CHAPTER SEVEN
--Autobot City--
"Okay, whose bright idea was it to allow the Predacons to roam free in the city and not rot away in prison?"
Arcee glanced back at Bulkhead as she shot down an advancing Predacon toad. "Do you really want me to answer that?"
Bulkhead frowned. "It was Optimus, wasn't it?"
Arcee nodded. "To be fair, I can't exactly blame him. I mean, if we can trust Megatron of all bots...."
"Well, in any case, we've got them outnumbered," Bulkhead said, pounding his fists together. "Autobots, Maximals, and even Decepticons against these Preds? They don't stand a chance."
Arcee smiled as she looked back at the larger Autobot... only to cry out in alarm. "Bulkhead, behind you!"
Bulkhead never had time to react as the dark-armored Predacon, appearing out of nowhere, advanced him from behind. Arcee brandished her blades and moved to attack only to be shot down by the Predacon's multi-barreled cannon. As she fell, the brown-blue crab grabbed Bulkhead by the neck, lifting him up with ridiculous strength.
"Feed me," the Predacon growled, its voice alien and ethereal.
Before Arcee's horrified optics, Bulkhead opened his mouth and regurgitated his own spark. The Predacon took it, absorbing it into himself, before casting the Autobot's now-lifeless body aside, green armor fading to gray.
"No!" Arcee cried. However, rather than attack the Predacon, she instead transformed and drove off, zipping down the hall. She realized she stood no chance against a threat like this one... so she was going to find the one bot she knew who could hold their own.
* * *
Stormshot grunted as she pushed aside the rubble that had buried her. Above her, the ceiling had been completely demolished, revealing a swarm of Insecticons circling in the sky above. Looking around, she saw that Tarantulas was already gone, as was Prowl's body. Evac's headless crospe still remained, but she tried not to focus on that.
It's not your fault. It's not your fault. It's not your fault.
Once she was fully out of the rubble, she retrieved her guns and transformed to her jet mode, taking off towards the Insecticons. She set her weapons ablaze upon them, gunning down any bug that entered her range.
This is for you, Evac.
She had taken out maybe seven of them when something clipped her wing and she was sent spiraling out of control. Quickly converting, she landed clumsily onto her feet before drawing her guns and pivoting on her feet to see what had shot her down.
A woolly mammoth with a gun for a face was certainly not on her list of expectations. Stormshot was no expert of Earth fauna -- or Cybertronian, for that matter -- but she was pretty certain that large guns were not part of their anatomy.
Taken aback by the sight, Stormshot waited a moment too long to attack as the mammoth took advantage of her distraction and blasted her square in the chest....
* * *
"Come on, kid. Don't do this to me."
Wheeljack winced as Bumblebee sparked where his jaw had once been. Cradling the wounded yellow Autobot, Wheeljack looked over to see the Decepticon Dreadwing pounding his fist into the head of the raptor Predacon that had torn off said jaw. The beast had stopped moving a while ago, his cranium completely caved in.
"I think you got him," Wheeljack muttered.
"Shut up," Dreadwing grunted. "I'll decide when I'm done."
"The least you could do is get a medic or something. I don't want to just sit here, holding my dying friend, while you get your kicks in."
Dreadwing simply ignored him, continuing to tear the Predacon apart. Swearing to himself, Wheeljack looked around his lab for repair tools. He was no Ratchet -- heck, he was barely a Hoist -- but maybe he could find something to fix Bumblebee up until he got him to an actual Ratchet or Hoist. He would even settle for Flatline at this point.
No more than a few seconds after he had taken his optics off him, Wheeljack heard Dreadwing let out an agonized scream and returned his gaze to him. The blue Decepticon stood there with a gaping hole in his chest, where his spark should have been. Said spark was in the hands of a large purple Predacon with massive wings. Red, emotionless eyes glowed from a head that looked very patched together.
"Fools," the beast warrior snarled as he crushed Dreadwing's spark, extinguishing it. "Know that I am Razorclaw."
"Uh." Wheeljack blinked. "Pretty sure that name's already taken."
Ignoring him, Razorclaw cast aside the deactivated Dreadwing and bore his claws as he stalked towards the Autobot engineer. "Do not resist the cool embrace of Death. All existence is ultimately meaningless."
"If that's the case," Wheeljack said, deploying a rocket launcher from his shoulder, "then why delay?"
The resulting blast of the rocket sent Razorclaw into the wall. It did little more than wound the beast, but it bought Wheeljack enough time to race out of the lab, carrying the injured Bumblebee with him.
* * *
"Me Grimlock no like you!"
Ultra Magnus barely had time to dodge the flying red feline as he was thrown across the room by Grimlock. The other Dinobots were preoccupied with a black ant Predacon, who was zipping over their heads on a rear-mounted propeller, firing her twin guns.
"It cannot be stopped," Antagony droned. "The Arisen has come. All shall become one."
"Shut up!" Slag roared. A cone of flame released from his mouth, bathing the Predacon in fire.
"Resistance is futile. Futile. Futile." Overcome by the flames, Antagony crashed to the ground, her propeller busted. For good measure, Slash tore it out of her back while Sludge stomped on her head, ending the Predacon for good.
"There," the larger Dinobot grunted. "That better."
Ultra Magnus nodded in appraisal as he scanned the room, now filled with deactivated Predacons and Insecticons. "Good. That's this room cleared. Let's go check on--"
"Magnus!" All turned to see a blue motorcycle speed into the room, converting into a panicked Arcee. "We need to evacuate! Now!"
Ultra Magnus frowned. "Why? We can't abandon the city. Besides, we have the situation handled."
Arcee shook her head. "The Predacons are just a distraction. There's a greater power at work. One none of us are any match for."
"Bah!" Grimlock exclaimed. "Nothing is match for Dinobots!"
Ultra Magnus waved him off as he looked to Arcee. "What are you talking about?"
Before she could answer, another bot appeared behind her, clutching a wide black hole in his chest. Ultra Magnus' optics went wide as the white Autobot collapsed in front of him.
"Drift!" He hurried over to the ex-Decepticon, cradling him in his large arms. "What happened?!"
Drift said nothing, instead raising a shaking finger towards the corridor. Magnus and the others all looked up to see a solitary figure marching towards them.
"No," Arcee murmured as she stepped back.
"By the AllSpark," Ultra Magnus gaped, rising to his full height.
The colors were different. Red had become black, orange flames were now purple. His build was also far larger than any of them remembered it being... but beyond that, his identity was unmistakable.
"Rodimus...."
Scarlet optics flared as Rodimus Unicronus held up his gun and fired upon his former allies....
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