CHAPTER TEN
"Swoop, listen! It's me-"
Sludge winced as the brainwashed Swoop clawed at him with his talons. The larger Dinobot tried to grab him but his former comrade flew out of his reach.
"All right," Sludge muttered, cracking his knuckles. "Tried being negotiable and it not work. Actions speak louder than words anyway."
He then converted into his Apatosaurus form and breathed out a blast of fire, managing to scorch Swoop's right wing and send him plummeting to the floor, unconscious.
"Nice job, Sludge," Grimlock said as he wrestled with Darksteel. "Keep watch on him while we finish things here."
Darksteel cackled. "You cannot stop us! We Predacons aren't rulers of Animatron for no reason! We-"
"Oh, shut up," Grimlock growled as he threw his arm upward, uppercutting the winged Predacon. Before he could throw another punch, a small winged creature swooped down and attacked the Dinobot leader, biting at him. As Grimlock struggled with the thing, Darksteel's gray and green lookalike walked up to him and smirked.
"If you are willing to surrender, I can call off Blackbeak," Grimwing said. "If not, then my brother and I will simply have to tear you apart."
"Why wait?" Darksteel laughed, morphing into his Ursagryph form. "Let's just skip to the 'tearing apart' part!"
The Predacon lunged and Grimlock defended himself by converting into his beast form, releasing a blast of fire to impede Darksteel's attack. When he saw that the other Dinobots and Predacons were also now in their beast modes as well, Grimlock smirked.
Unleash the Beast Wars.
* * *
Sky Lynx's mind raced as he entered the dungeon. The Dinobots were still in Ripclaw's lab, fighting with Predacons, and the Maximals which had just arrived were tackling with Cryotek and his defenses. He had to bring a quick end to this conflict and bring himself and the Dinobots back to Cybertron safely.
Striding right past the Beast's cell- having had no intention to follow through with Razorclaw's orders- Sky Lynx stopped before a cell that held two individuals: Scorn and Slash, two Maximals that Ripclaw had attempted and failed to convert before being given Swoop. The pair were unconscious at the moment, but Sky Lynx knew that a simple command would wake them up and perhaps provide him with the necessary distraction.
"Crush and burn."
* * *
"Decepticons, retreat!"
The words fell on Starscream's disbelieving audio receptors. As his fellow Seekers complied with them and returned to the Nemesis, the Air Commander shot towards the injured Megatron, who was being carried up to the ship by Lugnut.
"My liege, are you out of your mind?" Starscream exclaimed. "The Autobots are leaderless! Now is the perfect opportunity to-"
"Spare me your senseless prattle," Megatron snapped. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm in no condition to fight, and with neither the Junkions nor the Star Seekers on our side, we are practically outnumbered."
Starscream opened his mouth to retort but Lugnut cut him off. "Do not dare question the glorious Megatron!"
The Seeker scowled but complied, following his leader back to the Nemesis.
* * *
"Looks like they're retreating," Sideswipe said as he and the others fired after the fleeing Decepticons. "Now if only those Star Seekers would do the same."
"They'd need a good reason to," Arcee replied. "The 'Cons are leaving because they know they're outnumbered, but that only helps the Star Seekers."
Sideswipe's eyes scanned the battlefield before landing on the defeated and broken Axer. Smiling, he said, "Then we'll give them a good reason."
* * *
"Captain, you're back!" Cannonball said as the weary and battered Thundertron staggered back onto the Tidal Wave's bridge. "Did you kill the Prime?"
"No," the Star Seeker leader snapped, collapsing into his command chair. "Press on the assault. I want at least some satisfaction from this day."
"Er, captain?" Stronghorn said. "We're being hailed."
Thundertron scowled. "By the Autobots?"
"Yes, captain. Shall I answer them?"
Thundertron was about to answer "no" but stopped when he found his curiosity piqued. Instead, he said, "Yes, answer them."
Appearing on the telescreen placed before the viewport was a boxy Autobot in red and yellow. "Er, hi," he said. "I'm Blaster of the Ark. We have a peace offering of sorts for you. If you want it, you have to stop shooting at us."
Thundertron sneered. "What could you possibly offer us that would convince us to cease fire?"
"This guy," Blaster said, bringing an unconscious, gray and blue mech into view.
Thundertron stared at the screen for a moment before throwing his head back and laughing mirthlessly. "And what possible use would we have with a Cybertronian?"
Blaster shrugged irreverently. "I don't know, use him as target practice, have him serve you oil cans, or polish your feet, frag if I care. He's a bounty hunter, so he could help you find treasure or whatever."
"He does have a point," Cannonball murmured to his captain. "He may be of some use to us."
"Of course you would say that," Thundertron hissed back. "You're a Cybertronian as well."
"And you trust me enough to be your first mate."
Thundertron scratched his chin, considering this, before turning back to the screen. "Very well, Blaster of the Ark. We have a deal. Give us the Cybertronian and we will cease our assault. However, we will only give you enough time to leave Junkion and enter hyperspace. After that, the hunt is on again. Savvy?"
Blaster frowned but shrugged. "Yeah, sure. Savvy or whatever."
As the connection ended, Thundertron leaned back in his seat, satisfied with the deal. "Tell the others to hold fire," he ordered Cannonball. "We've made a good enough first impression."
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