//------------------------------// // Locked Down // Story: Transformers: Return of the Dark Spark // by DarkSkylynx //------------------------------// Chapter Seven: Locked Down "You think you were born? No, you were built, and your Creators want you back!" A savage bounty hunter, Lockdown leads an army of mercenary forces on the planet Earth. Aligned with neither side, he travels across the cosmos in search of "souvenirs" from his victims to increase his own abilities. After losing the Dark Spark once, he now seeks it on the planet of Equestria in hope that it will lead him to the path of riches and glory. ____________________________________________________________________________________________ “Lockdown.” Optimus muttered as he stared at the newcomer before him. The ponies and Spike looked in shock as the grey-colored bounty hunter approached them slowly. He looked just like he did in the image Optimus showed them on his hologram. What shocked them even more was the army of strange robots that surrounded everybody with guns and missile launchers all pointed at them. “Ah, Optimus.” Lockdown spoke. “I see you and your Autobots survived the fall when I threw you off my ship. No matter, I would rather tear your spark out then collect the broken parts of your shattered body.” He said coldly. As the Autobots glared at Lockdown, Pinkie Pie’s curiosity was beginning to get the best of her. She told her friends that she wouldn’t rush out to meet an unfriendly creature no matter how it looked after her little mishap with Megatron, but she couldn’t help but confront him, especially since he was the first bounty hunter anypony has ever laid eyes on. In a flash, Pinkie ran up to Lockdown with Cade yelling “Pinkie! What are you doing?! Get back here now!” But to his frustration, she completely ignored him. Lockdown then looked down to see the pink pony with the balloons on its side and poofy pink hair look at him with big, gleaming eyes. “Hi there! You must be that really mean bounty hunter Lockdown! It doesn’t sound as big and strong as Megatron but it still pretty spooky.” She then walked around to his back and saw what appeared to be red lights behind his legs and what appeared to be a spine on his back. She then said “Funny, I think you’d look much better if you were colored in green and black then in grey everywhere, don’t you think?” Pinkie asked the bounty hunter. Lockdown smirked as he observed the little pony’s hyperactive behavior. He then said “My, what interesting specimens that live on this planet. Perhaps you’ll be my latest trophy once I leave this planet.” Before Pinkie could ask what he meant, her eyes went wide when he turned his right hand into a long hook. As he raised it over his head and prepared to impale her with it, a grappling hook grabbed Pinkie’s tail and pulled her back over to the Autobots. She then looked up and saw that it originated from Bumblebee who was glaring fiercely at the bounty hunter. Rarity the ran up to her friend and said, “Oh Pinkie are you alright?” Pinkie turned to her and said, “Yeah, I’m okay.” Optimus then said “Lockdown, you would dare harm an innocent life form.” With a hint of something dangerous behind his tone. “I don’t care for these organic lifeforms. The only thing I care about is the Dark Spark and re-igniting the Great War on Earth. But first, to insure you or anyone else doesn’t get in my way, I’ll have your spark and your friends heads as well.” Lockdown replied. “Mercenaries, open fire!” he then shouted. Just as he said that, the so-called mercenaries began to fire their weapons at the Autobots and ponies. Some of them yelled “Let’s see what we got!” or “New prey has arrived!” as they continued to shoot at the group. Taking evasive action, Optimus told his men, “Autobots, attack now!” Just as the four Autobots began their retaliation, Optimus turned to Cade and Brains and said “Cade, Brains, don’t let the ponies get harmed.” before pulling out his Path Blaster and sword. Both Cade and Brains nodded their heads as the Autobot leader ran out into the fray. To the ponies surprise, he activated a faceplate just as he shot his first mercenary. As Cade pulled out and armed his alien gun, Brains turned to face the ponies and said “Ya’ll might wanna take cover. Things are about to get real fierce.” The six ponies and Spike nodded in agreement and hid behind a nearby rock while observing the firefight. To say that the Main Six saw complete bloodshed (or in this case, energonshed) was an understatement. What they saw was pure brutality! The first Autobot they paid attention to was Drift. As he pulled out two of the blades from his back, he ran up to one of the mercenaries and jabbed the sword in his chest before slicing his head off. The other mercenary ended up getting cut in half vertically by his other sword before moving on. When they looked at Bumblebee, they saw him shooting several mercenaries with a strange blaster in his hand. They also noticed that he was wearing a yellow mask that was covering his mouth but not his eyes. The girls could only assume that it was a battle mask that he would wear in the heat of a fight. When the girls looked at Crosshairs, they saw him with dual guns in his hands. He jumped over one mercenary’s head and blew it clean off before shooting off another mercenary’s head. He then yelled “Ha Ha Ha! Is that all you got? I can keep this up all day!” as if he was having fun. When what appeared to be some type of shotgunner came running up to the green Autobot, he tried to punch Crosshairs in the face but ended up getting knocked down instead. Just as he hit the ground, Crosshairs crushed the mercenary’s head with his foot before resuming his shooting spree. After the girls turned their attention to Hound, they saw what appeared to be a long gun with long strands of ammo hanging out from under. All around him, he was shooting like crazy and every mercenary within arm reach was dead on the ground. When a rocketeer ran up to him, he pulled out a silver knife and jabbed it straight into his head and tor it clean off. Hound then yelled “When you mess with the best, you get your sparks extinquished!” Finally, the ponies turned to see Optimus Prime battling through tons of mercenaries. With his blaster, he shot holes through all of the mercenary’s chests while stabbing all the other mercenary’s with his sword. When one of them through a grenade at him, Optimus pulled out his shield to protect him from the blast. After the dust setteled, Optimus smacked the mercenary aside with his shield before shooting him. As the ponies looked on in complete shock at the complete massacre of mercenaries, Rainbow Dash spoke up and told Cade “Wow, these guys sure don’t hold back do they?” Cade, who was holding his gun should any mercenary get the drop on them, replied with “Yeah, I was pretty shocked by how tough they were when I first met them, but I’m kinda used to it now.” Applejack then spoke up and asked “Hey, have any o' ya’ll seen that varmit Lockdown fightin anyone?” which resulted in the ponies shaking their heads in response. However, Spike then spoke up and said “Hey guys, I think he’s over there.” as he pointed in the direction behind where Optimus was fighting. When they got a closer look, they saw that he had his arms crossed and was looking intently at Optimus. They weren’t exactly sure why he wasn’t making a move and attacking any Autobot and why he was just letting his men do all the work when realization finally hit Twilight. “Guys! I think Lockdown is waiting for Optimus and the other Autobots to tire out!” she told everyone. Hearing this, Rarity responded with “I cannot believe he make all his men do all the work while he just sits back and stares around doing nothing!” Rainbow Dash then looked at her and commented “Really? Don’t you do that on a regular basis?” after hearing that, Rarity gave Rainbow an intense glare while Applejack giggled a little bit. Before any of them could say or do anything else, Fluttershy spoke up and said, “Um….. girls, what’s he doing?” prompting everyone to turn their heads to see what Lockdown put on a mask as well. To everybody’s shock and horror, Lockdown’s upper chest opened up a little bit as did his face. After seeing several parts of machinery moving around, Lockdown’s face had been turned into a huge gun and was pointing it at Optimus! Seeing this threat, Cade yelled “Optimus, get down!” When Optimus turned around to see what Cade was talking about, Lockdown fired and struck Optimus in the chest, causing him to scream in pain as he fell down on his back. “No Sensei!” Drift shouted as he saw his leader fall to the ground. Bearing his two swords, he ran up to Lockdown intending to cut off his head. Unfortunately, the minute he swung, Lockdown ducked, pulled out his hook, and impaled Drift in the side. This caused the Autobot to drop his swords as he got on his knees and clutched his wound. Lockdown then turned around to see Bumblebee fire his grappling hook at him. Before it made contact, Lockdown grabbed it and then pulled it and Bumblebee closer to him. Just as he did, he then punched the Autobot scout right in the face, knocking him out. When Hound began to run up to the bounty hunter, Lockdown jumped into the air and delivered a flying kick to the old Autobot’s face, sending him back a few yards into a tree. Just as he turned around, he came face to face with Crosshairs. When the green Autobot began to charge and punch Lockdown in the face, Lockdown merely grabbed Crosshairs fist, twisted it a little bit, and then delivered a kick to the chest which blew him back into a rock. With all the Autobots defeated, the mercenaries stopped to look at Lockdown as he pulled a strange object out of his right hand. As the evil bounty hunter walked over to Optimus, he said to his men “He’s mine now.” Cade then ran up in front of Optimus despite the ponies, Spike and Brains trying to call him back and held his gun right in front of Lockdown’s face. “Get back you monster!” Cade shouted defiantly. Lockdown looked at the human before replying with “Oh how brave you are, but you cannot prevent the inevitable.” with one flick of his finger, Lockdown sent the small human back a few yards and on his stomach. “Oh no, Cade!” Fluttershy shouted as she ran to his aid. Just as she reached him, all of the ponies turned to face Lockdown as he put his foot on Optimus’ chest. “And now, it’s time for me to finally take what rightfully belongs to me Prime: your spark!” Lockdown told the fallen Autobot. “NO!” Twilight shouted at the bounty hunter before the other ponies closed her mouth. Hearing the noise, Lockdown approached the ponies and asked “So you all care for him?” to the five of them and Spike. As the ponies, Spike and Brains looked nervously at the tall figure in front of them, Lockdown said “Good. Then you all can watch him die! And if any of you all try to stop me, you’ll be turned into a smoking crater in the ground.” as he said this, he pulled out another gun with his left hand and pointed it at the gang before lifting his ‘spark extractor’ in the air in preparation to kill Optimus. Just as the ponies and Autobots sheltered their eyes, everyone then heard lound footsteps coming from within the forest. One of the mercenaries ran over to Lockdown and asked “Lockdown sir, what was that noise?” Before he could respond, the woods erupted with a ginormous, grey lizard creature with super sharp teeth and beaming red eyes stare at Lockdown. The bounty hunter’s energon went cold the minute he saw what came out of the forest. The leader of the legendary knights: Grimlock.