CHAPTER FOUR
The red and black jet quickly spun to the side to avoid the advancing pteranodon. The green and orange creature cackled as it doubled back and began pursuing Windblade across the sea.
"Nickel, iron, cobalt, chrome!" Backslash squawked. "He'll eat your soul, turn your spark to--"
"Oh my god, shut the frell up," Windblade snapped. "Being chase by you is bad enough; do I really have to listen to you--"
She was cut off by blaster fire arcing overhead. A pair of Dread Pirates flew in and joined Backslash in his pursuit. While Windblade struggled to shake them off, Backslash -- much to her surprise -- was swatting at the ex-Vehicons as if they were pests.
"Back off!" he screeched. "This is my kill! I'm so sick of you guys having all the fun!"
As the Star Seeker ranted at the drones, Windblade heard the roar of engines as a large magenta jet flew in and blasted the two Dread Pirates to pieces. Startled by Elita-One's arrival, Backslash had no time to react as Windblade flipped around and shot at him. His wings clipped, the pteranodon could only scream as he plunged towards the ocean below.
"That's one down," Windblade commented. "Out of how many to go?"
"Too many," Elita said wearily as she flew back towards the hordes of Star Seekers that were still swarming in on the Lost Light.
* * *
"En garde, ye' filthy scrabbler!"
Drift narrowly avoided his opponent's blade as the black and red pirate lunged at him. The two continued to parry atop the hull of the Lost Light, with neither gaining the upper-hand over the other, all while Dread Pirates continued to hail upon them.
"Impressive!" the Star Seeker exclaimed as Drift dealt a slash to his shoulder. "Your skills are unlike any Bloodmoon has seen before. You must have been trained well."
"Only by the best," Drift replied as he attacked in a flurry. Bloodmoon deflected all of his strikes, save for one to his leg that caught him unawares and sent him staggering to the edge of the ship.
"Ha ha! Well played!" Bloodmoon saluted him with his blade. "Very few have ever gotten the jump on me. You should be honored."
"I sure am," Drift said as he raised his Great Sword and readied himself to attack once more.
Before either duelist could make a move however, a violent tremor shook the earth. Caught off-guard, Bloodmoon lost his balance and fell over the edge of the ship, only to transform to his jet mode and fly away from the ocean.
Another quake caused Drift to turn around and see that the behemoth of a Transformer that had been standing in the sea was making its way towards the shore. Its guns were primed and directed towards the city....
"No...." Drift quickly raised a hand to his comm. "Rodimus, that thing's--"
"I see it, Drift," Rodimus said. "The ship still isn't moving; I don't know how we can--"
Whatever Rodimus was about to say next was drowned out as Tidal Wave fired all of his weapons on the Onyx tower....
* * *
Leo Prime cried out as he was thrown back into reality, having fallen off the slab he had been constrained to. As he picked himself off the floor, pulling out a cord from the back of his head, he looked around to see that everything was on fire. A hole had been blown through the wall, and through it he could see a massive robot marching its way towards the tower, readying its weapons for another blast.
Shakily rising to his feet, Leo Prime caught sight of a beige arm poking out from beneath a pile of flaming wreckage. He quickly removed the rubble, revealing a bot whom he recognized as a fellow Maximal of his.
"Apelinq," Leo Prime said as he helped the primate to his feet. "Are you all right?"
Apelinq glared at him. "Oh, sure. Nothing like my former leader trying to kill me and then suddenly showing concern for my well being."
Leo Prime sighed. "We can save this conversation for later. Do you know where the others are?"
Apelinq did not answer, instead shifting his optics elsewhere. Leo Prime followed his gaze and saw that Tidal Wave's cannons were already glowing again. Without a word, Apelinq pushed his former leader out of the oncoming blast.
* * *
"You know, if something's gonna rescue us for the billionth time, it might as well be in an epic explosion."
Springer ignored Guzzle as he pushed a piece of debris off of Kup. To his relief, the Autobot veteran was already unconscious and easily got back to his feet.
"You doing all right, old-timer?" Springer said with a smirk.
"Course I am," Kup grunted. "What, ya think a blast like that's gonna deal me in?"
At that moment, another explosion rocked the tower, causing more rubble to fall onto the Wreckers. Guzzle summarily blasted the debris away.
"One of these blasts will probably deal us in if we stay any longer," Springer muttered. "Is Roadbuster back yet?"
"I'm here."
The others turned to see Roadbuster emerge from the flames that had engulfed the rest of the room. He carried an unconscious Skids on his shoulder while a scorched Star Saber followed him with Whirl, Topspin, and a limping Cyclonus.
"We're still missing Getaway," Star Saber said solemnly. "I'll go back for him."
"There's no time!" Kup exclaimed as another blast shook the tower. "This whole place is about to come down on us!"
"I can't leave him behind!" Star Saber protested. "He's a member of my crew. I'm not leaving without him."
"Then I'll go with you," Springer said. "The rest of you, get out of here and try to regroup with Rodimus and the others."
Kup looked ready to object but then seemed to think better of it. He had served with Springer long enough to know there was not much use in arguing. Instead, he made a sharp motion to the others.
"You heard him, bots. Let's move our afts."
* * *
Getaway groaned as his systems booted back online. His optical sensors took a moment to focus but he could already tell from his heat readings that he was surrounded by fire.
The next thing he registered was the fact that his legs were completely crushed by the large piece of concrete that had fallen on him. Even after he had managed to crawl himself out from beneath the rubble, he could tell he would not be standing anytime soon.
Turning his head, Getaway saw he was still in the room where they had found the drones. Several of the Noisemazes and car-bots had been crushed or blown away while a solitary EVE drone floated around aimlessly.
He tried to raise Skids and the others on his comm, but was greeted with a blast of static. Groaning, he ran a hand down his faceplate just as the Eve-bot spun around in alarm.
"Scorponok, I--"
Getaway heard metal be torn away as a massive green figure emerged from beneath the floor. Scorponok made sure strides towards the drone, oblivious to Getaway's presence.
"This entire operation has been a failure, Blackrock," the Decepticon snarled. "You are no longer of use to me."
"Yeah, well, I'm already gone," Blackrock retorted. "The minute that giant started making its way to shore, I bailed."
Scorponok sneered. "Then you're more of a coward than I thought."
Coward. That word rang in Getaway's head, even though it hadn't been directed at him. Here he was, Cybertron's greatest escape artist, with no means to escape. He was a one-trick pony fueled by fear. He had nothing left to use... save for a grenade attached to his hip.
Suddenly, Scorponok turned to him as if finally noticing him. As the Decepticon stormed over to him, Getaway removed the bomb and primed it, his finger hovering over the detonation button.
Time I finally stood my ground for once.
With a vile grin, Scorponok grabbed Getaway by the head and hoisted him up. "Any last words, Autobot?" he growled. "Before I make you pay for disrupting my machinations?"
Still holding the grenade, Getaway raised his fist and gently bumped it against Scorponok's chin.
"Bomp."
He then pressed the button and everything was consumed by light.
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