Colorado
Engine roaring and lights flashing, Pyra Magna drove down the mountainside passes realizing that Dust U-No, Shatter she immediately corrected herself wouldn’t be far behind. In fact, she knew the femme bot had probably already thrown a tracker on her and had sent a squad of Eradicons after her.
And considering the rather valuable cargo she was carrying, Shatter would have been stupid not to have done such a thing. Sure, none of the Decepticons probably would have been able to use the Forge considering it required the Spark of a Prime or something very close to it but they would have love to get their greedy little claws all over it just to keep it out of Autobot hands.
Even as she drove, Pyra sighed to herself.
“How… How did this happen? You were one of the best, and here you are Dusty, throwing your chassis in with the ‘Cons,” Pyra thought to herself, civilian cars swerving out of the way. Seemed taking the form of an emergency vehicle did have it’s advantages really. “What… What happened?”
She remembered the battles they fought, her and her team of Autobots. Back on Cybertron, her group was nigh-inseparable.
The Stellar Galleries, that’s when it possibly started to all go wrong with the benefit of hindsight Pyra probably thought. The Cons were laying siege to Iacon, the city having become a wartorn Hell worthy of the fires of the Pit.
Pyra’s squad had been stationed there, and when a massive Decepticon force led by the Seeker Leozack had arrived intent on claiming the building for their own as a staging ground she was having none of it.
As Pyra went cudgel to sword against Leozack, sparks flying, Dust Up escorted any remaining civilians in the area to safe locale. Trouble was, there really wasn’t any safe locale at the moment as fires lit up the skyline with Decepticons swarming in all around and Dust Up found herself breathing and panting hard in abject terror.
On a catwalk above, weapons met once more as Pyra and Leozack went head to head.
“What, you’re not so inclined to speak?” Pyra asked as she ducked to avoid a sword swing from the infamous swordsman.
“Talk during battle is a sign of weakness!” Leozack roared, drawing his blade and leaping forwards, the fires making him look as if some kind of demon before Pyra kicked him into another room.
“Only when you're too primitive to do two things at once.” Pyra smirked. That smirk was soon to fade as a barrage of missiles came at her from where Leozack once stood. Optics widening, Pyra ripped off a wall panel and used it as a makeshift shield.
“This way, this way!” Dust Up shouted, tearing her attention away from the battle as Scoop and Rook provided covering fire slagging several Decepticon soldiers. Torca’s massive tank form was thrown through a wall, the autobot transforming into an equally massive robot form bearing what looked like tusks jutting out from his head. He then began to hold off Killbison grappling him before solidly punching the gold Decepticon in the face. Overhead, three other seekers -In order, Guyhawk, Hellbat, and Thrust- flew overhead lasers firing even as Dust Up lead the civilians into the underground tunnels.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.” Dust Up stated, the civilians cowering in fear as rumbles of the battle raged above them. “We’re going to be fine down here,” she stated as she began to tend to the wounds of some of the Iacon natives patching up energon leaks and the like. Now, if only she could believe her own words. Liozack’s men were here, and to be honest there were only two of them missing. One of whom was a known underground specialist.
Looking above her, she saw Scoop toss Liozack’s soldier Jallguar into some Vehicon drones before Scoop shifted into a hover-loader mode and ram the lot of them. Presumably anyways, as all she heard before Scoop vanished from sight was the sound of metal slamming into metal.
“...Well, that’s just Prime…” Dust Up murmured to herself deciding to screw pretenses and drop her calm exterior in front of the civilians. To be honest, she really wasn’t cut out for this. She wasn’t a warrior, she’d just been drafted into Pyra Magna’s team because the commander had felt sorry for her. “H-Here I am, trapped with civilians and my team’s backs to the wall and I… I can’t even get you guys out of here. Slag… Drillhorn’s probably bearing down on us right now and we’d never even know it!”
“Listen, you guys are some of the best of the best, right?” one of the civilians remarked. Knock Out, if she remembered his name correctly. “Primus knows how many countless times you’ve saved lives all over Cybertron. If… No, when we get out of this, I’m going to become a medic. Just because of your heroism.”
“Fine time to pick a ‘Bot to idolize. Listen to me Knock, I’d suggest you pick a better profession. You can’t save everyone. Cybertron’s going to the pits right now as it is. Better off you find a way off planet. Save yourself.” Dust Up disagreed, watching the hallways and feeling for the tremors underneath the ground with her sensors.
This was what Knock Out would later tell Pyra Magna when she asked what happened in that battle. And this was what Pyra figured triggered Dust Up turning towards the Decepticons and/or adopting the name of Shatter. She was terrified of seeing city after city, friend after friend fall to Deathsaurus and Megatron’s combined onslaughts. She just wanted to be on a side that would guarantee her a place that wouldn’t see any friends of hers fall. And at the time, the Decepticons probably looked very appetizing given how they always seemed to grow in number with each passing day.
Pyra Magna couldn’t forgive her old friend for her cowardice, but she could at least understand her in a way.
“Go, now!” Dust Up shouted as the ground beneath her suddenly started to shake before a blue and white drill tank burst up from underneath her and assumed a bipedal stance. Dust Up grabbed a panel off the walls -more like ripping it off frankly- and tossed it towards Drillhorn knocking him to the floor.
The civilians took the hint, and were quickly loaded into the back of a massive subway train that hopefully led far away from here. Dust Up allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief as several Autobots she recognized, Cyberwarp and Backstreet led by Small Foot helped them inside keeping an optic out for any unwanted guests.
“For what it’s worth…” Knock Out said before he was loaded into the subway train. “You gave me hope where there was none, for that at least you should be thanking yourself.”
“Yeah… Maybe…” Dust Up whispered as the train sped off. A wall was blown open in an explosion of purple flame, and Hellbat and Acid Storm waltzed in, rifles trained on the femme bot.
“Hey, which do you think will hurt worse? This photon rifle, or your acid?” Hellbat cackled sharing a downright evil look with his compatriot.
“Dunno, that’s what experiments are for. Ah say the acid first, just ta prolong the pain a little…” Acid Storm commented, the military-green Seeker laughing all the while in a crazed fashion.
“Agreed… It’s no fun when they die quickly. I love it when their spark goes offline… slowly.” Hellbat practically giggled stepping aside. Bravely, Dust Up pulled out a grenade waiting for the opportune moment to bring the entire roof down on top of them all before the loud shout of a truck horn was heard. All three cybertronians’ eyes widened before the massive form of Pyra Magna burst onto the scene ramming Hellbat into the subway tracks, the Seeker being electrocuted with amp after amp of electricity before finally exploding. Pyra assumed robot form and grabbed Acid Storm by the arm faster than he could blink and tossed him into a wall knocking him soundly unconscious.
“You alright?” Pyra asked nervously helping her teammate up.
“Y-Yeah… I’ll be fine. Sure took your sweet time getting here, really,” Dust Up remarked.
“Yeah, sorry… Traffic was terrible, and let me tell you? Leozack? Right pain to put down. He’ll be up in about in a bit, nursing quite the headache but let me tell you I wouldn’t want to be around when he does come to. Not going to be pleased with us. We’ve been ordered to evac to the Great Dome. Sentinel Prime’s holed up with quite a few of the stragglers and is trying to formulate a plan to take back the city.”
“...Well, best we get moving then.” Dust Up replied before she transformed to vehicle mode with Pyra following and the two took to the tunnels and up onto the highways never noticing the fact that this massive blue-bodied, red-winged Decepticon was watching them all this time.
Even as they drove, the highways shifted and moved in front of them with gears and cogs whirring and clanking and pistons pounding to accommodate the twosome. Sensors in the road below detected the wheels moving over them and issued ordered to more sensors ahead to change the highway patterns and layout in response.
Pyra swore she heard the roar of a jet engine somewhere above them, but when she trained her sensors to the sound she saw nothing.
“You think we’re being followed?” Dust Up asked.
“I’d be foolish to think we’re not being. I highly doubt Leozack would let us escape that easily…” Pyra replied.
“Easy, you call that easy?” Dust Up laughed darkly. “I nearly got burnt to a crisp by that crazed Con! What about the others anyways, Torca and the rest? Where are they?”
“When the evac order went out,” Pyra explained. “I ordered everyone to go their separate ways. It was better that wa-”
“B-Better?” Dust Up choked out, and Pyra in hindsight would probably point this as to another reason why the femme bot defected. She wanted teammates she knew she could rely on, ones that would never leave her. “Have you lost it? Look around, the city’s a warzone!”
“Yes, but my team, our team knows their way around it. Knows every nook and cranny. They’ll find a way to safety. Splitting up? Reduces the chance of us being followed anyways. The Decepticons control this city now, we need to think smart. We can’t allow any one of us to know the location of the other or our full plans. Nobody’s been briefed on everything completely. So if one of us gets captured…”
“...Nobody will spill the full plan. ...I really hate you sometimes, you know that right?” Dust up muttered.
“Sometimes… Sometimes we all have to do things we don’t like. Just to survive…” Pyra whispered to herself.
Back in the present day, Pyra repeated these words to herself as she looked down from atop a cliff at a river below, a detonator in her hands and the Forge strung across her back. As she’d predicted, several Eradicons had made themselves known and were now bearing down on her. Also as she’d predicted, she’d found a tracking implant placed on her by her former comrade.
Of course, she’d outwitted Shatter/Dust Up and had placed the tracking implant onto a log slowly floating towards the Eradicons. As they checked their scanners for the implant, Pyra smirked and pressed the detonator. A powerful explosion lit up the pass and consumed the Eradicons in its wake leaving nothing but shrapnel and burnt wood behind.
“...So, that’s the best you’ve got my love?” Pyra asked. “I know you too well, and you to me. This game, it’s far from over. So I say to you…” Pyra continued slamming a fist in to her palm. “Bring it on. You’ve still got a lot to learn, and if you want to kill me… Best you try harder.”
Lebanon, Kansas
“Calling… Calling all Autobots…”
This was the signal that went all across the US, reaching Pyra Magna in the mountain passes of Colorado, all the way to Perceptor who had been holed up in the Arctic Circle as a research vehicle for scientists.
“Somewhere, somebody out there gave that order to hunt us down…” Outback said ditching his disguise as he knew that with a wide-ranging signal like that coming from an Autobot signature, it was time to move once more. It may not have been a Prime giving out the order, but to him, it might as well have been. Finally, it was time to move he thought to himself as he roared across the wheatfields of the Great Plains.
“And we’ve got to find them,” Night Ranger agreed as he roared up alongside him, Autobot symbol flashing in the bright sun, and holographic driver ditched. If the world wanted to know about alien lifeforms, he was all too happy to educate them that they existed and at least some of them were friendly. “Agreed?”
“...Yeah, but first things first we regroup, formulate a strategy and then we hit those dingos where it hurts. And trust me, I’ve been wanting to do plenty of that.” Outback agreed.
In a truck stop somewhere outside of Raleigh North Carolina, Juniper and Trixie had resorted to ‘borrowing’ cash from an ATM using Juniper’s credit card -or rather her father’s- and knowing they were probably watched held up a sign saying: “We will find you.”
In Washington, a certain high-ranking member of Cemetery Wind was enraged to see what was going on and turned to his men. “...I was told they were no-one, teenage girls at that! And yet…”
Savoy showed them the screen on his tablet showing Juniper and co waving at them, along with Lennox. “These nobodies have our tech now and one of our operatives backing them…”
It wasn’t long before the local sheriffs showed up on being told there were wanted terrorists in the area, but by the time they did the threesome were long gone and already hitting the highway for the rendezvous point in Lebanon, chosen because it was the exact geographic center of the US and the best place for everyone to meet up.
And so the transmission went out again.
“Calling all Autobots, calling all Autobots…”
Juniper and Trixie’s eyes widened in shock when they heard an engine coming up from behind, with a roar that rivaled Stinger’s own, and looked behind them to see the very distinctive form of Knock Out coming up from behind.
“Allons-Y girls!” he cried as he flew past them. “Just show me the way, and I’ll follow the path! Scrap, might even make a race of it with you and that fancy-smancy automobile!”
“...Is he always like this?” Lennox asked over the radio and Trixie sighed.
“...Yep,” she deadpanned before laughing uproariously. “Trixie is so glad to see some things haven’t really changed one jot!” she cried, spotting Lemon inside Knockout’s passenger seat bopping her head to some unheard music coming from her headphones.
“And where just did you get that fine automobile,” Knock Out inquired. “Please tell moi you haven’t turned to the dark side and started stealing cars? ...Granted, you would have fine taste if you did but…”
“...Well, we sorta did and we sorta didn’t…” Juniper replied to the frankly rather flamboyant Cybertronian. “It’s sorta a long story.”
“It’s a long drive, I’ve got the time for stories,” Knock Out commented. “And you really must tell me where you picked up your friend!” he commented, referring to the massive black SUV that Lennox was driving, Feral Steel in the passenger seat disguised as an ordinary dog -complete with head hanging out the window and tongue panting hard- using lightbender technology.
“Oh, did I mention? Apparently, Lennox here went undercover in Cemetery Wind to find out what they’re up to!” Trixie shouted back.
“Well, kudos for him!” Knock Out remarked in a chipper tone. “Good to see not every government-oriented human is aligned with those disrespectful idiots! Oh, did I tell you about the time they shot me up and ruined my paint job down in West Virginia? Oh for Primus’ sakes, have they no shame!”
“...Yep, you haven’t changed a bit.” Trixie chortled.
They then saw a rusted police car drive up alongside them, scanning a billboard and rust, little by little began to flake and then fly off the rapidly shifting body that was now more supercar than an ordinary police cruiser. On the grill, the famed Autobot symbol appeared even as the light bars popped up on top of the roof.
“...Wow, pimp my Prowl…” Lemon said in jubilation as she pulled the sunglasses off her face to get a good look at Prowl’s new form.
“C'est impossible!” Knock Out exclaimed in indignation. “Nobody is allowed to look more fabulous than me, nobody!”
“Yeah, well… it’s happened,” Trixie replied just barely holding back her giggles. “It just happened.”
“...Why I oughta…” Knock Out grumbled descending into very rude phrases in Cybertronian that to our ears, just sounded like random whirs and beeps. Even as he continued driving down the highway with his entourage -harem(?)- of frankly beautiful looking sports cars, Knock Out was thrown for a loop when he received a transmission from Breakdown.
“Knock, that you?” Breakdown asked through the Conjunx Endura bond.
“B-Breakdown? Where you been?” Knock Out stammered out.
“L-Listen, I haven’t got much time, this is not safe anymore, us communicating like this. The ‘Cons, they’re starting to get antsy, and it had to do with something I might have did…” Breakdown replied, and if Knock Out didn’t know better he could have sworn that was guilt he detected in his bondmate’s tone.
“What did you do? Tell me Breakdown, what did you do?”
“It… It was in Sri Lanka okay? I’d found the location of Steeljaw and Filch, looking for help against the Decepticons, and… And I turned on them, me and Brawl along with a few others ambushing them just after they’d helped save a fellow Predacon…” Breakdown explained.
“You did WHAT!?!” Knock Out bellowed out in shock.
“It was them or me, they had a gun to my head,” Breakdown explained hurriedly. “A gun to-”
“Then you should have just let them pull the trigger, we do not give up friends locations!” Knock Out yelled at him.
“They were threatening you as well, they knew where you were and were planning to send in a strike team to take you and the humans out! I had to do something!” Breakdown shouted back.
“More like save your own hide!” Knock Out shouted. “You’re the reason Cemetery Wind’s onto us, aren’t you? There’s a reason why we haven’t had help from Fowler or any of the rest, and I’m willing to bet-”
“No, I had no hand in that, I promise,” Breakdown swore. “But I know who did. Shatter and Dropkick… They found them, convinced some higher-ups in the US government that they were enemies of the state and were allowed to hunt them down. Even now, they’re here onboard this very ship! Now, I can’t make a move against anyone without bringing down the might of Onslaught’s entire crew down on my head, but I can give you something, namely the security code to the ship’s firewalls. If you could somehow manage to find this ship, you could easily bridge into it with the Autobots and rescue everyone, including the humans!”
“Well… We do have a few more forces of our own since we last talked…” Knock Out trailed off. “If we can manage to get ourselves all together, there might be hope for us yet. Lennox, friend of mine apparently went undercover in Cemetery Wind. Mole, you understand.”
“You sure about that?” Breakdown questioned. “Has he gave you more than his word? How do you know he’s not lying?”
“He saved a human life from that hunting dog Savoy and blew his own cover in the process. I’d say that puts him in ou-No, my good books don’t you think?” Knock Out questioned, having to correct himself. No, he and Breakdown weren’t a thing anymore. Not since… this.
“I… I understand, Breakdown out,” the Stunticon sighed before adding: “Oh, and one last thing? Be safe okay?”
Knock Out never answered back. Eventually, a few miles outside Lebanon in an empty field everyone finally met up. Shifting and whirring, all of the Autobots began transforming at once much to Lennox’s awe.
“...I swear, no matter how many times I see it, that’ll never get old…” the soldier muttered with Xiraia nodding in agreement.
“You can say that again…” she added, Feral Steel nuzzling her leg affectionately. “Like a bright light of hope in an ever-changing tumultuous world…”
“Okay, who’s the tagalong?” Outback asked, pointing his gun at Lennox noticing his attire.
“Whoa, whoa!” Perceptor stated lowing Outback’s weapons. “Let’s hear him out, okay? Let him state his case.”
“Then we get to decide on if we get to shoot him?” Outback asked.
“We’re not shooting anybody,” Perceptor disagreed, with Prowl rubbing his temples in frustration. Clearly, he could see that he’d been missed. “That would make us no better than the enemies we currently fight.” the scientist continued.
“Exactly,” Lennox agreed. “We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us. I was suspicious of the Decepticons approaching us, so was General Bryce for that matter. So, I was sent in undercover to see what was what.”
“...Humans, a bunch of backstabbin’ little weasels,” Outback remarked having read up on the many wars the humans had fought over the centuries. He was decidedly not impressed. “Can’t be trusted with their own planet, so why are we helping them?”
“They’re young, they don’t know better, and can we say we’re really any different?” Small Foot asked. “We’ve been fighting for millennia, and it’s only in the last few centuries Cybertron is starting to put itself back together…”
“Yeah yeah, it’s just I don’t like being hunted down by both Decepticons and humans at once!” Outback snapped, wondering how in the name of the Pit he was going to break to Small Foot that her old friends were now working for the Decepticons. Pyra Magna, for her part, stood silently in the background only just now speaking.
“Find your inner peace Outback,” she said. “Loyalty… Well, that’s just a flower in the winds of temptation.”
“Didn’t know you did haikus…” Lemon remarked. “That’s sorta awesome… in a flowery poetic way.”
“Eh, sometimes I had nothing better to do when just sitting around in a junkyard feeling sorry for myself,” Pyra Magna replied, Perceptor eying the Forge strung to her back and optics widening upon realizing what it was. “Trust me, I like Earth, sometimes a Hell of a lot better than I like Cybertron at times. Thought it best to learn more about it.”
“Yeah yeah…” Outback grumbled. “But I’m quite disenchanted with this little vacay. I say screw it all, and up and leave!”
Pyra Magna glared at him. “You have quite a lot left to learn young Outback. Humans are not what you say them to be. They’re scared yes, but they have every reason to be with us tromping around on their planet. So ask yourself: do you know it in your head, or just your gut? You're a great fighter, Outback. But you have to be more than that to be a great warrior. Sometimes listening is harder than fighting. A true warrior must do both.” she lectured promptly shutting Outback up.
“Good to see you haven’t changed much,” Prowl commented. “Wise as ever, Great Fire.”
“Ugh, don’t call me that. I hate that name,” Pyra grumbled. “Makes me sound far too pretentious like I’m some sort of high priestess or something.”
“Noted,” Prowl remarked. “So what exactly are you doing with the Forge of Solus Prime?”
“Wait, that thing’s a forge?” Trixie asked. “I thought it was just one really big-ass hammer.”
“Appearances can be deceiving…” Xiraia stated, beating Sugarcoat to the metaphorical punch.
“It’s not just a forge, it’s the Forge. The Forge of Solus Prime, the one she used to carve out some of the most powerful and legendary artifacts in Cybertronian history young one,” Pyra stated with a slight tone of reverence in her voice. “It’s useless to us as it is, at least function wise as it needs the spark of a Prime to activate and we’re short on those but…”
“You can crack a few skulls with it, I bet!” Lemon chimed in punching the air. “Wham, bam! It’d be like whack-a-mole!”
Sugarcoat facepalmed.
“So, I reiterate,” Prowl questioned. “What exactly are you doing with it, Pyra?”
“The Van De Graaff, it was more than just a way for us to flee Cybertron. In the waning days of the war, when it looked like all would be lost to Megatron, Alpha Trion ordered us to get as many artifacts off-world as possible. Some were jettisoned to the stars in rockets, others like this we took personally and tried to hide them as far away from the Decepticons as possible.”
“So that explains what this is doing on Earth…” Prowl murmured implanting the Star Saber in the ground.
“Exactly,” Pyra agreed. “They should come in handy… Well, they would if we had a Prime with us, as… Well, to be frank, to activate the Star Saber’s real power we would need one. For now, it’s just one big thing to hang on the wall of your ship. I’m amazed you were even able to lift it as well as you were…”
“Wait wait wait,” Sunny said waving her hands up in the air. “Too many names to keep track of at the moment, all I want to know is right now… can we save my dad?” she asked close to tears with Indigo hugging her and Howlback licking her hand with a metallic tongue.
“That… That would be difficult,” Perceptor stated and Sunny’s face fell. “But it won’t be impossible. Trust me, it’s quite achievable. I’ve been triangulating the locations of the Groundbridges the Decepticons have created in my spare time -and trust me, I’ve had plenty of that believe you me!- and I’ve managed to find the location of their ship.”
“So we can get in there, and bash some heads finally?” Road Rage asked, slamming a fist into her palm.
“Hardly. The firewall’s too difficult to penetrate, some of the best coders I know work for the Decepticons unfortunately. Swindle amongst them. He’s made it very difficult for me to get past it.”
“And this is where I come in!” Knock Out announced triumphantly. “I do have just such a thing to get past them…” he smirked transmitting the firewall security codes towards Perceptor whose optics widened.
“How did you…? Oh, never mind, Breakdown probably…” Perceptor muttered.
“Yeah…” Knock Out murmured to himself. “Breakdown.”
“Should take me a few minutes, but I should have these firewalls slave to my command in just a jiffy and then we can get rolling,” Perceptor stated as a little computer of hard light energy appeared on his wrist.
“Uh, guys…” Outback trailed off as the roar of a jet engine pierced the air. “I hate to burst this all heroic bubble we’re in, but Juniper was it? You sent that call-out to all Autobots, and I do mean all Autobots on Earth. Even former ones…”
“W-What’s that supposed to mean?” Small Foot stammered out before she saw the distinctive forms of Shatter and Dropkick flying towards them and then transforming to robot mode to greet them.
“It means that!” Outback shouted.
“No... no way... it's... it's them.” Small Foot whispered scarcely able to believe it. Outback was of the same mindset, though for completely different reasons. Why of all Cons did these two have to show up, and why now?
“..Aw slag,” Outback muttered. He swore silently to himself, cursing Juniper for her stupidity. No, it wasn’t her fault he mused. It was his own, for not telling anyone sooner about where Shatter and Dropkick’s allegiances now lay.
“Who?” Indigo asked and she took a step or so back, seeing the two cons charging at them.
“Shatter... Dropkick... they're alive! They're alive!” Small Foot cheered excitedly waving her arms up and down in the air. WHOO-HOO!!! They're alive!”
Uh… Small Foot, they're coming right at us, I think we should run!” Lemon commented as a Groundbridge opened up behind them.
“Come on, they're friends! Besides, look at them, they don't look the least bit--why does she look like she wants to murder us?” Small Foot squeaked out as she saw the Decepticon badges on the two of them. And then Shatter whipped out twin arm cannons.
“Wha… No, no… It can’t be…” Small Foot whispered.
“Afraid it is, Foot,” Outback stated sadly with a small shake of his head. Swerve then began pulling her through the Groundbridge laying down covering fire as well as all but two of the group fled through it.
“We’ll hold the line, you guys go on ahead!” Pyra stated bringing out the Forge and a battle mask flipping up over her face. Knock Out meanwhile brought out his Energon Prod. “Go on. MOVE!” she barked.
“Well, long time no see Dusty…” Pyra commented. “Wish we didn’t have to meet like this, you and Small Foot more accurately but suppose all things have to come to pass eventually…”
“You know, I forgot that about you,” Shatter said as she dodged a swing from the Forge before roundhouse kicking her former commander in the face. “You talk way too much! What, you’re not so inclined to speak now?”
“Talk during battle is a sign of weakness!” Pyra stated as she let out a battle cry in an eerie echo of what came before even as behind them, Knock Out rolled to the left to avoid a blast from Dropkick’s cannon. With that, Pyra drew back her fist…
The Darksyde
“...Well, isn’t this a fun time?” Swerve muttered sarcastically, Flanker in his hands and gripped tightly. “Here we are, Decepticon HQ, the big one! The hive! Abandon all hope ye who-”
Outback slammed a hand over Swerve’s babbling vocalizer.
“...Does he ever shut up?” he asked nobody in particular.
“Not particularly, no,” Small Foot said with a little shake of her head, the minibot sighing to herself. “Mind you, can’t say I actually blame him for being nervous… Y’know, considering where we are and all…”
“Hey, you going to be alright there Foot?” Outback asked. “Shatter and Dropkick… they were your friends, and now…?”
“I’d thank you not for reminding me of that, thank you very much!” Small Foot snapped, and Outback actually flinched at that. Seeing this, Small Foot sighed. “I’m sorry, Outie… It’s alright, and I’m definitely not fine… Seeing them after all these cycles, and them turning up alive only to have defected to the Decepticons… What happened?”
“I dunno Foot, but you can be damned if I won’t try to find out,” Outback said resting a hand on her shoulder. “Now, we should probably be quiet. ...The one time I wish that former ‘Con was here with us, he’d know the layout of these hallways better than anyone, and the timing of the patrols. Instead, here we are relying on sheer luck.”
“Maybe not just luck, no,” Juniper said, having resumed her position as Stinger’s head. “I’ll see if I can access Stinger’s databanks. He might have something on them…”
“Hold up!” Prowl whispered as everyone quickly slammed themselves up against a wall as a Vehicon patrol passed by them. It was a tense moment to say the least, as everyone hoped and prayed to whatever God they worshipped that nobody would turn their heads.
Thankfully, nobody did, and even more surprising was what happened next when the Vehicon patrol rounded a corner. Next, crashing and banging sounds came from it and a drone’s body went flying into a wall its head smashed in by one powerful blow.
“What in Primus’ name…?” Prowl whispered before Breakdown rounded a corner, one of his hands switched out for a giant hammer. He quickly switched that hammer out for his normal attachment.
“Okay, now I’m really confused,” Sour Sweet muttered. “Aren’t you a Decepticon?”
“...Yeah, well, I’m really re-considering my loyalties around here, no thanks to Brawl. Also have you to thank, that conversation we had back in Canterlot was really… enlightening so to speak,” Breakdown replied and all optics and eyes turned towards Sour.
“I’ll explain later. Glad to know you know which side you’re on,” Sour replied. “Shame we couldn’t bring Knock Out along with us, your husband would-”
“Yeah, I’m not so sure he’s a fan of me at the moment,” Breakdown muttered sourly to himself. “At least tell me’s alright.”
“...He’s dealing with Dropkick and Shatter alongside Pyra Magna, so I suppose it depends on your definition of alright really,” Prowl said. “Now, if you’re really changing sides, prove it. Help us rescue our human friends.”
“I’ll do more than that, there’s two or three bots on this ship I know you’d like to have added to your ranks. Humans?” he asked, and Indigo nervously stepped forwards.
“Y-Yes?” she stammered out, recognizing the voice as the one who nearly ran her over all those nights ago. “Now listen here, you take one toe out of line, and it’s my face that you’ll never have to forget, understand me? Never.”
“Understood,” Breakdown rumbled. “You’ve got bearings kid, I can admire that. And for what it’s worth… I apologize for what happened all those cycles ago. I honestly do.”
“...And now that we’re all together in a Yellow Submarine, can we just get on with things?” Lemon asked exasperatedly.
“Yes. Quite,” Breakdown agreed. “Humans, if you can stick to the shadows unseen I believe you might be able to free Agent Fowler and your friends. I will help Prowl and the others free our respective comrades. Agreed?”
“Yes, quite. The detention block they should be down that way,” Prowl agreed pointing down a corridor. “Keep this up Breakdown, and we may just perform the Rite of the Autobrand on you yet!”
“...It means nothing if Knock Out is not there with me to witness it,” Breakdown said as the Crystal Preppers ran off in their suited forms probably being able to pass as Minicons really. “Promise me he will come back safe,”
“I will not make a promise I’m not sure I can keep,” Prowl said unaware of how well Shatter and Dropkick could fight together even with Pyra backing Knock Out. “But I will say that he can hold his own.”
“Yes, I can vouch for that,” Breakdown admitted as they walked dispatching any patrols in their way swiftly and silently. “How’d you know the location of the detention cells anyways?”
“...Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been on a Decepticon ship.” Prowl said as he blasted a down open revealing Airazor, Filch and Steeljaw restrained to a wall by energon chains.
“...What… What took you long enough ‘Bot?” Steeljaw sniped. Meanwhile, the girls had managed to find Agent Fowler, Spitfire and Chrysalis hanging from the ceiling by their arms.
“What are you girls doing here?” Spitfire shouted. “Are you-”
“Crazy?” Indigo asked as she walked up to a console that resized itself for an organism of her size and began pressing buttons. “Perhaps, but you do need rescuing right?”
“...Kids, can’t tell them what to do anymore right?” Chrysalis asked with a weak grin.
“Daddy…?” Sunny asked in a nearly heartbreaking tone as she prodded Fowler, who only had this to say.
“Grandma? Is it cookie time?” Fowler asked in a weak, dazed tone.
“...Dammit, Flamewar…” Howlback muttered. “He’s alive, that’s good at least. We’re lucky he isn’t dead…”
“The emu says YEAH!” Fowler shouted.
“They only keep them alive as long as they’re useful,” Howlback said gently shoving Indigo aside and pressing the buttons in the proper order. “Soon as that use runs out… Well, suppose I really don’t need to explain that do I?”
“...Gee, I feel so honored.” Chrysalis deadpanned.
“I like pie. Can we stop for pie?” Fowler asked as Spitfire holstered the man up over her shoulder.
“...You certainly don’t need any more pie,” the flight commander muttered. “Hefty enough as it is!” she grunted out.
“So my cat came to rescue me,” Chrysalis remarked as Howlback helped her down. “Never knew I was quite so well off!” she chirped.
“Yeah, yeah… Don’t let it go to your head m’kay?” Howlback sniped back in a half-hearted tone. “Not your cat, I’m only doing this so I won’t have a couple of crying children on my paws. Really hate that…”
Loud crashing sounds and explosions soon echoed from somewhere ahead of them.
“...Well, that lasted about an only good time of about five seconds!” Howlback sniped. “Leave it to the lugnut to give away we’re here!”
Sure enough, when they got outside, they saw Breakdown and Brawl grappling, before Breakdown broke the stalemate and slammed Brawl into a bulkhead with his hammer.
“Say Uncle! Say it!” Breakdown grinned. “Consider this my resignation from the Decepticons!”
He whirled around to face an oncoming Swindle and sent him flying.
“Dead battery,” Breakdown smirked as the kids beat feet.
“Gotta say,” Lemon remarked towards Sour who could only nod in turn. “I like his resume!”
Breakdown continued providing time before he was grabbed from behind in a headlock by a recovered Brawl.
“Now you say uncle!” Brawl sneered.
He was soon hit by a flying side-kick to the face from Night Ranger.
“Dude, you really need to slow your roll, your aura is putting me off brah…” Night Ranger commented, though to who it was unknown as Breakdown simply rubbed his head in confusion.
“...I didn’t even know we had uncles? I thought that was just a human game!” he remarked.
“Brah, you’ve got a lot to learn about quite a lot then!” Night Ranger said. “Seriously though, let’s burn rubber! This place is harshing my mellow!”
“Can’t believe I’m helping a Decepticon,” Perceptor mused as he kicked an Eradicon through a wall. “Strange times indeed…”
“We're still on the same team, Doc. Always will be,” Breakdown stated punching out another Eradicon as all of the group made their way outside into a forest clearing high in the mountains. “Believe it or not, I’m tired of all this endless fighting. I just want to see Cybertron at peace. And I’m willing to betray those who I once considered comrades to do it if needs must.”
“Oh really?” a voice asked, and Breakdown halted in fear his gears trembling at the very sound. “You see, that’s very interesting to me indeed,” Onslaught said as he leaped off the top of the Darksyde’s bridge and pulled out one of his rifles. “Because I’m not quite just ready to let you go yet…”
Appearing out of the snow-covered woodlands were the rest of the Combaticons, along with Dead End and Flamewar.
“Get to cover, now!” Breakdown shouted to the humans who didn’t need much prompting.
“Time to regain control over this situation… Decepticons, combine into Bruticus!” Onslaught shouted, and parts began to shift and merge.
“No... No... Please don't.” Breakdown muttered knowing exactly what was coming. Miles and miles away, Knock Out even as he fought off Dropkick heard his sparkmate’s screams of pain through their bond.
“Breakdown… NO!” he thought optics widening in horror and was distracted long enough for Dropkick to well… dropkick him through a barn wooden splinters flying everywhere.
Onslaught’s arms folded up into his shoulders as massive torso armor appeared, almost resembling a pair of wings with Swindle and Dead End transforming into legs, feet appearing from the bottoms of their chassis.
Brawl meanwhile was cut in a halfway state between robot and vehicular forms as he became an arm for the massive combiner that was rapidly taking shape, the gestalt now easily the size of a skyscraper. Breakdown screamed out in pain and horror as he too was taken in by Onslaught’s order and became Bruticus’ second arm, a massive hand coming out of his body as Flamewar became additional torso armor. Finally, a massive black head with amber eyes and a silver faceplate appeared, Bruticus grunting and groaning as he came online and drawing a massive yellow saber made of hardened energon crystal almost ablaze with flame.
“Me Bruticus… Me Bruticus crush puny Autobots…” Bruticus grunted out as he stepped forward, the ground below him rumbling with every step. Swinging his sword, Road Rage barely just avoided being cleaved directly in half by the massive combiner before she stepped on a mine set up by Onslaught sometime before in case of this situation and was sent flying out of sight.
“...Yeah, and you may just do that…” Prowl admitted realizing that Onslaught had probably planned all of this in advance. He may not have expected the Autobots to arrive today, but he knew they’d come to knock on his doorstep someday soon and therefore had set the battlefield in his advantage. Mines had been placed everywhere, and it was a miracle he or any of his other troops hadn’t been cut down by the autocannons.
In short, between the base defenses and Bruticus… They were slagged.
Watching this in horror as the massive gestalt slammed Steeljaw into the side of a tree with Bruticus calling out: “Timber!” were the girls. Bruticus continued to laugh as he began carving up the ground with his sword and sending rubble flying every which way.
“It slices, it dices, but wait! There’s more!” he called, a snippet of Swindle’s personality poking through.
“We’ve got to do something…” Trixie whispered.
“Yeah, but what?” Juniper asked and they could only watch as the slaughter began to unfold before their very eyes...