• Published 7th Nov 2012
  • 2,482 Views, 93 Comments

Transformers: Deep Space Exploration Team - TcogArchitect



Dark Lance's team had been sent to find new worlds, but now they've found much more.

  • ...
8
 93
 2,482

Chapter Eighteen: Hidden Strength

Published June 11th, 2013

Chapter Eighteen: Hidden Strength


Dark Lance groaned in pain as he slammed through another tree and finally stopped against the next. Through the path of broken trees, he could see Bloodwing's shining form moving toward him. He stood up, and transformed into his robot mode.

"BAHAHAHAHA! Really, Lance? You really believe you have any chance of stopping me now? Those idiotic organics you love so much just gave me a power boost to rival Megatron, and you think you have a single flicker of hope against me?" Dark Lance stood, and flicked away a strand of Energon that had leaked from his arm.

"You still don't understand the difference between power and strength, Bloodwing. Even after all this time, you're still just an ignorant protoform." The Decepticon commander's expression quickly changed from one of mirth to one of fury.

"PROTOFORM!? COULD A PROTOFORM DO THIS!?" His shield spun around, and the twin spikes that now pointed forward arced with electricity for a moment before a blast of energy rocketed out from the revealed railgun. Dark Lance simply leaned to one side, allowing the ball of instant death to impact the tree behind him, snapping it in half and causing it to fall forward. Bloodwing glared up at the approaching cluster of branches, and swung his sword in a single arc, cutting them off and letting them fall to the ground around him. He returned his gaze to his actual target, and jumped back in surprise as he was nearly impaled by an upward thrust. Dark Lance allowed gravity to turn his weapon downward as he danced his fingers around it, shifting to a backhanded position. He kept up his forward momentum, and used it as he began spinning, making a near-constant assault against his foe with both shield and lance. He continued slowly pushing Bloodwing back until he could feel himself becoming dizzy. As soon as he stopped, the startled Decepticon took to the air, hoping for a chance to prepare another attack. As soon as he stopped to find Dark Lance again, though, he was shaken further to see his target following his path. Startled out of his confidence, he took off again

^What is he thinking? He must know there's no way to beat me as we are. But if he thought that, he wouldn't be following me. I need to end this. Now, before the supercharge wears off. And everyone knows the best way to do that...^ His confidence renewed, Bloodwing spun around and came to a stop, just barely reacting fast enough to block the thrust that had been aimed for his neck. Dark Lance pushed with all his might, shoving his face as close to their entwined weapons as he dared.

"You haven't learned a thing. You will never beat me, Megatron will never beat Optimus, the Decepticons will never beat the Autobots, and evil will never triumph over good. There have been dark days before, and there will be more in the future. But every storm ends, and every night gives way to dawn. You will never be powerful enough to truly win." Bloodwing sneered as he finally regained his balance and stopped moving backward.

"There's that speech I was looking for. And here I thought you didn't have any more in you." He suddenly stopped laughing as Dark Lance activated his mask. The thick metal moved downward, then in, as it sealed against the rest of his helmet. The lights in his optics shone through, giving him an almost demonic appearance as he spoke again, his voice taking on a far more mechanical cadence than normal, and giving him an eerie, uncaring sound as all emotion disappeared from the Autobot's words and face.

"I have a lot more than speeches." Suddenly, Bloodwing felt very, very afraid.

----------------------------------------

Back on the ground, Skybreaker flew low to the ground, zig-zagging in circles around Fireburst as he tried to blast the speedy little pest into atoms. After missing yet again, he roared in frustration.

"That does it! No more holding back!" He spread both his hands wide, and his arms began separating and re-layering themselves until they had reformed into a set of twin electro-blasters. Energy gathered in the barrel of one, then fired as the other charged. Skybreaker dodged the first blast, and rolled to avoid the next. The third, though, sent him flying across the small arena that had been blasted out of the forest from Fireburst's unyielding assault. The draconian warrior slowly strode forward as the downed scout rose to his hooves. "What's the matter? None of your usual idiotic quips? Don't want to fight anymore? Come on, show me what you've got." Skybreaker smirked, and then something unexpected happened. A second Skybreaker removed himself from the original, and took up a place to Fireburst's right. Then a third moved to his left. Then a fourth, and a fifth.... Soon, a whole platoon had surrounded a very confused Fireburst. He looked around again, then grinned as he realized what was happening. "Cute holograms. Didn't take you for the cowardly type, but I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. Most scouts can't take it when they find themselves up against a superior fighter. Too bad I can see right through them, though." He switched his vision to only pick up Cybertronians, and spun around, once more confused as he failed to find his quarry. He returned to his normal vision mode as he heard the tell-tale sound of a t-cog, and turned to see Skybreaker in his robot mode just before he was given a punch that was stronger than anything he remembered ever receiving from the relatively weak scout. Strong enough to knock him down. He looked up at the advancing Autobot, and switched once more to his other vision mode to ensure himself of what he was seeing. Sure enough, he couldn't detect anything. He switched back, and rolled back to his feet as his arms returned to normal. He leapt up, transforming in midair to land squarely on Skybreaker's chest. He opened his mouth to bite down on his opponent's faceplate, but was stopped as his target put his hands against the base of his head.

"You should just give up, Autobot. It'll be faster that way. It's not like you're strong enough to keep this up. And since you don't have any auto-weapons, you can't get away." Fireburst sneered and snapped at the pinned Autobot, anticipating the imminent victory. Then Skybreaker finally spoke for the first time that day. In a voice that was most certainly not his.

"You talk too much." The voice was buzzing and stoic, but Fireburst didn't have time to question it as a green flash forced him to look away for moment. When he could see again, he was no longer looking down at Skybreaker. Instead, a glossy black, bug-like face looked back up at him. Before he could even process this information, though, he was distracted by the much more immediate problem of this unknown entity's shoulders sliding upward to reveal three long barrels each, which moved forward to their firing positions before unleashing a storm of bullets into his face and neck. He roared in pain, confusion, and anger as he tried to shield himself with his wings and get away from the three-clawed pincers which now held him in place, rather than push him away. Even through the intense pain and his attempts at protecting himself, though, he felt something leaving his body. As if the power he had been charged with was being drained from him. He finally managed to free himself from the grip that had been holding him in place, took several steps away and looked back at this new, much more powerful, foe. What he saw stunned him.

The being that had beaten him was now shining with power. Fireburst looked down at himself, and realized he was no longer glowing as he had been after the blast from the natives. He looked back up, and saw his foe moving towards him. He drew in a deep breath, and threw his head forward, releasing a long stream of fire. The mystery fighter dodged, rushing forward to plant a left hook across Fireburst's jaw. He recoiled, shaking himself through the haze that only came from a well-aimed shot to a pressure point. When he could see again, he turned toward his opponent, only to receive another punch to the snout. He reared back in pain, and suddenly found himself sailing backwards as another hit contacted his chest. He landed hard on his side, and picked himself up as a long, dark blue object stuck in the ground between them. A few seconds later, Bloodwing and Dark Lance appeared, the first moving next to the lance that was now buried halfway to the grip. Fireburst moved up next to his leader, who regarded him curiously.

"Care to explain what happened, Lieutenant?" He asked as Energon dripped from a wound in his side. Fireburst transformed, and activated his blasters and cannon once more.

"Skybreaker was never here. It was actually a Shifter in disguise. He's capable of somehow stealing power from others, as well. I was too focused on figuring out his arsenal to notice how, though. I advise we finish this now." Bloodwing nodded, and readied his railgun.

"Any last words, Lance?" He taunted.

"You really should pay more attention." Bloodwing raised an eyebrow as his rival pointed his right arm directly at them and spread his hand. And then kept spreading it. The fingers disconnected from each other and turned backwards as Dark Lance's forearm extended forward between them and twisted, showing itself to be six individual barrels. Bloodwing was surprised, to say the least, when the minigun that used to be Lance's arm unleashed a wall of bullets at the two Decepticons. They both deactivated their charge sequences, and dropped into defensive positions against the wall of high-speed Energon pellets.

"Wingshift," Dark Lance's voice sounded over the comm. "Look around and see if you can figure out where they hid their weapon. Once you do, save some images and then destroy it. If it doesn't blow up into slag, salvage anything that looks important, then let me know. I'll hold them here." Wingshift raised an eyebrow at his new leader.

"Are you certain? I could hold them with my powerup, and you'll know what to look for better in terms of salvage." Dark Lance paused to eject the spent energy pack, and put in a new one.

"No time to argue. GO!" He resumed firing as Wingshift took off, heading back to the ravine. On his way, he found the ponies recovering from the drain of their spell. Twilight groaned as she got up.

"Oooh. What happened? I feel like I just got run over by a herd of stampeding buffalo." Wingshift offered a claw, and she took it, finally managing to get to her hooves, though she was still very off-balance. He put his other claw out to stop her falling over.

"Bloodwing and Fireburst somehow managed to absorb the power from your artifacts. I managed to steal what Fireburst had, but I can feel it wearing off. We need to figure out what Bloodwing's trump card is, and destroy it." An explosion sounded through the trees, and Wingshift made a split-second decision. "The search will go faster with your help. Come on."

"Uh, dude? I don't think it will be too difficult." Wingshift looked up at Rainbow Dash, who was hovering over the ravine and pointing down. The others walked over, and gasped at the Energon-filled canyon. Wingshift activated his comm.

"Sir, I found what Bloodwing was hiding, but you'll never believe what it is. This ravine is practically covered in Energon crystals. Stable, too, by the looks of it. Are you sure you want me to follow through with this?" The sound of combat came through before Dark Lance answered.

"Make sure it won't start a chain reaction first. If you can't take it out without destroying the entire forest, leave it be. Otherwise, grab what you can, then send it up in smoke." There was a crash, and Wingshift winced at the painful sound before sending confirmation and turning to the rest.

"Alright. We need to make sure destroying this canyon won't start a reaction in any other veins nearby. You all look for nearby Energon deposits, and I'll determine whether or not they're likely to cause problems. We have to move fast, so let's get going!" Rainbow grinned confidently and took off in a blur as the rest nodded their understanding and split up to cover ground faster. They all searched the entire length of the canyon as fast as possible, and after deciding there was nothing dangerously close, Wingshift started cutting off chunks for them to actually use. He grabbed as much as he could carry, then flew up, readying a grenade as he did so. He landed near the ponies, and hurled the explosive over the edge of the cliff. They all got down behind the largest trees they could find, but were still deafened slightly by the massive explosion that followed the grenade's detonation. After the daze wore off, they looked out to see massive pillars of smoke billowing from the ravine.

"Wing....shift....." Dark Lance's voice weakly came over the comm again, and Wingshift started running towards the signal's origin, the ponies quick to follow him as they all sensed the apparent danger to the Autobot leader.

"Sir, what happened? Are you alright?" He transformed, taking to the air to move faster over the trees.

"Radiation wave.... Stasis lock...setting in." He doubled his wingbeats, homing in on his commander's signal. When he got there, he was surprised to see that Bloodwing and Fireburst were in significantly worse shape than Dark Lance. Both were laying some distance away, covered in cuts and holes, while Lance only had a couple of major injuries on his entire body. At present, though, the only thing Wingshift could process was the bolts of Energon arcing across all of their bodies. The final symptom that preceded stasis lock. The mutant Cybertronian returned to his robot mode, and unsuccessfully attempted to move him, finding that the commander's joints were already stiffening from radiation buildup as the ponies finally caught up to him.

"Over here! Help me lift him!" They trotted over, as Rainbow Dash eyed the fallen Decepticons warily.

"Are you sure we shouldn't do something about these guys first? They could wake up and attack us any time!"

"Don't worry." Wingshift grunted as he hefted Dark Lance's upper body. "Stasis lock isn't something you just wake up from, like when you all got knocked unconscious. You have to have the buildup purged from your systems, then get rebooted. It takes a while, and they can't even get to their ship right now, so we'll be fine." She seemed to accept this answer, and proceeded to help out by picking up the lance which had fallen from the Autobot commander's grip. Or at least, she tried to.

"Oof! This thing is heavy! What is it made of, lead?" She flapped her wings harder, but the stubborn piece of metal refused to part entirely with the ground.

"My first guess would be Cybertanium. It's a very powerful alloy only found on Cybertron. It's also one of the few metals capable of hurting us at low speed without assistance. But it's not easy to make, so most melee weapons have high-frequency or Energon-powered edges. Here, give it to me, and lift his leg." She hauled the weapon over, and Wingshift hefted it up, much to their collective disbelief. "You weren't kidding. He must have had it made to be heavier so anyone else would have trouble using it effectively against him. Interesting." He locked it on his back, and returned to lifting the fallen commander. After several minutes of collective strain, the six ponies and techno-organic managed to get him back to the ship. Inside, they found Skybreaker trying-with only one hand and a surprising amount of success-to get Bunker and Burnout into the purifiers. He turned toward the sound of the doors opening, and gave them all a half-sparked wave before resuming his work. They made their way around him, and put Dark Lance in the first purifier before Wingshift noticed something. "You're injured." He pointed to the Energon-covered hand Skybreaker was holding against his side. The young bot shook his head as the others moved to pick up Burnout.

"Don't worry, just a-ngh-scratch. I'll be fine." Wingshift stopped him, and pulled his hand away, revealing a long, deep gash that was practically pouring Energon.

"This is *not* 'just a scratch'. You need to get in the auto-repair bay. Now." Skybreaker attempted to push past, but he was weakened, and Wingshift was having none of it. "No. The natives and I will take care of Bunker and the others. You go get repaired. We still have plenty to do tomorrow, and if something goes wrong, we may need your speed." Skybreaker glared up at him.

"Who died and put you in charge, huh? Last time I checked, you weren't even enlisted, which means I outrank you. And as your active commanding officer, I order you to stand aside!" He craned his neck up to try and look threatening, but the day's events had taken their toll. He over-extended, and fell forward as Wingshift caught him.

"You may outrank me, but my kind do not answer to rank. We answer to power. Something you have very little of right now." He lifted the weakly struggling, but much lighter flier onto his shoulder, and carried him to the auto-repair pods. "Now rest. I will help take care of the others." Skybreaker made one last attempt to go against the larger bot's intention, but was stopped and softly pushed back into the pod by a single claw against his chest. "Enough. You can barely stand, and if I was going to do something, I would have already. Now repair and recharge. No doubt our commander will have orders for us in the morning." Skybreaker finally conceded, and allowed his systems to power down as the pod shut, filling with nano-fluid as he went into sleep mode.