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Episode 10: Wingmen
"Wingmen"
"Buzzclaw, I've been studying your body-structure..." Torca began.
"No need to feel embarrassed; most bots simply can't keep their optics off my slick contours," Buzzclaw snickered.
Torca frowned and stepped close to Buzzclaw, towering menacingly over his new teammate.
"See, I knew you couldn't keep yourself away from me," Buzzclaw continued, grinning impishly.
Torca lifted the far smaller bot by the head, raising him until they met optic to optic.
"Done?"
"Done," Buzzclaw answered sheepishly.
"Now then...Stay still," Torca cautioned.
He turned Buzzclaw away from him as he set the bug down, and yanked hard on Buzzclaw's large plated tail. Buzzclaw yelped, more out of surprise than pain, rubbing his behind. He turned around, ready to snap at Torca, when he noticed the shape of his tail, which now rested in Torca's hands. Torca extended his arm, handing the new tool to Buzzclaw.
"A shield... Nice!" the fuzor said in surprise, latching it easily onto his arm.
"Indeed, it appears that way, but be careful. It apparently has its offensive uses too," Torca responded, indicated the dagger-like end to it.
Buzzclaw glanced at the tip and then slapped his plating back into its original place as he transformed to beast mode. He peered back over his shoulder to see what it looked like after returning to beast mode.
"Looks normal enough," Torca noted, and Buzzclaw nodded in agreement.
"...So after this Icebird character started chasing you, you blacked out?" Icefire asked.
Waspinator nodded. "Waspinator not remember anything until Waspinator crawled out of CR pod."
"Odd...I'll look into that. Hey, just so you know, I ran the specs you asked for on that," she reported, pointing at the massive gun-turned-scanning device in the center of the room. "Looks like if we perform the right upgrades and repairs, it'll make a fine thruster, and it should easily be able to break free from Earth's atmosphere."
"Sounds like you have been planning ahead," Injector interrupted, grinning as he walked over.
Waspinator gave a thumbs up to Injector. "Fish-head made Waspinator think more. Waspinator has better plans!"
Waspinator buzzed into the air, and began circling the scanner, looking it over carefully. Injector watched the bug uneasily.
"Hey Icefire, I don't know what's been said, but I need to talk to you," he said, thinking back to his mental image of Waspinator flickering in and out of existence.
"About?" Icefire asked uneasily.
Their conversation was cut short as they were suddenly thrown to the ground by a massive shockwave.
Scavenger pointed at the center of the map grid and Atlas stood beside him, nodding. Aquasting and Noctorro stood opposite the two, verifying the words Scavenger was sharing with their leader.
"...And so that pod or module is what's been responsible for the phantom signal," Scavenger finished.
"Seven of them, you say? Odd...That doesn't match up properly; there should only be three. A shame the mutants have decided to camp out there, watching for our return," Atlas noted unhappily, indicating the various energy signatures surrounding the pod's location. "There's more information I'd like to retrieve from it."
"Maybe we should-" Aquasting began, but his words were abruptly silenced as the Autobots were roughly thrown to the ground. All around their base, the landscape shook with a vicious ferocity.
"Ungh...Status report?" Torca groaned.
Waspinator typed in some commands. "Waspinator thinks we are ok."
Icefire quickly joined him. As she typed in commands on her console, she paused uneasily.
"I'm getting something strange here..." she began, trailing off in mild confusion.
Injector strolled over. "What's wrong, Icefire?"
Her glance hovered on him a moment, before returning to the readout before her.
"It looks like a volcanic disturbance in sector... in sector... See, the sector doesn't even have a designation!"
"Where is it?" Injector asked.
"It's by that place...with the lava...? You know, just over by grid Fenrir," she explained.
Injector's blank stare indicated just how much of that he understood. Meanwhile, in the background Waspinator did his best to look inconspicuous, avoiding optic contact with any of his teammates.
"Why don't you just lead the way? I'll fly with you," Buzzclaw piped up.
"You? Why you?" Injector asked, a slight edge to his voice.
Buzzclaw shrugged. "I owe you guys my spark. I'm pretty eager to start a repayment plan. How ‘bout now, ‘Fire?"
"Maybe you should stay here, Icefire. I could go instead," Injector suggested.
Icefire whirled around to face Injector.
"I may be the science officer, but I'm still capable of handling myself in battle. And I may be the sole fembot here, but I think I can get by alright every now and then," she snapped.
Injector folded his arms.
"It's not a matter of combat skills. Problem is, I can't tell your input from your output on this souped up calcupad you've using for the project," he replied calmly, gesturing at a console she had been working on. "Not a lot else I can do here."
"It's so nice of you to protect my fragile female self-esteem," she bit out sarcastically, "but I'm still going. Try not to break my ‘calcupad' or mess up the project while I'm out."
She transformed and flew out the cave's opening as Injector threw his hands up in disgust and made his way over to a free console. Buzzclaw followed her lead as Injector keyed in a couple commands, continuing to monitor the strange signal in the area of the eruption.
"Fembots," he growled, shaking his head.
Icefire flapped her wings furiously.
"Males! Always thinking they can do the job better. Pompous gearheads, every last one of you!"
"Slow down, Icefire!" Buzzclaw yelped. "I can barely keep up!"
"See!" Icefire declared. "I'm faster too!"
Despite her bitter diatribe, she slowed her wings, allowing Buzzclaw keep pace with her. He pulled even and quickly darted ahead.
"Haw haw! I got your faster right here, ya kooky fembot!"
His laughter was brought to an abrupt end as he was slammed earthwards by a dark streak. Icefire began to dive down after him, but found her way blocked by weapon fire. As she righted her course, she quickly glanced behind herself.
"Sorry, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to keep things in a fair one-on-one match," Atlas shouted out jovially.
Silently she cursed herself for distracting both Buzzclaw and her with her ranting. Even more frustrating was the fact that Atlas continued to draw closer, despite the frantic flapping of her wings.
Buzzclaw kicked the dark blur away from him, quickly scrambling onto his feet and off the blackened, rocky terrain. Still in beast mode, he numbly scratched at the two fresh puncture wounds in his side.
"Noctorro!" he shouted in surprise.
Noctorro scowled at his old teammate, at least, as best as he could in his beast mode. "Either are simply traitorous or you contain flawed protocols...Regardless of the infliction, the sole cure is termination."
"What? Noctorro, come on, it's me!" Buzzclaw said with a note of fear edging into his voice.
Noctorro took a step forward. "Yes...Precisely the one who I was seeking."
Icefire lowered her water landing gear and unveiled her jets as she converted to vehicle mode, thus allowing far greater speed than before. Realizing that the gap was increasing, Atlas scowled.
"I just hope I have the energon for this," he grumbled. "Jets, maximum burn!"
The flames shooting from his back doubled in size, and the landscape blurred as he rocketed forward. Icefire peeked back again and was shocked to find Atlas only a couple of meters behind her.
"You may as well head home now, Maximal! I know we've both got better things to do than run around chasing each other like this!" Atlas shouted.
"To be honest, not really. This is actually the highlight of my day!" Icefire shouted back.
Annoyed at her indifference, Atlas raised his sword and swung down at her back. His blade slashed through the air, missing her entirely. She angled herself straight down, heading right for a churning pool of lava. Growling deeply, Atlas turned and plummeted straight after her.
"This has to be the sickest game of chicken I've ever played," Icefire said to herself. "Just hope I don't lose...In more ways than one..."
As before, Atlas quickly cut down the gap between them, until he was right on her tail. With a grin, he shouted to her.
"You don't actually plan on outrunning me, do you?"
"Yeah, guess you caught me," she answered forlornly. "There really isn't much else to do besides give...UP!"
At the last word, she pulled up as much as she could on her path towards the bubbling red fluid below. Realizing her ploy too late, Atlas too tried to alter his path. Icefire barely managed to pull herself away from the danger, and her water-landing gear skipped across the surface of the pool, giving a fierce scalding to her underside as well. Atlas on the other hand, thanks to his larger mass and greater speed, slammed into the lava at not quite a horizontal angle. He managed to turn and maneuver his burning form back above the surface. He sailed through the air just past the length of the pool and crumpled onto the ground in a charred, smoking wreck. Icefire also reached the end of the lava, but caught her water gear on the lip of the rocks, sending her tumbling over to Atlas's body. She managed to right herself by reverting to beast mode, and with a quick glance at the motionless Autobot, she knew Atlas was down for the count. As she looked for her teammate, she saw Noctorro closing on Buzzclaw.
"Here comes the cavalry, Buzzclaw...Icefire, maximize!"
One yellow optic blinked on. Silently, it took in the sight of Icefire transforming to bot mode. With her movement, deeply ingrained survival instincts kicked in. Atlas quickly lifted his sword into his hand. He hurled it just as Icefire ignited her jets for takeoff, puncturing straight through her right one. It faltered and cut out as the other jet, still on full burn, roared wildly, sending Icefire in a short arc, straight back into the ground. As her face slammed into the rock beneath her, her body fell limp. In contentment, the single yellow optic slowly faded into darkness.
"Stasis lock commencing."
Buzzclaw took another step backwards, growing ever more conscious of the flowing river just a few steps behind him.
"C'mon Noctorro...We're buddies, right?"
"We were buddies, Maximal," Noctorro spat.
Noctorro lowered his head and rammed forward. His horns gouged the outer edges of Buzzclaw's chest, as the Maximal fell flat on his back. He quickly flapped his wings, and he landed on his feet. Noctorro grinned darkly and darted forward again, but this time Buzzclaw's mantis claws grabbed Noctorro by the horns. He twisted and flung Noctorro to the side. The Autobot rolled a couple times and quickly pushed himself onto his feet. He transformed into bot mode, and Buzzclaw quickly responded by doing the same.
"Ok, I realize that maybe I shouldn't have done that," Buzzclaw rattled off quickly, "but you gotta learn that you're going to hurt someone if you charge them like that. I mean, it's all fun and games at first -"
"That's all it EVER is to you, Buzzclaw! EVERYTHING is a comedy! You never cease! And now your latest ‘game' involves betraying the entirety of the Autobots!"
Noctorro whipped his gun out, pointing it at Buzzclaw.
Buzzclaw spoke quickly. "Now then, you don't really want to do-"
BLAM, BLAM!!
Buzzclaw's wings fell uselessly to the ground. Noctorro aimed his gun again, just to have it blasted out of his hand. It spun through the air, landing quietly in the flowing lava, much of it melting upon impact. Noctorro's lip curled into a vicious snarl, and Buzzclaw quickly pointed his wrist blaster away from Noctorro.
"See, now I don't mean any trouble by that," Buzzclaw said, nervousness filling his voice.
"Too late, traitor," Noctorro growled quietly. "Your programming has been corrupted. It's time to take you offline."
Quietly, Noctorro continued to advance on Buzzclaw. At the same time, Buzzclaw was slowly backing up, realizing he was being herded towards the river of molten earth. Unexpectedly, Noctorro darted forward, grabbing Buzzclaw's wrists. With a quick yank, both of the Maximal's ion blasters were torn off, and Noctorro dropped them uselessly to the ground. Finally, they were within arm's reach of each other.
"Please..." Buzzclaw quietly begged. "Please...Don't make me fight you..."
Noctorro stopped and smiled. "Okay."
Buzzclaw relaxed a little. "Really?"
"Sure."
He eased up fully, grinning at his friend. "Phew! You really had me going there, what with the wings! And then you tore my blasters off... Man, I thought you really WERE going to take me off- URK!"
Noctorro swung his arm out too quickly for Buzzclaw to respond and lifted him off the ground by his neck. "See? Some jokes just aren't funny to others. Like pretending to be on their side."
"I... *gak*... don't want... *kak*... to do this!"
Noctorro walked over to the ledge, dangling Buzzclaw over the lava. "Then don't. Your execution will be infinitely easier that way."
In an act of desperation, Buzzclaw kicked Noctorro's side as hard as he could. Noctorro staggered backwards a step, releasing his prey. Buzzclaw hunched over, wheezing from the assault.
"Please..." Buzzclaw whispered.
Taking advantage of Buzzclaw's lowered defenses again, Noctorro leapt forward, swinging his fists down onto Buzzclaw's back. The Maximal collapsed straight into Noctorro's rising foot and went tumbling towards the edge. Noctorro calmly walked over, shoved his enemy onto his back, and rested his foot on Buzzclaw's chestplate, allowing the two to speak face to face.
"A shame your programming has deteriorated to this point, drone. If our positions were reversed, I would have leapt into the molten rock on my own long ago."
Buzzclaw's face revealed the weariness he felt inside. "We...were friends. And now... my I'm worth so little to you, you'll even deny me my spark. I have no choice; I will defend my life. Whether I leave this battlefield on this plane or not, please do know that I'm sorry."
Noctorro cocked his head. "For what?"
"For everything I'm about to do."
Buzzclaw drove his head forward, smashing into Noctorro's face. Noctorro stumbled backwards, and Buzzclaw forced himself to his feet, charging forward. He leapt at the Autobot, but Noctorro had regained his footing and took to the air. He shot up and away from Buzzclaw, looped around, and dove, building up speed as he shot at the bug. Buzzclaw pulled back his arm in a fist.
"If I time this right, you'll break your head!" Buzzclaw shouted.
"You don't have the circuits to hit me again, Buzzclaw!" Noctorro roared, his horns aimed straight at the Maximal.
Watching Noctorro close the final distance, Buzzclaw whispered quietly to himself, "I hope you can forgive me for this somehow, someday."
Buzzclaw dropped his fist down, grabbed, and swung his pointed tail-plating upwards. The blade-like end pierced straight through Noctorro's chest, and his limbs jerked forward as his body was forced to a brutal, immediate stop. With a clatter, the skewered Autobot fell to the ground, the shield still embedded within his body. Buzzclaw slowly rose off his knees, placed his foot on Noctorro's shoulder, and tore the plating from his chest. Mech fluid flowed freely from the open wound. Buzzclaw quietly hefted the weighty body over his shoulder and trudged to the edge of flowing lava. He grabbed Noctorro by the sides of his chest and held him at arms length, with the river of lava flowing just beneath him.
"Good-bye...And I'm sorry, but my life belongs to the Maximals now. I owe it to them to live..."
As Buzzclaw released him, two massive hands swung and clamped around Buzzclaw's neck. Noctorro's optics flared to a burning green as Buzzclaw gagged, and Noctorro planted his feet on Buzzclaw's chest, wrenching at his neck with the fullness of his strength. With terror sinking in, and the pointed shield still latched onto his arm, Buzzclaw swung as hard as he could, digging deeply into Noctorro's throat. Noctorro choked loudly and his hands immediately flew to his neck. The moment he released his hold on Buzzclaw, he dropped backwards, sinking into the molten rock. For the few nanoclicks his head remained above the surface, his screams echoed wildly throughout the terrain.
Buzzclaw fell to his knees with his head in his hands. As he sat there mourning his friend, his blasters and wings clattered noisily to the ground beside him. He looked over and saw Icefire looking at him sadly.
"Come on, Buzzclaw...Time to go," she said quietly, pointing at the far off sky, where she saw Aquasting slowly closing in.
"But... the stray signature?" he whispered.
Icefire pointed at a large block of obsidian with a red, metallic wing sticking out one of the rock's jagged sides. Other than that, the only other visible part was a red fist sticking straight through the top. A Predacon symbol on the wing quietly evaded their sight, only half of it visible, with the other half covered by the shiny rock. As Icefire transformed to beast mode, Buzzclaw quietly grabbed his things and climbed on her back. She hopped over to the rock, grabbed it in her claws, and began flapping her way to base.
Icefire soared in through the mouth of the cave, dropping the rock to the floor. As it hit, the rock shattered sending bits flying. The badly scorched figure underneath quivered as its optics flickered lightly. It hoarsely coughed out its next words.
"At long last... finally free! Now I can finally... take care of Megatron... and RULE the Pre- *cough* Waspinator? Is it really you?"
Waspinator cringed at the first words the strange bot spoke, immediately recognizing the high pitched, scratchy voice. And as Terrorsaur addressed him, Waspinator was suddenly very unsure of his future status among his Maximal teammates.
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