargo hold. The latter had never heard such urgency in the Autobot's voice but Saber had. The last time he'd heard Jazz sound like that, Iacon fell.
"Explain." Sky Lynx requested.
"That is a Phase Sixer." Jazz began.
"A Phase what-er?"
"Phase Sixer." Wheeljack continued on Jazz's behalf. "Every once in a while, an abnormally strong spark is born. Point-Zero One Percenters we call em. They have Sparks with a much higher than average power yield, they end up giving rise to bots of much higher than average power. Bots like Ultra Magnus, Optimus Prime, Grimlock, Fort Max on a good day. They'll clean your clock and walk away like it was nothin'. All of 'em though…they pale in comparison to a Phase Sixer.
These are Ultra powerful bots that Megatron handpicks for his Six Phase Infiltration Protocol. Phases One through Five have the cons infiltrating a planet and destabilizing it to the brink of collapse. Phase Six sees one of these hand picked bots deployed with the sole purpose of exterminating the natives and destroying the planet.
"That's terrible." Tail Light said on comms.
"Phase Sixers undergo a bonding process where their chassis are fused with ununtrium alloy, the rarest, toughest metal on our planet. They can survive ridiculous temperatures, ballistics, lasers, armor piercing rounds, nothing gets through their armor. And you can forget about grapplin' with 'em. Phase Sixers are virtually indestructible."
"That there on the screen? That's Sixshot." Jazz chimed in. He is, for all intents and purposes, the collapse of civilization personified. And he's the reason why you three should turn around, pick us up and vamos! 'Fore you get shot outta the sky."
"I'm sorry, we can't do that, Jazz." Saber answered.
"Can't or won't?"
"Both." Saber doubled down. "If this guy's as dangerous as you say, then we 'definitely' can't leave the Matrix down there."
"Saber…" Jazz was getting noticeably annoyed. He was about to give the kid another earful, but Wheeljack stopped him.
"No, the kid's right." He said, cutting Jazz off.
"Wheeljack?"
"We haven't seen a Decepticon in the 30 years we've been on Earth. This planet's definitely not ready for Phase Six, and yet Megatron sent one here, to the same coordinates we found Saber? Blowing up the exact same Array he used to get his message out?"
"Wait, so you're saying that I led him here?!" Saber asked.
"Kid, you led us here and all I had was a little dinky transmitter I put together with a line of copper, some iron and a busted display." Wheeljack said. "The Cons? They own Cybertron and, presumably, all our old skywatching tech. You might as well have painted a big, red target across the Earth's continents."
Saber felt a pang of guilt. He'd done all he could to ensure that his message would only reach Autobot frequencies, but apparently, that still wasn't enough. "I'm sorry." He said. "I thought I was secure."
"Chin up, kid. It's not your fault." Wheeljack said. "The Cons are real bastards. They would've come to destroy the Matrix one way or another."
"Wait, 'destroy The Matrix'?" Saber repeated.
"C'mon, the one thing Megatron needs to legitimize his rule? The one thing he's been without for 4 Million Solar Cycles? O'course."
"Mm, yeah Sixshot blew up the Array on first approach, no questions asked." Jazz said. "That's not somethin' you do if you wanna recover a one-of-a-kind talisman."
"Exactly." Wheeljack said. "The Matrix and the Star Saber both are pure Rarified Energon molded into crystalline form. It's said that, at full power, The Star Saber could destroy the very stars in the night sky. Now, I don't know if I believe the legends, but I do know that the Matrix's power yield alone fits that description. Combined with the Star Saber's blade and, if Sixshot takes them out, we could be looking at planet-busting levels of catastrophe here."
Tail Light shot an annoyed look at Saber. "Fantastic." She said with a frown. "So we have no choice…"
"Afraid not." Wheeljack said. "The Matrix doesn't just work for anyone, you've gotta be worthy of it to make it tick. I'd venture a guess Megs ain't worthy and he knows it. So he's sent Sixshot here to Phase Six the planet. Can't be illegit if your means of legitimacy don't exist."
Jazz let out a frustrated sigh. "Man. The Cycles after Optimus' death haven't been easy. But this…? I miss the days when my hardest job was keeping Prowl's cynicism from turning the Autobots' campaigns amoral…but, can't turn back time, right? We can only press forward...Saber, Sky Lynx, Tail Light, new orders: retrieve the Star Saber and Matrix 2 piece combo by any means and then 86 it outta there."
"Yes!" Saber grinned off comms.
"Saber!" Jazz called out.
"Jazz-Sir!" Saber answered.
"Do not engage Sixshot, do you hear me? Just get the Matrix and go!"
"That's the plan!" Saber exclaimed excitedly.
"I have a visual on the Matrix." Sky Lynx said. They were still a couple miles out, but from the air, the Dino bird could see a convoy of Human vehicles escorting the truck they'd placed the Sword and Talisman in. "They're moving through the Town. Poor chaps, if only they knew just what the hell they were carrying!"
"Let's hope we can keep 'em ignorant to the truth." Saber said. "Take us down, Sky Lynx!"
"Aye Sir!"
Sky Lynx tilted his nose down, engaged his afterburners and dove towards Albuquerque. His speed would not go unnoticed.
In Magdalena, Sixshot looked skyward. His scanner still engaged, he could plainly see an energon signal over Sky Lynx's alt-mode.
"There you are…" Sixshot aimed his cannons towards the descending Sky Lynx and fired.
It took a solid second and a half before Sky Lynx could see the incoming shot. "Brace!" He ordered as he cut his rudder and turned left. The shot ripped past his fuselage as he and his passengers barely evaded Sixshot's fire.
Tail Light and Saber were thrown together by the sudden move, the former landed atop the latter's chassis and Saber felt a rush energon swell across his body. Flustered, the young Autobot let out a nervous laugh at their predicament, which got him an eye roll from Tail Light, who shoved her hand into Saber's face so she wouldn't have to see his grin and then picked herself up off of his chest.
The Blue Autobot turned to their 'transport', "Sky Lynx!" She called. "What are you doing?! Jazz said not to engage the Phase Sixer!"
"No, he told Saber not to fight him." Sky Lynx clarified. "He said nothing about me. Besides, he shot first!"
Back on the ground, the Phase Sixer pulled a second blaster off of his person and opened fire. He'd sent a volley of planet-busting gunfire skyward at the now fleeing Autobot Shock Trooper before finally transforming into his Cybertronian Jet mode and climbing high after him.
Sky Lynx banks left. The rear, ancillary thrusters on his Crawler flip forward and open fire on the incoming Decepticon; and the Decepticon angles his nose upright and fires back. The two aircraft trade fire on the merge before flying past each other at speeds that would kill any human pilot.
Aiming for the convoy, Sky Lynx descends while Sixshot falls into a corkscrew and swoops back around. "Hold on!" The Autobot ordered. "This might get bumpy!"
Inside Sky Lynx's cargo bay, Tail Light and Saber held onto whatever they could for dear life. Their efforts would be in vain however, as they'd soon learn that there was more to Sky Lynx than met the eye.
Flying low to the ground. Sky Lynx detached his lower half, allowing the cargo hold/crawler to fall into the City. Saber and Tail Light shouted as they felt themselves plummet; the Cargo hold they were residing in began to shift and convert. From the edges of the platforms, arms and legs revealed themselves, the Crawler's treads locked up; their new form serving as the padding for 2 sets of 'paws'. A gun turret lowered itself from the main hull and a Lynx-like head flipped out from a hidden compartment. Sky Lynx's lower half landed on all fours, having changed into a giant red, white and blue Lynx with two medium length tails.
Sky Lynx's Lynx half slid across the town street, the treads in his paws locked up, acting as breaks to pull the oversized cat to a stop. Once he was settled the Lynx's chest opened up, revealing Tail Light and Saber who were both battered, bruised and tangled up against one another, having utterly failed to brace themselves for Sky Lynx's transformation.
"This is where you get off!" Sky Lynx ordered, a ramp descended from the opening in his chest. Tail Light scrambled to get away from Saber, then the two descended the ramp and stepped onto the panic stricken Albuquerque streets. As the humans screamed at the sudden (but totally understandable) shock of their predicament, the two Autobots turned to the sky. That's when the shuttle portion of Sky Lynx swept around and transformed in the air over the massive cat. The Shuttle extended a pair of thin, red, Avian legs with talons from its hull. At its rear, a long red tail formed with the Shuttle's fin at the end. At the sides, the shuttle's wings broke off and flared up, extending into great, big, blue feather-like bird wings. Finally, from the nose of the Space plane a long, crimson neck with a white, beaked head extended beyond the Plane's main fuselage. Sky Lynx's shuttle had transformed into a sort of massive bird, the 'Sky' half of Sky Linx.
Saber and Tail Light were stunned at the glory of Sky Lynx."What…the hell kind of Autobot are you?!" Saber asked.
"I'm 'one' of a kind!" Sky Lynx's bird half grinned.
"And 'two' much trouble for the cons!" Sky Lynx's Lynx half added. When they spoke, both halves shared Sky Lynx's voice. They were of two bodies, but one mind.
Before the Autobots could ask more of the questions they definitely had, they all heard the screech of Sixshot's engines overhead as the Phase Sixer swept back around for another pass.
"Go, get the Matrix!" Sky Lynx's Lynx half said.
"The Phase Sixer is mine!" Sky Lynx's Bird Half continued.
Despite their burning curiosity, Saber and Tail Light held their inquiries about their large ally with out of the ordinary abilities and focused instead on the task at hand. They had a Star Saber to recover.
"Right!" Saber said before turning back to the town. "Roll out!" He ordered and then the 3 Cybertronians went to work. Saber and Tail Light transformed and rode off to intercept the convoy while Sky Lynx's two halves charged Sixshot together.
Sixshot descended onto the road and transformed into his wolf form. Snarling and roaring, the Decepticon pounced into both of Sky Lynx's halves and the three beasts went tumbling into a mass of limbs and metal spewing fire and flak as they rolled down the street.
As both halves of Sky Lynx went fang to fang with Sixshot, Saber and Tail Light raced through Albuquerque after the Convoy and the Star Saber they were escorting.
"Move!" Saber shouted through his speakers and honked his horn. "Out of the way!" He was doing his level best not to hit the panicking Humans who were running and driving every which way to avoid the giant robot deathmatch at the heart of their town. He was doing a good job evading traffic, but his alt mode's mass made it doubly hard to race through the streets without injury to one of the natives. His cohort Tail Light, however, had no such difficulties.
Despite her size, Tail Light's form as a two-wheeler was incredibly nimble. She bobbed and weaved through traffic with Elegance before sliding, skidding and racing down another street, Saber trailing behind her.
"There, up ahead!" She called. The Autobot's nimbleness was paying dividends; they had visual on the convoy now and were gaining on the precious cargo.
The Human Convoy was composed of several light armored vehicles. A long Cab-over truck with a large trailer carried the blade while 4 Armored Humvees with manned gun positions escorted.
"Jackpot!" Saber exclaimed.
"I'm gonna push in, you follow through." Tail Light ordered. "And keep it tight!"
"Yes ma'am!"
Saber and Tail Light accelerated on the convoy. The former raised her front wheel as she gained speed, pulling ahead of the Black and Gold Autobot while the latter pulled up and moved in at the group's rear. The Human soldiers amongst the convoy were antsy as they watched what they assumed to be two vehicles gain on their group. That they were vehicles gaining speed on a government convoy just after a government facility was just blown to kingdom come by an unknown, hostile force was one thing. But with one of them being a grossly oversized Bike and the other being the same Black and Gold car that rushed the Research Station last night, the Soldiers in the convoy quickly realized that they weren't just any ordinary vehicles.
The soldiers atop the Humvees turned their gun emplacements on the Autobots and opened fire. Tail Light responded by raising her front wheel onto the back of one of the Humvees then hitting the gas, ramping up into the air and transforming. Her sleek, slender body went spinning in the air as she deployed her wrist blades and then descended on the convoy. One-Two swipes and she cleaved the entire front of the first two Humvees' chassis - from front window to bumper - clean off, sending them both crashing and careening off the road while simultaneously clearing a path for her and Saber to move on the others.
As she hit the asphalt, Tail Light fell into a combat roll while the convoy drove on. She would have transformed back into her Bike mode again, but she suddenly found Saber's hand wrapped around hers. The Autobot had partially transformed and caught her. Now, he rode on 3 wheels as they chased the convoy down, dragging Tail Light behind.
The remaining Humvees tore gunfire back down at the Autobots. Saber guided Tail Light's hand to his Alt mode's spoiler, allowing her to find purchase and hang on. The Oversized two-wheeler followed in Saber's tracks by partially transforming her legs so that her Alt-mode's wheels would replace her feet, ensuring that they wouldn't lose so much speed as she trailed along.
Holding onto Saber's alt-mode with a pair of wheels for feet now, Tail Light raised herself up and turned her free hand into a blaster. She took aim; shot twice and blew out the tires on the Humvees at the head of the convoy forcing them to pull off the road and crash into oncoming traffic; that only left the Truck carrying the precious cargo.
Saber transformed, completely this time. Entangled with Tail Light, the Autobot pressed the toes of his feet - which were a moment ago his alt-mode's rear bumpers - against Tail Light's shins and then kicked her off, propelling her in the air and down the road after the truck as he rolled away.
Airborne, Tail Light did a graceful twirl as she converted another pair of even bigger arm blades from her wrists. With a great yell, Tail Light brought the blades down hard into the front of the truck. Narrowly missing the drivers, she skewered the Big rig's wheels, piercing them straight through the axle. With a push and a groan, she heaved against the weight of the truck, displacing the asphalt with her feet until the whole thing came to a stop.
The Autobot let out an exhale as she picked herself back up and peered into the Truck cabin, there she found the Humans. They'd been rattled by her 2 thousand pound chassis suddenly and violently bringing their truck to a halt, but they were mostly alright.
"This is your stop." Tail Light said. "Out. Now."
Tail Light wasted no time in evicting her victims. Under normal circumstances, she might've given them more time to recover. But then again, under normal circumstances she wouldn't have had to stop a truck like that.
In an act of defiance, one of the humans inside the truck's cabin leveled a sidearm on her, which did little more than fuel the Autobot's already annoyed mood. "You don't wanna play that game with me…" She said before turning her hand back into a blaster and aiming it at the cabin and directly at the head of the man with the gun. "...You'll lose."
The Men in the truck exchanged quick glances, then they quickly undid their seatbelts and scrambled out of the Semi, landing on the asphalt at either side of the vehicle before running off.
Tail Light picked herself upright as Saber approached the truck. "Good choice." She said.
At the back of the truck's trailer, Saber turned his hand into a gold blade, the only other weapon he was armed with, and then cut at its locks. He cast both trailer doors aside, reached into the metal box and took hold of the Star Saber's handle. The Humans hadn't even properly wrapped the thing, showing proof of their (understandably) hasty decision to relocate it.
Saber dragged the Star Saber - and the Rock it was still embedded in - out of the Truck and set it upright. He put two hands on the Sword's grip and heaved. "C'mon!" He groaned as he heaved with all his might. Yet, despite his best efforts, the blade went nowhere.
"Still no luck?" Tail Light asked as she approached.
"Ugh, no!" Saber groaned, clearly frustrated. "I don't understand. I don't even want the thing like that! I'm just trying to get it out of here, why won't it let go?"
Before Tail Light could offer a response, both Autobots heard a terrible screech as Sky Lynx's bird half came crashing through the side of a nearby building. The Autobots turned and watched Sixshot, in robot mode, holding up Sky Lynx's Lynx half with one hand. He was staring at the Autobots through the gaping hole in the building Sky Lynx made when his bird half went crashing through.
"Found you..." Sixshot tossed the other half of Sky Lynx and started to walk towards them.
Tail Light turned to Saber, "Megatron wants the matrix, right?"
"Right but-"
"If you can't draw the sword then take the Matrix, get it the hell out of here, contact Autobot frequencies - and maybe don't draw a Phase Sixer to the planet next time!" Tail Light said as she deployed both her wrist blades and her blasters.
"Wait! But what about you and Sky Lynx?!"
"Forget us! Just go!" Tail Light ordered before rushing off to engage the Phase Sixer without a second thought or consideration for her own life.
Sixshot watched the Autobot as she moved for him through the building. He rose up into the air, transformed into his jet mode, kicked on his afterburners and flew at her. Before she could react, the Decepticon crashed straight through the building, slamming into her comparatively tiny body before rising high into the sky with her.
Saber watched Sixshot fly into the Sky with Tail Light in hand, her hand guns' blue plasma blasts bouncing off of the Phase Sixer's chassis as they rose. "Tail Light!" He called after her, to no avail. The Decepticon had already taken her miles away into the sky.
Fueled by his emotions, Saber deployed his Path Blaster and took aim at Sixshot's shrinking silhouette, then he remembered that it was defunct and couldn't be fired. Even if it could, he was not anywhere near good enough with it to make such a far shot without potentially hitting Tail Light. No matter how he sliced it, he wasn't going to be able to help her - not that way.
Saber lowered his gun and turned his gaze back to the embedded Star Saber. Tail Light had told him to unseat the Matrix from its hilt and run…but he couldn't. He had told her (and himself) that he was just trying to save the Matrix, but that wasn't the truth. The truth was: he wanted to use the Star Saber to stop the Phase Sixer. Even if he actually listened to Tail Light, took the Matrix and ran, with how powerful Sixshot was being touted up to be, it wasn't likely that he'd get very far before the Phase Sixer worked his way through his comrades and then set his sights on him. No, running with the Matrix would only delay the inevitable. Their only hope right now was to fight the Ununtrium coated warrior on equal footing, and there was no world in which they did that without the power of the Star Saber.
Saber put his hands back on the Sword's hilt and heaved again. "Come on!" He pleaded. "Help me destroy him!" The Autobot heaved and heaved but try as he might, the Star Saber would not budge.
In the skies above New Mexico, Tail Light had long stopped trying to shoot Sixshot down and was now desperately trying to cut into him with her Cybertanium blades. Grunting and exhaling, she brought her blades down on the Phase Sixer's alt-mode as hard as she could. But, for all her efforts, she wasn't even denting the guy and Sixshot? He didn't feel a thing.
The Phase Sixer cut his airbrakes, the sudden stop in speed saw the Autobot flung from his fuselage. Tail Light flailed wildly in the sky as she went plummeting to the ground, only for Sixshot to fly by her and strike her with his wings. Again and again and again he hit her until the fourth and final pass where Sixshot came back, this time in his Robot form, and snatched her out of the air.
Dazed and battered, Tail Light struggled to look Sixshot in the eye as the Phase Sixer dove down, plummeting them both towards New Mexico. "Is that all you've got?" He asked. "I traveled all this way to kill you. The least you could do is fight back! Make this worth my while!" The insinuation that the Autobots weren't fighting back was insulting. They had been fighting back, it just didn't matter against a Phase Sixer.
As the duo fell towards the Earth and Tail Light realized how close they were getting to the ground, she once again raised her blades and bashed at Sixshot's chest. She struck him again and again and again until her blades blunted. Try as hard as she might, she just could not get through Sixshot's Ununtrium armor. But that certainly didn't stop her from trying, fear and the Cybertronian equivalent of adrenaline were the driving force behind every blow Tail Light struck on Sixshot's chassis. She fought hard and she fought well...right up until Sixshot used her to break his fall.
The crash rocked Albuquerque. The impact of their bodies shook buildings, shattered windows and broke the ground not even a whole city block away from the Star Saber. When the dust finally settled and Saber could see them, he watched Sixshot rise over Tail Light who lay still beneath his feet.
"Tail Light!"
Sixshot cast a murderous gaze towards Saber. "Your turn." he declared.
From beneath Sixshot's heel, Tail Light struggled. "Saber, you idiot...go!"
Saber released his hold on the Star Saber, drew his personal blade and put himself between the Phase Sixer and the Matrix. "Get the hell off of her!" He roared.
Sixshot looked at the Blue Autobot beneath his feet and let out a dark chuckle. "Make me." He ordered as he pressed his heel into her, denting her chassis and wrenching screams from her processor, greatly angering the Black and Gold Autobot.
Mindful enough not to let the Phase Sixer fire on the Matrix behind him, the enraged Saber rushed off after Sixshot in a straight line. The Decepticon took his foot off of Tail Light and walked towards the pissed off Autobot. Reaching over his shoulder, he unsheathed a Sword of his own. His was a long, white blade with an Octagonal Hilt; it had been cast out of pure Ununtrium, the same Ununtrium that coated Sixshot's chassis.
As Saber drew closer to the Phase Sixer and the size difference between the two became more readily apparent - Sixshot towered over Saber; he was almost three times his size. The Autobot slowed his approach. He had only ever been in one genuine battle all his life and, though he'd excelled in Sword combat at the Autobot academy, that was no substitute for proper battle experience. And yet somehow he'd found himself before one of the Decepticons' planet-killing best. By all accounts, he was in for the fight of his life.
Within range, Sixshot brought his blade up and over his head then brought it down on Saber. The Autobot let out a yelp as he just barely sidestepped out of the way, the Decepticon was much faster than he was expecting for a bot of his size.
Sixshot followed up his first attack with a slash that Saber narrowly ducked underneath before lunging forward. Despite his odds, Saber committed to a full-body thrust towards Sixshot's thigh. His attack landed. On any other opponent, that would have been a crippling low, but Sixshot was not like other Cybertronians. Saber's strike had merely bounced off of the Decepticon's thigh; he hadn't even bothered to dodge. Why would he? His body was indestructible and he knew it.
Frustrated, Saber tried to back up to reset his positioning, only to catch the Decepticon's fist to his chest. "Guh!" He yelped as he went tumbling back and went down, though he wasn't out yet.
Using his momentum, Saber rolled back into a transformation just as Sixshot brought his Sword down on where he used to be. Now in reverse gear, the Autobot rolled away from the Phase Sixer's lumbering advance. Sixshot raised his blade and thrusted at Saber, but the Autobot transformed with a spin and again used his momentum to his advantage; this time knocking Sixshot's strike off target. Then, as the Phase Sixer swung on him again, Saber again dove inwards at the bot, choosing to be as close as possible with the Planet-killer. He figured that with swords as long as Sixshot's were, that it'd be easier to control his inner line so long as he was close. He was right, but only to an extent.
Saber dashed between the Phase Sixer's legs and dragged his blade through, slashing at them. Once again, his blade did not pierce Sixshot's alloys. Behind the Decepticon now, the Autobot planted his foot into the ground, spun on his heel and then dashed right back in at the Con. He transformed and drove right at him at full speed in an attempt to ram him. If he couldn't pierce his armor, he figured he could at least destabilize his stance and knock him down. But Sixshot was wise to the scheme.
With his free hand, The Phase Sixer snatched Saber out of the air and held him up in alt-mode. Saber transformed in the Decepticon's grasp and struggled to break free. Try as he might though, he couldn't get out of Sixshot's hold. "Mediocre." Sixshot called him as he raised his sword to deliver a final blow.
Unable to break free, Saber traded brawn for brains. If he couldn't overpower the Phase Sixer to break free, maybe he could trick him? Thinking fast, the Autobot activated on the headlight lamps on his chest and flashed the Decepticon with his Nissan Datsun Alt-mode's high beams.
"Grah!" Sixshot snarled as his optics were suddenly blinded, causing him to loosen his grip just enough for Saber to raise his blade and parry Sixshot's own before riposting - striking the Decepticon in the chest hard enough to shunt himself free.
Sixshot took a couple steps back…and started to laugh. "Not bad, Autobot." He said. "If this fight's outcome wasn't already predetermined, I might've actually been compelled to try. Ah, but alas…you've left yourself open."
Sixshot turned his attention back to the Star Saber. In his eagerness to fight, Saber had swapped positions with the Decepticon and now Sixshot had an open shot on the Matrix.
"No!" He shouted.
Sixshot went to draw his blaster but before he could reach it, he was suddenly hit by a lime green, 4 wheeled human Bus. "What?" He groaned. The bus hadn't phased him, but the fist that came through it and clocked him in the jaw? That threw him back.
Sixshot recovered from the double whammy and picked himself upright in time to see a fourth Autobot land on a hand and knee, this one he actually recognized. Meister was the name in his data banks, but the Autobot preferred to go by another name these days.
Jazz rose up in the Phase Sixer's view. Now he stood in the path of the Matrix. A moment later, Wheeljack would join him, transforming after driving onto the scene.
"Jazz! Wheeljack!" Saber exclaimed.
"Hey kid. How you livin'?" Jazz asked.
"I'm 'livin', but I don't know how." Saber said. "You weren't BSing me, this guy's on another level!"
Picking himself up, Sixshot readied himself to face the Autobots. As he was about to step to them, he suddenly felt large, robotic fangs bite against his chassis. Sky Lynx's Lynx half, recovered from the beating he'd given it earlier, had pounced on the Phase Sixer and was bearing down on him now with his full weight.
Sky Lynx's Lynx half struggled and grappled with Sixshot, causing him to drop his Sword. Mildly annoyed, The Phase Sixer elbowed the beast in his face, forcing him to release his grip on his shoulder. Then he grabbed the Lynx and then hurled him down the street at Sky Lynx's other half just as it was also coming to.
Using the jets in its body, the Lynx portion of Sky Lynx corrected its descent as the Bird Portion flapped its wings and raised itself in the air. Both halves transformed and then combined, once again rejoining into Sky Lynx's true form, landing mere feet from Tail Light as she too had just picked herself back up and again drew her weapons.
With all 5 Autobots united and together, Saber approached Jazz's side. "Matrix wouldn't let you take it?" The Lieutenant asked.
"Nope." Saber shook his head. "Star Saber's still stuck. You're free to take a crack at it though. Maybe it'll choose you and not me."
"Heh…" Jazz scoffed. "In someone else's dreams, maybe…"
Tail Light approached Saber and Jazz. "Firearms are no good." She informed the latter. "That armor's too thick."
"And my perfect teeth aren't piercing his hide either." Sky Lynx added.
"That's what I tried to tell you…" Wheeljack said as he joined the others. "Ununtrium's the hardest stuff on Cybertron, only Ununtrium is gonna be able to get through. Maybe if we got one of his swords…?"
"Yeah, good luck with that." Tail Light scoffed. "We should retreat."
"Even if I took the Star Saber and flew off, he'd catch up." Sky Lynx confessed. "As elegant as my flying is, the Phase Sixer is faster."
"So we can't outrun him, can't hurt him. Just what the hell are we supposed to do?" Tail Light asked.
"We fight," said Saber. "I don't care what he's made of, everyone's got a weakness."
"The Kid's right." Jazz concluded. "Regardless of how we got here? We're locked inta this now."
"Lovely…" Tail Light groaned.
Sixshot picked himself up and looked around at what he now had to face. Wheeljack, Jazz, Saber, Tail Light, Sky Lynx, all 5 Autobots now stood united in defiance of the living extension of Megatron's will.
Sixshot knelt down and picked his Sword up off of the ground. The Autobots had united to defy him and he was eager to meet their challenge. "Heh, five Autobots up; five Autobots down." He said before drawing one of his Blasters in his free hand. "This'll be like shooting Cyberducks in a Barrel!"
"We won't make it easy." Jazz said.
"That's all that I ask!" Sixshot shouted before taking aim and firing on the Autobots, once again making the first move.
All 5 Autobots evaded out of the way of the Phase Sixer's shot. "Autobots, together now!" Jazz commanded. "On me!"
Together, the five of them rushed the indestructible Sixshot down in a battle for the Star Saber. It was either they won this fight and retrieved the blade, or Sixshot killed them all; first them, then the Planet, all or nothing. This was going to be the fight of their lives.