CHAPTER ONE
--Velocitron--
"Override! Delta's shields are down! We're getting pounded!"
"Hang in there, Excellion!" Override cried into her comm, firing her twin-barreled gun into the oncoming horde of beetle-like bots. "We aren't exactly having it easy out here either!"
All around her, the Terrorcons were tearing up Velocitron's roads, sending racers plummeting to their deaths. Even with the support of the Autobot Speed Team, Override and her people were having no luck in repelling these robotic creatures as they continued to pour out of the Decepticon Worldsweeeper hovering above them.
After taking out an Insecticon that had been terrorizing Hightail, Override hailed her Autobot counterpart. "Blurr! Can you and your team double back to Delta and provide support?"
"Already there," was the reply just as a blue shape zipped through the front lines.
That's one bot I can always count on, Override thought to herself as she returned her attention to the Terrorcons. Although there were still more coming out of the Worldsweeper, it seemed like the crowd in front of her was starting to dissipate. Were they trying to get around them to reach the capital?
Before she could speculate any further, a large shadow fell over her and her teammates. Daring to look up, she adjusted her optics to Velocitron's blazing sun and was eventually able to make out a massive, black-armored figure with large claws... which was quickly making its way down towards the ground.
"Scatter!" Override's command barely came in time as the giant touched down, kicking up clouds of dirt. While most of the Velocitronians were able to get away in time, not all were quick enough to outrun the Terrorcon as it seized them with its claws. Quicklightning in particular learned this the hard way. Override knew she would be hearing his dying screams for years to come....
"Everyone fall back!" she called out, already transforming to her race car form. "Get back to Delta!"
"Are you crazy?" cried out Hightail. "We'll just lead them straight to the capital!"
"That's the idea." Override revved her engine before peeling off through the Velocitronian desert.
* * *
Outside the city, all hell was breaking loose. Inside, things weren't much better.
With Delta's shields down, more Velocitronians were rushing out to defend their vulnerable city. It wouldn't do much good though; Velocitronians weren't exactly known for their firepower. Which was why Sideways wanted to get the hell out of here before things went from bad to worse.
From the second she had been "reborn" on Velocitron as "Wayside," she had hated the planet with every nano-fiber of her being. All these people cared about was racing, racing, racing. They never did or cared for anything besides that inane, terminally boring sport. The only reason she hadn't left already was because she didn't have anywhere to go where she wouldn't be murdered on sight. But seeing as she was probably going to be murdered anyway if she stayed here any longer....
Sideways kept to the shadows as she navigated Delta's halls, not wanting to attract unwanted attention from passerby Velocitronians. With almost everyone outside, the chamber to the city's space bridge would be left mostly unguarded, and any guards who were left could be easily dispatched.
Sure enough, by the time she finally reached said chamber, only two bots were standing guard. They were none the wiser to her presence, which made them easy targets. Moving as silently as she could, she deployed a spinning razor-saw from her arm.
"Armco! Syncol!"
Sideways froze where she stood as Override sped past her. The leader of Velocitron converted to robot mode and ran up to the two surprised guards.
"We need to get Navitas mobile," Override said. "I want you to start diverting the space bridge's power to the engines."
"Um, all right," replied Syncol. "Why?"
"There's no time to explain. A lot of bots are dying out there, and those beasts will be through those walls at any--"
Override was cut off by the sound of claws scraping against metal. Sideways followed her and the guards' gazes to the ceiling, which a pair of black claws were beginning to tear through.
"No," Override whispered, before shouting, "Both of you, get down!"
Her command was drowned out by the sound of steel being torn asunder. A black and gold robot dropped down and landed on top of Syncol and Armco, crushing them beneath his feet.
Sideways' optics went wide as she stared upon the giant scorpion-like bot. It couldn't be possible; she was certain that he had perished on Cybertron two years ago. The other Heralds had thought as much, and yet... here he was.
"This needn't end so gruesomely," growled Dark Scorponok, his back tail poised over his crimson helm. "Let us get what we want and no more lives shall be taken."
"You've already taken your fair share," Override snapped, aiming her weapon at the former Herald. "What makes you think we're going to back down now?"
"If you have already decided your fates, then so be it."
Dark Scorponok then deployed a pair of guns from his tail and fired, sending Override flying. As the Terrorcon turned to the space bridge chamber, Sideways realized what her only option was. Going outside would be suicide and trying to take down or sneak past her former colleague would have an equal rate of success. This really only left her with one choice....
Emerging from the shadows, Sideways cautiously approached Dark Scorponok. "Uh, hey, Clamps," she started to say. "It's me, Side--"
Without warning, Dark Scorponok spun around and seized Sideways with his claw. She winced in pain as he pulled her closer, glaring at her with black optics.
"Don't," he snarled, "ever call me 'Clamps.'"
"Right, right, sorry," Sideways said hastily, straining in the scorpion's grip. "I meant Scorponok. Dark Scorponok. The one who isn't green. So, what have you been up to these past couple of years?"
"I don't have time for this," he growled. "Either get out of my way or be destroyed."
With that, he hurled Sideways into a wall. She was pretty sure a back piston gave out from the impact. As she tried to come back to her senses, she saw Dark Scorponok tear his way into the space bridge chamber. Meanwhile, through the opening in the ceiling he had made, she could see a flock of Terrorcon birds begin to swarm in over Delta...
...when a giant spaceship came out of nowhere and started blasting them.
As Sideways tried to make sense of this sudden turn of events, Dark Scorponok emerged from the other room with an enraged look on his face.
"No!" he cried. "When did they call in for reinforcements?!"
"We never did." Sideways looked over to see Override back on her feet, gun pointed at the Terrorcon. "But I think it's safe to say they're on our side."
Dark Scorponok roared in anger as he started to charge towards Override. Sideways thought for sure the Velocitronian leader was done for... but was proven wrong when a portal unexpectedly opened behind the Terrorcon. A sword-wielding figure jumped out of it and impaled Dark Scorponok from behind with his blade. An agonized scream was the last sound the Terrorcon uttered as the blue sword lacerated him from chest to head.
So much for my ticket out of here, Sideways grimly thought to herself.
"That was quite the entrance," Override commented as the figure sheathed his blade. "I don't believe we've been acquainted."
"My name is Vector Prime," the old bot replied. "You may be more familiar with my companions, as I believe they've visited your world before."
As if on cue, four more figures emerged from the portal and Sideways cursed to herself. She cursed her luck, she cursed the Guiding Hand, and all of her past lives as well as any that would come next. She was starting to wish she had let Dark Scorponok kill her when she had the chance.
"So," Skids said as he stepped up. "Where do we start?"
This was going to suck.
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