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Episode 5: Mutations Part 1 - The Thin Red Line
Injector tore through the air in beast mode, zipping just above the treetops. He didn't really mind patrolling too much; he preferred to keep to himself anyway. As he circled the area, losing himself in his thoughts, he didn't notice the unusual rustling of trees behind him.
Injector gave a quick tap to his comlink. "Injector here. I've cleared my patrol of grid Hawkins, sector T. Permission to return to base?"
Waspinator's voice came through the comlink. "Waspinator read bee-butt. Waspinator grants permis- Huh? Waspinator has problem here..."
Injector squinted his eyes unhappily. "What sort of problem?"
Icefire frantically cut in. "Injector look out! We're detecting two enemy energy signatures behind you!"
Injector fanned his wings out and spun in place, but there was nothing behind him.
"Energy signatures?" He asked. "What're you talking about, bluebird?"
"I think she means us Autobots," a buggish voice spat out from behind Injector.
Without hesitation, Injector launched his stinger. Buzzclaw cried out as he went tumbling towards the ground.
"Injector, maximize!" He turned around slowly, laughing at the unsuspecting Autobot. "You get that Icefire? Heh heh, Autobots, eh? - WHOA!"
Injector rolled backwards after a massive punch from Noctorro. Noctorro snarled at his opponent, and cracked his knuckles. Injector stopped his freefall and charged headfirst at Noctorro, firing his gun-arm as he grew closer.
"C'mon, ya furry freak!" Injector shouted.
"With pleasure, misfigured monstrosity," Noctorro snapped back.
Noctorro pulled out a weapon and dove at his opponent with guns blazing. Both were taking pretty heavy damage. Noctorro tried to dodge at the last second, but Injector's head snapped forward and spines shot up, tearing through Noctorro's wing. Noctorro spun trying to steady himself.
Injector paused and laughed. "Hope you're not having too many problems. Maybe you'd like me to help carry you home?"
But as he paused to gloat, Injector's wings were simultaneously ripped from his arms by two blasts from the ground. Buzzclaw's chest was cracked and dripping mech fluid, but he was still coming up with ion wrist-blasters firing at full power. Injector began to freefall yet again, and Noctorro took advantage of the moment, assaulting Injector with his powerful fists. As he struggled to regain control, Injector's back met a kick from Buzzclaw's feet, who was still heading upward. At that same exact moment, Noctorro slammed Injector in the face with his strongest punch. The combination sent Injector spinning straight into the ground. He bounced twice and tumbled a bit before plowing into a tree trunk.
Buzzclaw and Noctorro looked at each other, smiled, and slapped each other five. Then they turned and flew down to their prey. As they landed, Noctorro tapped his comlink.
"Noctorro and Buzzclaw here, one Injector in our possession."
Back at base, Atlas smiled and nodded. "Excellent work you two. Noctorro, bring Injector back to base. Buzzclaw, I'm sending Poison Bite to your position. I want you to-"
"WHAT!?" Buzzclaw cut in. "I'm sorry that it wasn't important enough for you to ask about, but yes, I am injured!"
"Are you operative?"
"Pardon?" Buzzclaw asked.
"Are you operative?" Atlas asked again, coldly.
"Yes, but there's a hole-"
"Then you can stay there for now," Atlas cut in angrily.
"But, there's a hole-" Buzzclaw began.
"Did I not make myself clear?"
"THERE'S A FREAKING HOLE IN MY CHEST, MAN!!!"
Atlas rested his head in his hand and took a moment to regain composure before speaking. "Ok, then you can carry the huge-headed freak back to base."
Buzzclaw looked at Injector. He then looked at his own puny stature. His optics next went to Noctorro's bulky torso. With a deflated sigh, he returned his attention to the comlink.
"Alright boss, what's the plan?"
Torca was charging through the forest at full speed, causing the ground beneath his feet to quake violently. "So two ‘Autobots' took out Injector, and all we know is that he's gone, but two of them are still here?"
Icefire tapped a couple buttons on a control panel at base. "Yep, that's all I can do for you. We don't have IDs on their signatures yet. I've already contacted Razor Claw, though he's a ways off. Waspinator will stay here and watch the base, while I convene with you on Injector's last coordinates."
Torca's voice came out of the communicator. "Alright. See you in a nano-click. Torca, out."
"Icefire, out." She turned and ran out the cave's opening, jumped into the air, and took to the skies as her engines roared to life.
"Torca, maximize!"
Icefire landed next to the bot as he rose to his feet.
The two walked stepped forward towards a small ditch ended at the base of a tree.
Pointing, Icefire said, "Crash marks."
"Right," Torca said, following her. "And that must be the way they dragged him," he said, pointing at skid marks in the ground, leading away through the trees.
With Torca on the left and Icefire on the right, the two took no more than a couple steps before a bright red stinger bolted out of the underbrush, jabbing Torca in the left thigh. In one fluid motion, he grabbed the stinger with his left hand, pulling it free from his leg, and reached behind himself with his right hand to grab his gun. As he did this, he stepped backwards, dragging Poison Bite out from the bushes that concealed him. The barrel of his gun rested on the top of Poison Bite's head. The warrior's actions took approximately half a second in total to complete.
"I give you two options, animal. Either you surrender, or I use this moment to practice my lobotomy skills."
Icefire took a step forward to help, but the ground between her and Torca lit up with explosions. She looked upward and found Buzzclaw grinning.
"Ah, ah, ah, Maximal...Let's play fair, shall we? Two against one hardly seems proper!" He darted amidst treetops, laughing heartily as Icefire lifted her blasters in response. She dropped to one knee as she aimed and began to tear up the canopy.
Poison Bite, in open defiance, reached out his right claw for Torca's left knee. Hesitating only a fraction of a second, Torca swung his rifle till it pressed against the claw. As the claw began to snap down, tearing through the metal in his knee, Torca fired. The lower joint of the claw went flying, and most of the shell around the upper half was destroyed as well. However, what was left was not what either warrior expected.
Icefire was growing tired of firing at anything that even might be Buzzclaw. She launched herself into the thick leaves of the wooded area. As she passed the first layers, she finally saw her opponent. He wasn't playing a hiding game with her at all...He was simply in beast mode, hanging onto a tree, and he didn't look well at all. As Icefire thought back, she realized that Buzzclaw had been displaying a large crack in his chestplate...An advantage that she well intended to exploit.
But her moment of surprise was nearly lost; Buzzclaw's head began to dart around as he realized that Icefire's blaster fire had stopped. He turned and looked in her direction just as she flung one of her claws at him. It embedded itself into his shoulder, and he dropped straight down.
"Hmph. They just don't make fuzors like they used to..."
Icefire darted downwards through the trees, planning to check up on her fallen opponent. Just as she cleared the last set of branches, she met a barrage of ion blasts to her face. She flipped in midair from the force that rammed into her head and fell flat onto the ground next to him. With great exertion, Buzzclaw yanked the claw out of his shoulder and paused a moment, regaining his senses.
Meanwhile, Poison Bite and Torca were staring at what was left of Poison Bite's claw. Instead of wires and gears underneath his shell, what shone through instead was a heavy duty blaster. Both were caught completely off guard by the discovery, and Torca realized he had to act fast. Unfortunately, Poison Bite moved faster. The Autobot twitched his wrist to aim for Torca's chest, and he unleashed a continuous charge that began to crush the Maximal against a tree. As Torca flew backwards, he maintained his hold on Poison Bite's stinger, which tore free from the mutant's body under Torca's vice grip. Despite that small victory, being bathed in Poison Bite's energy discharge caused Torca's vision to rapidly begin to dim.
Buzzclaw, amazed at what he saw, began to cheer on his teammate. "Right on, fish-face! Let's slag these Maximals!"
Poison Bite, hearing Buzzclaw's shouts, eased off his attack. He turned towards the noisy green lizard-bug. Buzzclaw paused, uncomfortable with the strangely disturbing stare he was receiving from his teammate.
"What're you doing? Finish off the Maximal already...And stop looking at me. You scare me."
Buzzclaw barely managed to dodge Poison Bite's blast. He dove, rolled, and crouched behind a tree. Under such exertion, the pain from his wound tore through him, but he continued, fearing too greatly for his life to stop moving.
"What was that!?" He wondered.
Buzzclaw didn't have too much time to wonder about it, because Poison Bite had begun scuttling over to his position.
Torca, sitting at the base of a well-scorched tree, managed to raise his weary head. As his vision slowly came into focus, he saw Poison Bite moving in the general direction of Icefire's motionless body. Looking at his hand, he saw that he still managed to hold onto his weapon. As he saw his other hand, he quickly dropped the scorpion's tail with disgust. He looked back up, and Poison Bite was drawing closer to Icefire, growling incoherently as he did so. Torca had no time; he forced himself onto one knee and brought his rifle to bear on the mutant.
Buzzclaw heard Poison Bite begin growling incoherently, and fear began to grow within him. He had no time; he charged his ion cannons and prepared to reach around the tree to open fire.
As soon as Poison Bite took his next step, the entire area around him erupted with ion charges and blaster rifle fire. Dust flew everywhere and visibility shot straight to zero. As the dust settled, both Torca and Buzzclaw were on one knee, with weapons trained on one another.
"Move, and I complete the tunnel being built through your chest," Torca threatened.
"Move and I...er...will shoot you. Shaddap," Buzzclaw snapped. He paused his tough act and glanced around hesitantly. "You, uh, didn't happen to see what happened to our little war machine, did you?"
Torca grimaced. Great, he thought, they're not even in remotely control of this guy.
"No, I didn't. Is that a problem? Because so help me Primus, if you even try to tell me he's behind me..."
"Wish he was," grumbled Buzzclaw. "At least then I'd be able to watch him...You know, I'm kinda wounded, and this position isn't all that comfortable. You mind if stand up?"
Torca frowned. He wasn't sure if he liked the idea of being at the disadvantage. However, his left knee was hurting more and more each nanoclick.
"Fine...But I'm standing up at the same time."
Buzzclaw frowned. Trusting a Predacon...er, "Maximal", that is....wasn't an idea that he liked very much at, but he was definitely going to need this one's help to get back to base still functional.
"Alright," he said, and both began to move.
Buzzclaw painfully forced himself up, and leaned on the tree for support; his chest was causing him immense amounts of pain. Torca was sore all over, and his left knee wasn't supporting him so well. But he slowly forced himself onto his feet, ignoring the pain that ran up and down his side, and readied himself for whatever might come next.
"I must warn you," Torca began, "I have a teammate on his way here. You may wish to get out of here before he arrives."
Buzzclaw shook his head. "Well, aren't YOU the noble one. Willing to accept the loss an enemy to save the damsel in distress?"
Torca frowned slightly. "Your well-being wasn't entirely out of my mind either."
Buzzclaw painfully coughed. "So where's your teammate that it's taken him this long to get here already, hmm? What's his beast mode? A drunken squirrel?"
Torca glanced around nervously. "Hmm...It's been a while; he should be here by now. Where is Razor Claw?" he asked, mainly to himself.
The wolverine sprinted through the wooded area at his top speed. He was moving so fast that everything around him began blur. But quite abruptly, he stopped. He wasn't altogether sure why he did, but something seemed to be tugging at him. Unsure of what to do, he sniffed the air slightly, and then the dirt around him. He peered throughout his surrounds, but found nothing. A light breeze drifted through, and as it passed Razor Claw, his ears pricked up at what seemed to be a whisper of a voice.
"Brother...I have come for you."
Razor Claw's jaw dropped, and he shook his head, as if he were trying to shake cobwebs free. His eyes squinted slightly, and he concentrated.
"We are much alike, you and I...We could do much together..."
Poison Bite dropped to the ground in front of Razor Claw. The Maximal took a step backwards and bared his teeth, growling lightly. Poison Bite's mouth didn't move, but the words continued to come. "We share a power...Because of what Megatron did to us...And thus we share a bond...Brother."
Razor Claw's features softened. "Yes...‘Brother'. I...like the sound...of that." He smiled at the thought. Suddenly, circuits fired in Razor Claw's brain. He gripped his head in great pain, but the fireworks inside subsided as quickly as they arrived. "No!" he shouted angrily. "You...are the enemy!"
Poison Bite's movements were too fast even for Razor Claw to react to...The left claw clamped around his neck while the right claw jabbed against his head and let loose with an explosion of firepower. Razor Claw collapsed to the ground as a dark figure moved forward.
"What should we do wit dis guy?" it asked.
"Leave ‘im for now," Poison Bite snarled. "His stupid cost him being awake; he'll be here a while. We need to take care of you first."
Torca glanced unhappily at the terrain around him. He knew Razor Claw should have arrived before the battle had reached this stalemate.
"Well?" Buzzclaw snapped impatiently.
" ‘Well' what?" Torca asked in annoyance.
"You plan on gazing off at the trees some more, or can I go?"
"Geeze, I'm ALREADY bored! No need to further the infliction."
Torca frowned. "So leave," he suggested. He knew neither of them were capable of any sort of battle.
Buzzclaw scowled. "So you're suggesting I lower my weapons and fly away? Gosh golly, that idea sounds like fun, you know, right up to where you SHOOT MY TAILPIPE OFF!"
Torca sighed. "I would not fire you at a time like this. It would be dishonorable."
Buzzclaw shook his head. "I don't trust your kind."
"Do you mean Maximals? Or just large, freaky whales with tusks?"
Buzzclaw shrugged. "Probably just you whale types."
Torca locked optics with the Autobot. "You have my word of honor."
Buzzclaw cocked his head slightly, and brought one arm to his chest. He gave his comlink a quick tap. "Boss, this is Buzzclaw."
Atlas's voice patched through with annoyance showing through clearly in his voice. "I'm simply amazed, my boy. Why do my readings display you directly next to two of the ‘Maximal' traitors?"
Buzzclaw was taken aback. He wasn't expecting Atlas to be monitoring him, and he hadn't taken the time to plan a real story in the first place. "Er...uh...Well, see, it's a funny story-"
"Not funny enough, I'm sure. What are their terms, fool?"
Torca raised a brow in surprise as he realized Buzzclaw's situation was being mistaken for a kidnapping.
Another voice cut in. "Don't worry, Atlas. I'll bust ‘im out for you!"
They could almost hear Atlas smile. "Excellent, Poison Bite. And when you encounter the Maximals, please exterminate them with extreme prejudice."
"My pleasure, commander *snarl*...Ok Buzzclaw, I'm comin' for ya, wherever you are!!"
Buzzclaw cut in hastily with panic setting in. "No wait, boss, don't listen to him! He's-"
"-The only one between the two of you bright enough to escape," Atlas finished. "He'll rescue you. If not, I'm sure he'll take good care of whoever is responsible. And we can promise you highest honors when you're recycled."
"But he's going to be the one recycling me!" Buzzclaw cried. "...Hello? HELLO!?"
Atlas had already cut him off. Buzzclaw kicked a tree. He slowly and unhappily turned to face Atlas, both arms lowered. He had to take a gamble, or else he was dead.
"So...Want me to owe you a favor, fish-boy?"
Torca, having listened to the entire discussion, shook his head sadly. He half heartedly tapped his comlink, but got no response, as he expected. The thing got fried under Poison Bite's assault. He looked back up at Buzzclaw and sighed wearily.
"I swear, if anyone ever again accuses me of having too much stress..."
TO BE CONTINUED...
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