A Plee for Vengence: Part 3
In a last desperate act of the Predacon generals to eliminate the Maximals, a Massive fight explodes that will determine once and for all who will triumph in combat.
PART THREE
The fact that Penji had stood all this time and done nothing had nothing to do, of course, with the cosmic forces controlling him taking a day off, but instead it was because he was making calculations. Finally, he transformed, drew his rocket launcher, and fired at the hotel. Scope didn't know what was up, but from his last experience he figured it'd be a good idea to get away from Press, and fast. The others, not really paying attention to the penguin, didn't note what he was doing, nor the explosions near the top of the building overlooking them, nor the giant chunk of that building falling ten stories towards their heads. Well, eventually they noticed that last part. Nocticia and Cross jumped away, but Press, being at the center of the conflict, had less time to react. He directed the full force of his gravity control at the mass of girders and drywall, slowing it down enough so that it just barely came to a stop just a foot from his ducked head. Of course, in saving himself, he was leaving himself wide open for the four Maximals to onload their entire arsenals on him. Which they did.
=====
bleepbleepbleep.
"uunh?"
bleepbleepblepp. bloop.
"Deputy Director," said the bedside vidphone.
"What is it, Luitenant?" Caska asked, still groggy.
"Sorry to wake you, sir, but I thought you should know there's a rather destructive scuffle going on at the hotel where the Resistance members are staying. Looks like Preds."
"That's nice. Also not our business right now. Let the police worry about it."
"Um, well that's the other thing. The police aren't responding for some reason."
"Hm. Highly suspect."
"Yeah, I thought it smelled fishy."
"Ok, I'm gonna go check it out."
"I thought you said it wasn't our jursidiction?"
"I'm off duty. Just taking a little midnight stroll to the hotel, no big deal."
"Get one down, and the other will fall too," mumbled Querion, as he activated his visor. Much better. Cloak and Dagger might be able to camouflage themselves in the darkness with their colours, but the heat they emanated was undisguisable. Now the problem was getting them to stay at one place long enough to land a blow. The two danced about the room in a deadly ballet, appearing and disappearing in a flash, never staying in one position for long. They never seemed to tire, flitting effortlessly from one end of the room to another...
Querion's eyes widened, as he ducked just before a curved blade impaled his head. He struck at Dagger with his broken sabre, drawing blood. The wolf-bot smiled as he saw the Predacons flinch with pain, and taking a cue from Mimi, stepped into the centre of the room. He could hear Buckshot slap his forehead and groan, "Another dumbass idiot!". He could hear the glowing energy blades click in place as Cloak and Dagger attacked. He would be ready.
Or would he? As the swordsman unleashed a swipe at Cloak's head, he felt his spark leap, as the Predacon vanished. Querion cried out in pain as heat seared his back, as a blade cleaved against his face. The Maximal flailed about wildly, his blows a wild mishmash of strokes, hoping to land a strike on the enemy. But they were gone, leaving a hurt Querion on the floor, shivering with pain, as well as the fear of being beaten, and killed.
During the hail of bullets Phyphen and Skitch had swiftly dove into the nearest room. Unsure of what to do they had leapt for cover.
"I have to do something. Promise you'll stay here... or fight. But, don't run away, please?" The fox 'bot started to load her crossbow as she whispered.
She placed three arrows in the hold and attached another four onto the clip on her arm. The child smiled to herself knowing that one good shot with her crossbow would hurt someone... or at least distract them enough for someone to strike.
The femme smiled down at her new friend and stepped out of the doorway. She peered around the hallway where she found Querion on the ground. Mimi and Buckshot were also nearby. Crossbow raised she edged into the hall.
She ran over to the injured 'bot.
"Querion..." distress played across the 'bots face as she quickly studied his wounds. Thinking to herself she knew she could not really help him, but she could take away some pain and stop the bleeding.
From a subspace pocket Phyphen grabbed a small vial. She looked up at Querion who was clutching his sabre in one paw and his back in the other.
"I'm going to help you. Just stay put for for one second." The fox poured a dark red liquid into her palms and rubbed them together.
"This is going to hurt a little," she said ash she placed her hands on the wound on his back. She felt Querion flinch.
"This will stop you from draining yourself of mech-fluid. It thickens the fluid on the top and provides a make-shift barrier. It will only last a short while. You have to get to a CR chamber soon."
The Maximal smiled to herself as she watched the vial do it's work. Once again she reached into subspace and pulled another vial from her pocket. This one held a thick, pale yellow liquid. She puled the stopper from the bottle with her teeth and started to drip the liquid on the wolf-bot's back.
"Does that feel a little better? I will take away some of the pain. Sorry... I can't help you any more. Are the others ok?" Phyphen peered into his optics. He was such a cold person. And he was so mean to her earlier. She shrugged off the thought and tried to help the 'bot to his feet.
She flashed him a quick smile and looked around to see if Mimi or Buckshot needed her.
Trapper turned a corner and found Penji and the other maximals.....seeing the smouldering he instantly came to a conclusion.
Trapper:
"Ah slag, I missed out on the action,"
The others gave a slight nod.....
Trapper:
"Okay...so whats going on and how can I be useful?"
“Help me…Switchblade…help me!”
Time; such as it was, slowed to a crawl as the courier beheld the awful scene. Not twenty feet away Grapple was crushing Solarflare to death, and she could hardly bring herself to move.
“He wanted to leave you,” screamed a voice in her head
“He would have abandoned you, just like the rest,”
Switchblade wanted to scream, but her mouth was frozen. Thoughts, memories, old wounds…they all came rushing back in the blinking of an eye. In her mind she could see it all. Endport, the Resistance, a family she thought she would never have. Dark mazes of alleys, a thousand meaningless deliveries for a thousand meaningless clients. She remembered friends. Timber…and Solarflare too.
“Just shut them out,” said another voice, the voice of the father she had never known. The father that had abandoned her. “They will only hurt you more. It’s safer this way. Turn,” it urged. “Just turn and walk away,”
Switchblade looked up at Solarflare. The pain on his face was obvious. He was dying, she realized with a start. The Predacon was killing him, and she was letting it happen. For the love of God, she was letting it happen!
“No,” she whispered. It was a paltry sound, barely audible. The voices returned, clamoring for her own safety; telling her to run. She pushed them roughly away. The doubt, the pain, the hidden fear, she drowned them all out. Her entire life had been an excuse – a device to insulate her from pain and from suffering. But it hadn’t worked. She had tried to shut the world out, and only suffered more for it.
She had been so scared for so long…
It was time to end all that.
“No,” she repeated. It was louder this time, more forceful. In a flash time returned to its normal flow. Switchblade forced her legs to move forward. They responded to her command, slowly at first, and then with ever increacing speed. Her feet pounded hard against the rubble-strewn asphalt. She drew closer and closer to the tortoise, until she could see each burn marring his rough features.
Closer…
Closer…
Uncurling like a cat, she launched herself at Grapple, barreling headlong toward her fate. The larger Pred looked up in surprise, just as Switchblade’s closed fist slammed hard onto the bridge of his nose.
Grapple reeled backward, grip on Solarflare loosening just enough to allow him to fall limply to the ground. Leaping over he fallen comrade, Switchblade continued to harry her opponent, keeping him off balance. Jab, right cross, knee slam… One followed another in a torrent of blows almost too fast to follow. A viscous whip kick to the General’s chin snapped his head back, and threw him to the ground. Grapple rolled to one knee and blocked the next kick, aimed for his temple. The larger ‘bot jumped backward, landing on his feet and rising to a standing position. His jaw was dented, and a steady stream of mech fluid flowed from a cut at the side of his mouth. In one fluid motion, Switchblade fell back to a defensive stance. Grapple stood stock-still, still smiling, and still standing.
“No knives this time?” the tortoise mocked. A cruel rumbling laugh emanated from his chest. “Good. I’ve always though that nothing can compare to the pain of a good solid beating. Now I’ll finally get to crush you’re pretty little face, just like I’ve always wanted,” The Predacon grinned wickedly. “I’ve had dreams about it, you know. Each time you crack like a ripe melon, blood and brains squirting everywhere. Very tasty,” he finished.
Switchblade spat at him. Behind her, she could hear the beleaguered sounds of Solarflare regaining his footing. That was good. She’d need all the help she could get.
Without warning or preamble, jibe or false bravado, the badger ‘bot charged at Grapple, lashing out with all her strength. He blocked the first blow, but the second landed. She fought hard, with every ounce of her strength and speed, never noticing the dark shape gliding above the battle. The greater part of it was none of his concern. He almost flew on. But his eyes were good, and peering down at Grapple, he beheld a sight that made his breath catch, and his spark skip a single beat.
“Switchblade?” rasped the confused voice.
For a moment he hung there, suspended in the sky like some avenging angel. Then, with almost blinding speed, he folded his wings and crashed to earth.
She was down there, and needed his help. Desperately.
Skitch peered out the door. A hail of gunfire met his cowardly gaze. That vixen's crazy or something! Skitch thought. She's gonna get me killed!The ferret turned toward the window, but something pulled him back. He just couldn't bring himself to leave after Phyphen had asked him so nicely. The thief inside Skitch told him to leave, but the Maximal part of Skitch had the thief part in a headlock and was twisting it's arm.
Spying a piece of paper on a nearby table, Skitch's thief side was finally able to flip his Maximal side on it's noble back. Skitch decided to write a note to Phyphen explaining what was going on. After all, he never said he wouldn't leave. The fox-bot had just asked him. Very nicely. Skitch was hitting his head against the wall when another round of explosions shook the floor.
Skitch wrote,
Deer nise fox lady,
Im terribly sorry butt I hafto go now. I gotta think about me and mine. Yu were very nice tu keep the bad guys frum hurting me. Yu haf my eternal gratitood. By by.
sincearly,
Skitch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phyphen rushed back into the room to check on her resident. He wasn't there. But there was a large Skitch-sized hole in the hotel window. Sighing with exasperation, the fox-bot was about to run back into the fray to see what she could do when she noticed the note on the table.
Querion hissed as whatever Phyphen poured on him took effect. A terrible biting sensation crawled up his wounds, but his body no longer ached from the heat from his melted metal. His head spun, his insides felt cold, but he was not hurting anymore.
"Thanks."
Phyphen cried out in shock as Querion shoved her roughly aside. A glowing blur of neon green flashed across her eyes, stabbing deep into the drab carpeting and creaky floorboards. Through his visor, Querion could see Cloak dislodge his blade, and stab again, this time intent on impaling the pesky Maximal wolf on the glowing razor. It descended quickly, Cloak disregarding a need for any teleportation. The Predacon was dead sure that the wolf-bot could not prove more dangerous than a snivelling puppy. He was wrong though.
The swordsman swung his sabre upwards in an arc, deflecting the energy blade that sought his end. There was a satisfying "klang!" of metal against metal, and the Predacon's aim was thrown off-course. Cloak fell backwards, his balance tipped backwards by the momentum of Querion's swing. With quick light steps, the wolf-bot danced about his enemy, feeling his broken sabre sink deep into Cloak's spine. The Predacon's back arched, Cloak and Dagger's shrieks melding into a medley of pain. The lion shook himself wildly, trying to dislodge the blade in his back, but Querion kept it steady, even shoving it deeper until only the hilt was peeking out. With a grim, if sad, smile, the wolf-bot yanked it out, staining the floor with the Predacon's mech-fluid. He stepped back, and inspected his handiwork, writhing and shrieking on the floor.
Querion turned his head and regarded Phyphen, and gave her a warm smile. All his stoic-ness was gone, replaced by genuine gratitude mingled with an acquiescence that his life was never going to be quite that peaceful anymore.
"Go find Timber, the she-wolf, for me," he said, pointing towards a hallway. "Tell her I'm coming, after we deal with the Predacon trash."
Burnout too had his Shotgun trained on her by now. But it seemed Trance had things well in hand. Whoever he was, the help was welcome.
“Are you alright Rhapsody?” He asked, looking over at the somewhat disoriented songbird.
Mandrake peered blearily from a window just in time to observe a dark shape streak past, screaming bloody murder, in what would have been considered a pointless stoop on a heavily armored tortoise Predacon if it hadn't been for the hell-take-all look in his eyes. "Son of a glitch."
With what sounded almost like a grunt of effort, the low-slung Maximal shifted to his eight-foot robot mode and leapt for the window. He ripped through in a spray of shattered glass and fractured brick. The wind whistled in his ears as he dropped down the side of the hotel wall. Mandrake swiftly curled up into a ball then kicked out backwards, his feet impacting with the wall and catapulting him out towards the battle. As he dropped he had a clear view of the unknown shape hurtling down upon the unsuspecting Grapple as well as the small shape whose furious assault was keeping the hefty Pred's attention. Then his attention was caught up in landing as his own heavy form powdered the concrete beneath him.
"I'm getting too old for this." Mandrake dragged himself upright and shook the dust off. Then he charged toward the fight, one eye on Grapple and the other upon the new figure who was within a nano of striking the clueless Predacon's back.
After the Resistance had left the Xavior, Dusty had lurked around for a bit, keeping out of sight of the small number of guards posted around the Maximal ship. She finally decided (or rather, boredom and curiosity decided it for her) that hanging around the Xavior wasn't going to accomplish anything, and she might as well go see what the group of bots that fate had thrown her with was up to.
It didn't take much to sneak past the somewhat bored guards, then it was just a matter of finding out where the Resistance was staying. A few casual questions and a long walk later, Dusty was nearing the hotel when her sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of a fight.
"Ah, -man-... I always seem t'miss out on the fun..." The dingo femme switched to her beast mode for some extra speed and sprinted towards the sounds of the fight. Moments later, she skidded to a halt near Burnout and Rhaspody and switched back to bot mode, panting slightly. Trance had Rapier well in hand nearby.
"Damn, what th'hell happened?" Dusty broke out, seeing the trashed hotel.
Phyphen nodded to Querion.
"I'll find her," the fox bot turned to check the hallways - ensuring that they were clear, "Then I'll come back and tell you where she is, old Wolf..."
Phyphen gave the Maximal one last smile and tore off down the hall.
Phyphen ran through the hallways peering in various doors. When she felt as though the level had been sufficiently checked she went for the stairs. The young fox took the stairs in large strides... skipping the last few steps and jumping down.
She ran through the hallways, bumping into innocent people and crashing into things in the halls. Phyphen dove into the last room in the hallway, standing inside, gasping for air.
Feeling all his ammo gone, Cross watched as the others emptied their weapons. In a few cycles, the gravity that held the rubble over Press's head topple on him. The sabre toothed winced at the sight. He never like to see harm done on a single bot, Maximal or Predacon. He knew there was no avoiding it tough.
Cross placed his swords away in his shoulders as he turned to look at the Maximals. His eyes glowed as he scanned each one of them for injuries. Since Nocticia was closer, Cross qucikly trotted over to her and smiled.
"I'm a field medic. Let me tend to your wounds." He said kindly, taking her hand in his gently. His head then turned to Scope who was still in the sky. "I see your injuries too. Please land so I may tend to yours too."
After he got Nocticia in a sitting position, Cross began to tend to Nocticia's hands. Stopping the flow of mechafluid first, he then mended her hands using the tools he hand with him. While Cross continued tending to Nocticia, Scope has landed near the doctor and patient with Penji by his side. Of course, Scope didn't trust Cross at all.
"You're very low on mechafluid. I can tranfuse some of my fluid into your system," Cross said as he finsihed with her mending her hands. "But I'm sure you won't suffer any problems for a few minutes while I tend to this bot here."
Cross stood as he turned to Scope. "May I tend to your injuries? Your robot mode legs are severely damaged."
Nocticia looked at Cross, "Well, doc, you're awfully cute, but I can transfuse all the mechflu I need." With that she bent down and sucked fluids from the tentacle of Press. She felt bad that he had to die. He had such a nice body for a Pred. It was a shame he couldn't join Tempered Metal. He seemed quite tampered with.
--------------------------------
On the oppisite side of the parking lot Buster roared in anger and Mandrake punching the old maximal hard in the chest sending him a few feet back. Mandrake returned to his feet and spit. "YOur gonna need more then that to stop me son."
--------------------------------
Out of no where Solarflare attacked firing several rounds into the Turtles back and he dropped switchblade. The two maximals were barely standing as they moved next to each other. "Think we can take him?" Solarflare said spitting up mech fliud.
"Nope." Switchblade said nearly laughing.
"Right, lets go." The two small maximal charged, solarflare jumped drop kicking the predacon and Switchblade sweeped his legs out from under him. ALl three landed hard as Solarflare landed a kick to the head before getting tossed away suplex style. Switchblade punched several times in the stomach but was sent backwards by a kick to the mid section. Grapple smiled and stood tall with each Maximal standing on either side.
"Are we ready now kiddies?" The tortise sneered.
-----------------------------
Rapier growled and swept Trances feet from underneath him. The cat kicked the new bot in the head and charged slicing Burnout's shotgun from his hand but was stabbed in the back from one of Rhapsodys disposable swords. The cat hissed slicing Rhapsody arm and kicking her to the side
"Silly Pred," Penji said. He hated it when they came back from the grave like that. Not taking the time to come up with some plan to get his projectile weapons past Press's gravity control this time, Penji fired on the Pred with his scatter lasers, causing Press the writhe in pain. Pain, however, didn't seem to be something Press cared about at that point.
Half a block away, Caska approached the disaster area that had been a five star hotel just a few cycles earlier. It looked like there were three separate scuffles in the parking lot, with the Preds outnumbered, but not nearly as outgunned. It looked an sounded like there was fighting on the fifth floor as well. At this point it was impossible to tell who the aggressors were, or why they had attacked, but Caska had at least thought ahead to bring a small digital camera. She had planned to use it for her next vacation, but collecting evidence worked too.
"Luitenant," she radioed back to the Citadel, "I'm going to send you some images, we need some IDs on people."
as the luitenant gave his affirmative response, Caska walked closer, trying to get a better view.
Scope growled, more a sound of annoyance than anger. Some 'bots just don't know when to die.
Scope converts to robot mode and goes airborne via his jets. With a powerful boost he launches himself toward Nocticia. His pure momentum allows him to break threw the edge of the gravity field and rip through the tentacle grasping the femme. She fell like a ton of bricks to the ground, while another, more mangled tentacle slithered out and wrapped around Scope, gripping him firmly.
Nocticia turned on Penji. She grabbed the penguin by the arm and held her blaster to his head. "Never shoot at something I am feeding on." Just then, she felt the barrels of several other weapons pushed against her back. She dropped her gun and backed away.
"I think it's time you told us who you are and what your business is here," Cross said to her.
"Like I said, Doc, your cute, but not too quick on the uptake. My name is Nocticia. And it should be obvious that I am here to shred a Pred. Now that that is done, I will be on my way. I have to find some stupid Maximal renegade unit. I've been appointed by the Maximal military to keep and eye on them. So, if you will excuse me, I have to... What? I don't care what you think. Oh yeah, everything is always my fault."
Cross asked her, "Who are you talking to?"
Nocticia, ignoring him continued her conversation with the voices in her head, "Look, I'm not just gonna ask him out right here. Oh, you are impossible. We have to find the....why didn't you tell me that before! Some days-oh yeah, bring that up again! I keep telling you, his face fell off due to the compounded gravity matrix! My lovetap of a punch had nothing to do with it."
he kids would have to wait. Mandrake ducked beneath a powerful blow from a hammer head almost as large as his torso. Despite its weight, Buster spun the great maul and slammed it down into the concrete moments after Mandrake rolled out of the way to the behemoth's left. "Too slow, boy!" The transmetal came out of the roll swinging his own hammer in a wide, low arc that ended in the back of his large opponent's knee.
Force of impact caused Buster's leg to buckle almost painlessly, dropping the massive Pred to his knees. Mandrake spun like a top, rebounding off his first impact and pivoting on one foot. Discovering too late why he was dropped only to his knees, Buster only had time to squeeze out a strangled 'Huh?' before the Mandrake nearly buried his hammer in the bruiser's face. Buster was knocked flat on his back, but he rolled to his feet in no time. Mechfluid streamed from his broken nose, pooling about the rim of his dented faceplate. His eyes glowed with rage and hatred undiminished by their inability to focus. His voice grated like tearing steel as he shrieked at the opponent barely over half his size. "You gonna die, old man! Die ugly! Die hard!"
Mandrake glared back, his features frozen and expressionless as always. Only his voice betrayed emotion, and that was the simple weariness of a bot who'd seen too much, and that voice crunched like gravel rubbed together. "Yeah, whatever." He hefted Mjolnir over his shoulder, its head shining with smeared fluid from Buster's face. "But not today, and not by you. Frankly, kid, you're not good enough."
Buster growled and raised his own hammer, then slammed it into the ground and shattered the concrete beneath it. "Frag this noise. Let's do it."
Cloak wretched in pain o the ground. how could this happen, how could they have been beaten by maximals. It wasn't possible. At that moment while cloak was tacked to the floor with the sabre Mimi tossed Querion her broadsword and with a swipe Mechfluid poured everywhere and Cloak and dagger had been defeated. Querion, Mimi and Buckshot gathered their weapons and took a breath of relief but it was short lived. Outside another explosion rocked the parking lot.
"We got em on the ropes. Lets finish this." Mimi said grabbing her firestorm cannon. Buckshot nodded but querion turned to find Timber. "Alright sugar, just me and you." Mimi smiled. Press seemed to be weaking with every moment but his gravity press wasn't giving up. From the other side of the lot Buckshot, mimi and Fluffy were cosing fast. Press smiled evily, "Looks like this is it!" Press said reaching into subspace and pulling out a large explosive. Setting the explosive weakened the gravity around the captured and they managed to escape cross pulling Scope away. The trio and penji began to run from press as he exploded. Sending most of the fighters in the parking lot to the ground.
Mimi got up and saw Buster being handled. "Buckshot go help him i will get these guys out of here. Buckshot nodded and took of towards Buster Fluffy in pursuit. Mimi and Rita made there way to the other four maximals and assited them back inside the hotel.
The fight with Rapier had found its way into the hotel lobby. She was hiding behind a desk taking heavy fire from burnout and Trance but neithr could connect with a blast..
Graphics Provided by Riboflavin
