A Plee for Vengence: Part 4
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 FOUR
"Crazy freak girl!" said the penguin head that doubled as a hand that doubled as a machinegun that was pointed at Nocticia's head.
"Don't feed on my dinner," Penji's real head added.
Cross just blinked as he watched Nocticia's little scene. Feeling that he has someone the cause of her little...conversation, he decided to turned away from the fem bot. As he turned his eyes wiuden as he say the predicament Scope was in. Drawing Pierce, his short sword, he brought it down to the tenticle that held Scope with all his strength.
Since the tenticle was already in a weaken state, Cross's blade sliced through the it. The medic quickly unwrapped Scope, giving him an apologetic look.
I can't believe I was caught up with Nocticia to not notice these two were still fighting that squid. He thought as he looked up at Press who seem to enjoy the pain inflicted on him. Cross extended his small shield as he placed Pierce back in its shoulder sheath. Time to put you to use, Epsilon.
Cross charges towards Press with his shield, practically weaponless. Press who caught sight of Cross, motioned all his remaining tenticles at the maximal.
Cross dodged to the side as the tenticles came down. He held up his shield to block another, but Cross fell back as a tenticle tripped him. He rolled over, missing the impact of a few more tenticles. Penji intervened on Press's attack, firing his scatter laser at the squid.
I was not made for this! Cross complained in his mind as quickly got to his feet, holding his shield in front of him. Penji continued to fire his scatter laser as Nocticia join in firing her nail gun at the Pred. There should be enough...
Epsilon began to glow, brighter and brighter. "Hey, you piece of slag!" Cross yelled at Press, who turned towards the medic's direction. "Enjoy!"
Out of the flat of a shield, particles started to merge together. In a split second, a blast of energy 10 inches wide escaped out of the flat of the shield straight towards Press. Press who was busy dealing with Penji and Nocticia, did not notice the blast until it was too late. Press was caught in the full force of the blast which dismantle him into burnt pieces.
Cross fell to his knees, looking at the ground. "..Another one bites the dust..."
Nocticia watched the carnage as the Predacon was reduced to burning ash. Not a drop of mechfluid could survive that force of explosion. She turned on Cross and held a nailgun in one hand and her energy cannon in the other. "You just wiped out my meal! I hate people who wipe out my meals!" In an instant Penji was on her as was Scope. The two easily outmuscled her and she dropped her weapons to the ground.
"I demand to speak with your commanding officer!" she yelled at Cross while gnashing her teeth at the Penguin that had her pinned to the ground.
A low giggle came from part of the rubble, and Nocticia turned with Penji at gunpoint to face it. A scrawny, tie-dyed Bot crawled out from under the rocks and stumbled to his feet, dusting himself off.
"Uh...the commanding ossifer?" he replied. "Dude...no, more like dudette...that'd be Rhapsodee, shyeah..."
"Who are you?" Nocticia asked.
"Where were you?" Penji asked.
"Weeeeeeede." Weede giggled, as if that explained it. "Um, you should...uh...put the gun down?"
Trance had pulled out his plasma pistol by now, to conserve what he had left of his slugs. Neither his or Burnout's shots were connecting, so Trance stopped firing and replaced his pistol. He then transformed to his roadster mode and remained silent.
"Hey mac, hop on."
Burnout looked at Trance with a questioning look, but Trance told him to just do it, and he did. Trance reved the engines and took off, spinning around the corner as Brunout kept firing at Rapier, who was now more exposed. Rapier saw the two Maxis coming at her and went to make a move, but Burnout jumped off of Trance, cutting her off as Trance transformed back to robot mode, pulling out his shotgun and holding it against Rapier's head.
"Oh look at this, back to square one. But this time I won't hesitate on blowing your head clear off."
"MY vaporized meal!" Penji told Nocticia, "I saw first!"
Nocticia tried to get the conversation back where she wanted it, "Where is this Rhapsody?" she demanded.
"Up there!" Penji answered, pointing to the fifth floor. "Busy!"
"Shyeah, she's, like, fighting some dudes, or somethin. huhuh... whoa.. chill dudette."
"Yeah! Calm down, silly mechabal!" affirmed Penji.
"I am not a mechabal!"
"Umm.. Spark eater? Grease slurper? Synthflesh connessour? Vamprobot?"
Nocticia had heard enough from these bafoons. She transformed to beast mode and began flying towards the fifth floor, when suddenly, an idea struck her. She swooped back down and stood face to face with Buster. The Predacon grinned at her as she stood in beast mode watching him. He drew his war hammer and still she just stood there. He reared back and she still did not move. He swung forward and she leapt to the sky and began flying heavenward. The hammer flew from Buster's hands when it met nothing but air and crashed into Penji's torso. The Penguin bot keeled over in pain. Buster raedied his missile launchers and began firing on Nocticia who swooped gracefully through the air. Finally, she transformed right over Buster. She fell forward and latched her teeth to his neck. She heard the rythmic pounding as she drew mechfluid from his body. But suddenly, she was pulled from his neck. Nocticia had failed to factor in Buster's strength and the Predacon lifted her high and piledrove her onto the street. Nocticia's vision began to blur and darkness overcame her. She lost conciousness.
"This is going to be funny." Cross mused as he watched Nocticia. "I'm not even part of your team."
"That's rig-" Penji started, but was stopped by Buster's warhammer in his gut.
The sabre-toothed glared towards the direction of the warhammer. He didn't like people to get hurt. He already felt bad enough that he wasted a Pred. Plus it also hurted that Nocticia was mad at him. Cross then watched as he saw Nocticia's body hit the street.
They'll need help. I better fix that maximal bird. Cross thought as he trotted over to Scope. The medic bent down as his eyes read the damage in the bird's legs. "Alright, give me a few cycles and I'll have you up." Cross told Scope as he opened his medical compartments.
Scope nodded at Cross's words as the medic started his work. Opening up Scope's legs, Cross made quick work of it, replacing his servos with an extra pair he carried and repaired the damage on his left leg. Cross placed his medical tools away as he stood up, extending his hand to Scope.
"All right. Your legs should be fine now." Cross said as Scope took his hand. The medic helped the bird up, giving Scope a friendly grip on his hand. "Be careful."
With that Cross released his grip off of Scope's hand, and he ran towards Nocticia's unconcious body.
Penji grimaced. That Predacon should have been dead by now. He tossed a grenade at Buster, which exploded and made the Predacon stagger a bit. He tossed a few more, the last of which blew off half of Buster's shoulder. The giant Pred just carried on, though, determined to keep fighting until his last servo went dead.
Everyone has nightmares. Even Transformers have them after a fashion; terrible surreal visions that tap the deep, dark waters of their unconscious. Yet, while frightening, such dreams are transitory at best. Every ‘bot who has ever dreamed of some terrifying fall, the loss of a loved one, or their inability to keep them from coming to harm, has, eventually, woken to the reassuring drudgery of the real world. The fall suddenly ceases, leaden arms and legs regain their freedom of movement. Time returns to its natural flow, and all is right and good with the world.
Unfortunately, not every fall is imaginary.
And some nightmares have a life of their own.
Gabriel watched as the ground raced to meet him. Tucked into a compact ball, wings wrapped around his Beast Mode body to cut resistance, he fell like a giant metal stone…straight at Grapple’s large head. To the gargoyle’s eyes, the tortoise appeared to grow at a sickening speed. Yet, for the briefest of moments, he wrenched his gaze sideways to where Switchblade stood. She was a singular creature in his view; thin moon and streetlight reflecting in patches off her bell like helmet and burnished facial features. She moved lithely; as much like water as any Transformer could, and nearly unpredictable when on the attack. In that moment, the Predacon almost smiled. Almost. With a last longing look at the badger femme’s features, the Fuzor returned his mind to the business at hand. It was not a moment too soon.
Below, Grapple bellowed as his right arm swept forward at Switchblade. The courier twisted, avoiding the blow, only to be met with a follow up kick that landed square in her ribs. Of balance, the badger ‘bot took the full bruising force of the move. Grapple reached out quickly and took hold of the badger’s wrist, giving a savage twist. Her arm broke under the pressure, bending at an ungainly angle. Switchblade screamed as the Predacon threw her roughly to the side. She stumbled and fell, sliding backward into a pile of newly created rubble. A cloud of dust rose and her eyes blurred. Switchblade gave a painful cough as a coat of thick white plaster and concrete settled on her bright features.
Solarflare used the moment to strike back, drawing the monster’s attention away from the downed Switchblade. His fist lanced inward, striking Grapple full across the nose. Mech fluid gushed from the crumpled metal as the finch readied his next strike. It came too late, however. With one great ponderous move, the tortoise lurched forward, slamming his forehead into Solarflare’s own. The Maximal reeled back and tumbled half way into a nearby alleyway. Grapple took a single step closer. Solarflare could hear the crunch of his thick boots across the debris strewn rear parking lot. Hurriedly the finch attempted to push himself back off the ground. He almost made it before, with a sickening pop, his shoulder temporarily gave out, and he collapsed back to the ground.
Solarflare knew he was dead, helpless. There was no way that he could defend himself before the burly Pred was on him. In desperation, his mind flashed the image of Switchblade, as she had been when he’d first seen her, in the forest outside of Endport. It was a good memory. If he had to die, he thought, it might as well be with that very image on his mind. He could die for that. No regrets. None at all. He closed his eyes…
Suddenly there was the gut wrenching crunch of metal on metal. The kind of sound generally associated with stepping on a tin can. Solarflare jerked, causing his shoulder added pain. There was a scream of rage from Grapple. And then silence.
“Wait a minute…” Solarflare thought with a start. He should have felt pain along with the crunching noise. He should have…
Solarflare’s optics flew open, searching desperately for Switchblade. But he found her as she had been last, disoriented, and leaning against the pile of rubble. Grapple meanwhile was doubled over, on all fours, one hand spread protectively over a cracked and dented sternum. Of his left collarbone, there was no longer any trace. Just a painful swath of crumpled metal. In the night air, above the distant sound of other battles, Solarflare could hear it as the sadist struggled even to breathe. The General tried to rise to his feet, but ended no better than the finch.
Silence.
Grapple sunk lower on his knees, almost bent over on one side. Switchblade didn’t move. It was all the Solarflare could do to drag himself to a sitting position along the wall. Perhaps if pushed his back against the building, he could get back on his feet…
Silence.
The finch ‘bot pushed, managing to lift a few inches off the ground. It worked! He prepared to push again, and then froze altogether.
He heard a growl. Low, threatening, vicious. It emanated from the opposite side of the street, past the fallen Grapple. Solarflare looked, and his breath caught as his eyes beheld a low slung, panther like beast, with a pair of strange, sickly yellow optics. They were sharp angular eyes, such as no Maximal had ever been born with. They were dangerous eyes too, and unmistakably Predacon.
With another soft growl, and the familiar humming and whirring of gears, the dark shape transformed. The figure seemed huge amid the shadows, Eight maybe even nine feet tall, with a pair of wings extending from his back that served only to make him…or perhaps more appropriately it, look larger. Even in Robot Mode, the sickly yellow optics burned their muted threat. There was a flash of silver as the creature unholstered some sort of weapon. It’s muzzle pointed unmistakably at Grapple.
It was then that Grapple looked up and saw the darkened form of his newest assailant. Through his pain, the ‘bots optics hardened, and a hateful sneer played across his wide mouth. “Just who the hell do you think you are?” the tortoise rasped. A trail of mech fluid dripped from his broken breastplate and rolled down his arm. The blood was dark. Very dark.
The menacing figure answered, but only with the pull of a trigger. A searing yellow laser bolt streaked from the end of his gun, tearing through the hand Grapple had placed protectively over his wound. The hardened General wailed in pain. Nothing was left of his forearm from half way down, only a smoking cauterized stump. The tortoise grasped in shock, gaping chest wound momentarily forgotten.
Without turning the gun a fraction of an inch, the figure stepped out into the light of the few remaining streetlights. Both Solarflare and Grapple gasped.
Before them stood perhaps the most horribly disfigured ‘bot either of them had ever seen. A stony gray color, the nine-foot tall Predacon was a mass of sharp, uncompromising features, crowned by a hawk of a nose and dispassionately drawn mouth. The metal of his face on the left side was twisted and gnarled beyond belief, as though it had been doused in acid. The wound, which was obviously very old, made Grapple's half healed plasma burns look like a walk in the park. Solarflare felt sick. Sick, and very very scared. He was looking at an animal, not a Transformer. A beast in ‘bots attire.
Gabriel sneered, showing the dangerous points of two elongated canines. He raised his weapon without fanfare, and aimed at Grapple’s faceplate. A look of pure hatred burned in his unsettling optics. There was no discernable reason for this, but it was there none the less. Rage poured from every pore of his body, and concentrated on the maimed General at his feet.
The gargoyle ‘bot’s finger curled around the trigger of his weapon. It tightened…tightened.
Flash
Flash
Suddenly, from out of nowhere streamed a pair of bright green energy disks, slamming into the alley wall from which Gabriel had emerged.
“That was a warning shot, you SOB,” came a voice from inside the ruined hotel. Perched on the edge of a broken stairwell sat Rita, both guns drawn and smoking as they pointed at their target. Something in her posture seemed to say that next time she wouldn’t miss. Rita hopped lightly to the ground, guns never missing a beat. “So you’d better just back the slag off, and leave your friend where he is,” She indicated Grapple. Having arrived only seconds earlier, she had understandably, yet inaccurately assessed the situation. To Rita’s eyes, the newcomer was a Predacon, and therefore nothing but trouble to her temporarily downed teammates.
Carefully, Gabriel lowered his gun. Rita had him cold. Almost. If he transformed, he could duck the next wave of disks, and maybe the second, if she hadn’t counted on him being able to fly right away. But he was in a tight spot for sure. The sound of metal footsteps coming closer (perhaps some other Resistance members) could only make it worse.
Gabriel transformed without warning, letting a pair of green energy disks explode a bit of building perilously close to his head. Then, with a powerful thrust of his wings, took to the air, narrowly avoiding a second pair. With all his speed he made for the unconscious Switchblade. If nothing else, he had to get her out.
Meanwhile, against her pile of rubble, Switchblade came to with a jolt of pain in her broken arm. Through blurry eyes she could see green lights flying left and right. Rita, she knew. The mink must have made it to ground level after all. The badger ‘bot blinked away the fuzziness in her eyes. A dark shape was moving toward her. She tried to roll out of its way, but it was futile. At the last instant her eyes cleared and focused on the terrifying shape at hand. It was a dark angular creature with stone gray wings, spread like some avenging angel.
No, it couldn’t be. He’s not…
Not real. The world dimmed and she passed out again, the fearful image of her guardian burning into her memory.
Meanwhile, the fighting continued. The battling went on, but with one minor change. Grapple was gone, a dark puddle of mech fluid the only evidence that he had even been there. A thinner trail of blood marked the path of his unobserved retreat. ‘Let the Tripreds eat their little extermination run,’ he though. He’d serve no one dead. Least of all himself.
"We've got a score to settle," Scope grumbles, eyeing Buster with a look of determination. He flexes his legs carefully, and is pleased to find that they are operating perfectly. With a grunt he launches full blast toward Buster. He fires several rockets at the huge Pred, all of which explode a few feet from him. Scope didn't want to kill him from behind, he wanted to get his attention so that he could kill him fair in square.
It worked.
Buster spun around madly, letting out a rumbling roar, and is instantly pummeled and slashed in the face. The huge Pred closes his eyes against the barrage and swipes madly at his face, but Scope had already moved. Buster lets out another roar, but this one is a roar of pain, as Scope's P-90s fire madly into his stomach at point-blank. Buster stumbles backward as his thick armor is slowly eaten away by the constant barrage of bullets. Scope follows up swiftly with a barrage of rockets, which sends Buster stumbling wildly backwards into a building.
Buster fires his scatter missiles madly... having anticipated as much Scope is already safely in the air, circling above in his beast mode. Now the others move in to try and finish the Predacon off.
As the others marched forward, advancing on the Pred, Nocticia continued lying motionless and unconscious.
after the most recent hail of predacon attack, Trapper found himself lost amongst the cybertronian masses now in panic and chaos as the fight between few exploded into something more. Having no way of entering the fray without drawing fire to the civillians he found a manhole and dropped under ground to find something he had been saving. Switching to beastmode he sped through the underground tunnles at top speed until he found what he was looking for, rather something he had obtained while doing a job a few planetary solar revolutions ago.....it was for the planets largest technology firm. Basically he was asked to prevent a stolen giant TF shell from being let loose by terorist......
Trapper contained the situation before it could erupt, and he stowed the big frame away for such a day. He found it and entered the control room. He flipped a few switches and began typing away. The titan began humming to life as the torso began moving up. As the titan exploded out from below the streets, it just froze....everyone suddenly looked at the giant robot in confusion......
Trapper
"No....no.....not now.....why does it have to freeze up....stinking operating program......"
trapper jumps out of the cockpit and stands on the shoulder, only to see his fellow maximals and enemy preds staring up at him....he raises his arm and brings it up behind his head and embarrisingly laughs. The preds turn their guns to trapper and proceed to fire.
Trapper
"HOLY MOTHER ****ER"
A large silver figure sprinted down the hallway. It moved fluidly with stunning speed, its sharp claws ripping at the gaudy carpeting, glistening beads of sweat flying off his fur, long pants escaping his lips. It skidded to a stop, and stared at the ground beneath it.
Querion was tired. Tired of running. Tired of killing. His tongue was lolled out of his mouth, as he sat on his haunches. But he had done just that. Killed. The wolf shook his head resignedly, and sighed.
"Sorry Cloak/Dagger," he mumbled. "That you were my last victims."
The large floating disc in the sky - or the Moon - loomed ominously by. The glass on the ground crunched under his paws, as the wolf padded closer to large panel of now-shattered windows. He looked up longingly, and-
"HOOOOWWWL!!!"
He only hoped that Timber could hear him.
"That was a mistake, son, and this is where you pay for it!" Mandrake charged forward and swung his hammer crossways. Buster had only begun to turn to him once more when the head of Mjolnir buried itself in the small of the oversized Predacon's back. The monster bellowed in pain and rage, but not even that could cover over the sickening crunch of steel and synthiflesh as Buster was blasted to the concrete. Smoke and sparks flew up from a large hole in his back, the shattered remains of his vertebral column visible in the light of the moon and burning hotel. The Pred shuddered and tried to force himself to his feet, but his legs would not respond. Mandrake climbed onto his fallen opponent's back, relying upon his own enormous weight to force the broken bot flat to the ground. Within moments he stood balanced with one leg on Buster's shoulder and looked down own the back of the Pred's armored skull. "If it's any condolence at all, boy, I'm sorry things turned out this way for you."
Buster shuddered for a moment, but Mandrake's weight was too much and he could only turn his head. He stared up at the old Maximal with a mixture of hatred and disbelief. "Go to hell."
The hammerhead flashed in the firelight as it swung down.
Mandrake hopped down from the twitching corpse and sheathed his warhammer on his back. "Strong words, son. Be comforted, however limited a comfort it may be, that you fully deserve wherever it is you go now."
Without hesitating, Burnout made an attempt to keep Rapier from retaliating. As quickly as and hard as he could, he hauled off and punched Rapier in the face. She was slightly startled from the quick assault, and left herself open to another.
Not wasting any time, he grabbed her by the arm, swung her around, and plastered her against the wall. From there he elbowed her hard in the back, evoking a sharp scream. And to finish off, he pulled her off the wall and, while still holding her arm, hauled her to the floor, twisting her arm painfully behind her back.
“I DON’T WANT TO DESTROY YOU!” He shouted, digging his knee into her back to keep her down. “But I will if you keep fighting us!” Maybe he could talk some sense into her. “Why are you doing this!?”
Dusty glanced around warily, her battlestaff resting lightly in one hand. She wasn't sure exactly what was going on; wasn't even sure if she wanted a part in it. Curiosity wouldn't let her just leave though, so she waited silently in the background, listening to Burnout question Rapier, and occasionally scanning the area for any threats that might suddenly show up.
"I'll tell you why i am." Rapier screamed in her normal "nails on a chalkboard" Voice "Blacklight now!" SHe yelled into a clam link. Burnout jumped back from her waiting for whatever to happen. Rapier laughed as if knowing a suprise so good that the maximals would die when they saw it. A moment passed and rapier ducked several shotgun pulses. "BLACKLIGHT WHERE ARE YOU!"
"Sorry kitty kitty, a voice responded. I have found greener pastures." With that the voice cut at rapier turned seeing the butt of a shotgun nailing her in the face. Burnout chuckled as he picked the stasis locked transformer of the ground.
"Looks like you can't even trust your own teamates." Trance joined in the laughter as the maximals had just got themselves an important prisoner.
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All the maximals had congragated back in one of the damaged hotel rooms as the authorities began to show up. "Where is Solarflare and them?" Rhapsody said wraith standing vlose behind. The other just looked at each other for a minute.
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Solarflare was flying through the air very gracefully until he landed face first into a wall. The finch had been fighting with Gabriel over the seeming protection of Switchblade. "YOu let her go!" The finch screamed as he stood up. Rita moved in from the side.
"Yeah you big ugly freak. Let her go or perpare to feel the pain." Solarflare and Rita began to circle gabriel trying to tackle the large pred.
Caska observed the police arriving, late as expected. She started to walk towards them, but then decided she didn't especially feel like talking a a brick wall. She turned and tailed the Maximals that had followed the gargoyle-like Pred instead.
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