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B-127 sped through the sunburnt, dusty wasteland and the Decepticons followed him.
B-127′s engine roared, on the verge of exploding. His wheels felt like molten wax on his rims, he was more than likely leaving chaotic new black markings of rubber on the highway, a new street alignment the humans could later wonder about. But he wouldn’t look back to make sure. B-127′s focus lay on his goal and his goal alone: Escaping.
“Come here, little one!!”
Suddenly the glaring sunlight was gone and B-127 realized grimly that the shadow of a seeker had fallen on him. There hadn’t even been any need to fly up so close to him, the Decepticon could have easily shot him from high above, but he seemed to enjoy the chase too much. A chase he couldn’t lose.
“We just want to tell you a joke!”
A second seeker joined the first one, creating a full solar eclipse for B-127 now. However, the thundering of the jet engines and the way the dust devils madly danced around him, was far more disturbing. B-127 felt trapped, hit by too many input at once and… out of options… It went against his entire being to admit defeat, but the dread had crept up his body shell a long while ago. This was indeed a chase they wouldn’t lose.
“I am the clever one-liner!”, the second jet introduced himself with mocking, brutal voice.
“And I am the PUNCHLINE!”
Simultaneously to that exclamation, the hissing of a shot missile mixed with the ongoing engine noise. Now… that was it, wasn’t it? The Decepticon was probably proud of himself, had this moment played over and over again in his daydreams: Killing an Autobot successfully while spouting a cool line. Life goal accomplished. That was more than any of these grunts could ever hope for.
In a sudden surge of his survival coding, B-127 slalomed over the hot asphalt in order to shake the missile off, but the thing had mad homing abilities. Not that escaping for a few more seconds would change anything in the long run… not that he would give up either.
Just as B-127 was ensured the Decepticon missile would be the last thing his rearmirror would ever see, a couple of well-aimed shots ensured his rear was the last thing the missile ever saw. The explosion shattered his backwindow and his back tires left the ground for a moment while the blast wave shoved him forward like a toy car. At the same time the two jets fled the scene diametral to orientate themselves anew. Who had ruined their game?
“B!”
Arcee’s voice was loud and clear and the pink earth car was unmistakable. After a while he had learned that pink cars weren’t that common on earth, at least not in the direct surroundings of their Autobot headquarters…
She came driving fast from B-127′s right side, a huge dust cloud behind her, before she joined him on the highway. Her arm was still partly transformed out of her vehicle mode and now he knew who had shot the missile and basically saved his life.
“Jokes on them, heh?”, another familiar voice said. This time from his left. A bright red car, the sun flashing from his hood. Cliffjumper had never looked that good before to B-127. A feeling of elation dared to enter his spark. When you drive with the Autobots, you never drive alone, or some other cheesy one-liner came to his mind. And who cared if it was cheesy, he was still alive!
“Thanks, guys! I thought, I was the last one, that I wouldn’t make it in time!”
“Blame the ‘Cons. They kept us busy, too.”, Cliffjumper growled, while they drove at top speed towards their destination: The last functioning Autobot spaceship.
“Now, no lame excuses! We can’t let Optimus wait, can we?”, Arcee said and gave her engine another push.
After the Decepticons had detected their headquarters through measures yet unknown, an overhasty transmission had reached every Autobot to instantly seek their emergency vessel, since staying on earth was no longer safe. Neither for ‘Bots, nor for the native species, who they had managed to keep out of a war they had nothing to do with… so far.
“Watch out!”, Cliffjumper suddenly yelled. “It’s Mother Goose!”
Before B-127 could hear any further elaboration, they spread out to evade possible enemy fire. Three Autobots with one shot. Now that would truly top it all.
Another familiar silhouette had appeared, but this time in the sky, the enemy’s territory for the most part. Yet behind the newly arrived, ominously lurking Starscream was something gigantic and invisible distorting the jet trails.
“Ah… Cliff… Arcee?”, B-127 muttered, highly doubting, they had actually heard him. But if that was, what he thought it was…
Leading some stray Decepticons towards their escape ship was one thing, the board cannons would easily keep them at bay, but a Decepticon warship? That would obliterate everything left of the Autobot resistance! “They have to start! NOW!”
“On it!”, Arcee shouted and B-127 knew that he could rely on her getting a safe signal to Optimus, that they couldn’t wait… that they had to leave…
“Not so fast!”, a sneering voice said. Like a bird of prey Starscream nose dived towards them and aimed for the most flashy target. B-127 tried giving Cliffjumper covering fire just like Arcee had done before for him, but the two other seekers were right back on his track and shot at him. Not with missiles, gun fire that wouldn’t stop him immediately. They didn’t even try to shoot his tires. They just made sure Starscream could put on his show undisturbed.
Cliffjumper transformed some weaponry out to defend himself, but a missile exploding right next to him let him topple over and slide over the grainy ground helplessly. Laughing triumphantly, Starscream changed into his robot mode, but the thrusters in his heels kept him above the desert dirt. He grabbed the half transformed Cliffjumper in a headlock, making sure, the smaller bot couldn’t reach him with any weapon he might still produce and took off with top speed.
B-127 cursed, evading the half-sparked shots from Starscream’s comrades and tried to aim at the sadistic flyer. He had to do something! Anything! Even if it meant risking some bullet holes!
After Starscream had reached an appropriate height, he entrusted the wriggling Cliffjumper with a crucial piece of info: “You are so slow… but don’t fret about it. All grounders have the same speed… when they FALL!!”
He let go, but Cliffjumper clawed in his arm, the landscape beneath him now just a brownish patch and not that inviting to return to.
“Well! So clingy-!”, Starscream said gloatingly and gave the Autobot a hard kick in the midsection.
Cliffjumper’s fingers scratched and slipped over Starscream’s forearm plating until there was nothing to hold onto anymore… and then he fell…
Entranced at the utmost by his act, Starscream transformed back into his jet form and began to follow the unlucky Autobot, mocking him from the distance.
“Whaaat?? No seeker conveeeeniently flying close enough for you to grab on?? Look, how limited you are and still you think, you are better than us! That’s why you deserve to die, Autobot scum!!”
He shot his helpless victim in the arms, in the legs… one of the trademark horns spiraled into the distance…
“M-My name is-”, Cliffjumper tried to say, tried to make peace with his ultimate fate, but the wind and his weakened state ripped his words from his mouth. In his spark, however, he knew that he had been a brave warrior, cherished by Optimus and his friends… there was nothing to regret… just that it had to be this clown…
Then he saw the Autobot escape ship rising in the distance. So, they had made it in time… good.
Starscream on the other hand, wasn’t so amused.
“THEY’RE ESCAPING!!”, he yelled and at the same moment, the Decepticon ship dropped its cloak and charged.
B-127 knew that there was nothing he could do to save Cliffjumper and yet his bad consciousness was overwhelming when he kept on driving. He had lost sight of Arcee, the raised dust wasn’t helping either and suddenly the air swarmed with seekers. The clear blue sky turned red from the explosions, the billows of black smoke created an early nightfall and the burning body parts created a macabre rain…
The Autobot escape ship… it wasn’t fleeing, B-127 realized in disbelief, it was attacking! Offense was the best defense?
“B!”
A déjà vu in pink. Now he realized that a lot of the smaller flying vehicles weren’t seekers, but indeed one-person space ships. Maybe converted escape pots and cargo ships, scrap that had been hastily cobbled together in order to throw something against their pursuers…
“Come, B!”, Arcee called over her comm unit. “We are getting ripped apart here!”
A small transporter flew close to the ground, bullets hailed against its thin shields, but a hatch was open, ready for him to jump into. Through the windows he could see Arcee waving at him and also Brawn, who was handling an artillery piece to keep the Decepticon flyers at bay.
“Why didn’t Optimus flee?!”, he asked, still astounded that he actually had a reasonable chance to make it out alive.
“As if he’d leave anyone behind!”, Arcee answered, waiting now right by the hatch and reaching for him.
B-127 drove as fast as he could, tortured his whole frame once more to keep up with the transporter, which had to change positions over and over again, so it wouldn’t be hit by the more destructive enemy fire. The smaller missiles were no danger so far, but a direct hit…
”Arcee, you are saving my life for the second time now, how can I ever-”, B-127 began, but then something seemed to press him down, draw all the elation out of him.
Optimus Prime didn’t leave anyone behind. He would rather face their enemy and make sure even the Autobots farthest away would have a chance to be saved. Him on the other hand? He had left Cliffjumper behind.
Whether it was that dark thought clogging his mind for a moment or just destined to happen, he noticed Starscream too late.
Smoothly transforming from jet mode to robot mode, Starscream clawed one hand between B-127′s shattered backwindow and car roof - hard enough to leave a permanent, hand-shaped dent in the metal - and threw the both of them right into the hatch of the transporter. Arcee was thrown backwards against the wall and Brawn turned towards them, looking absolutely flabbergasted at the bundle of jet and car parts.
“Okay!!”, Starscream began to declare, grabbing B-127 securely with one arm, while aiming a gun with the other. “I want to see your hands, Autobots!”
Was he a hostage? B-127 tried prying the jet’s arm off him, which held him pressed against his protruding cockpit part, his feet were dangling in the air uselessly. He couldn’t get the right angle to kick at Starscream with enough strength to actually achieve something, neither were his elbows hitting something more significant than the outer shell of the vents on Starscream’s chest.
Arcee and Brawn grimly raised their hands, but the Autobot who was trying to keep their vehicle steady, kept his hands on the control apparatus, optical ridges raised in concern.
“I said: Hands up!”, Starscream barked and shot the poor ‘Bot without further warning. An orange-red ball of fire ripped through his neck cables and let him stagger awkwardly, before his detached head fell conveniently into his hands and the entire robot on the ground.
“YOU-!!”, Brawn roared, but his outcry turned into a dissonant grunt, when Starscream shot him right in the shoulder and B-127 realized that he wasn’t a hostage, he was a living shield. Looking at the blue paint on Starscream’s arm and recognizing the traces of red, helped him make a decision.
“Flee!”, he yelled at Arcee, the only one who was still able to maneuver the transporter. Then he morphed his arm and fired his prime blaster over and over again straight against the ship’s wall until the recoil finally gave him enough momentum to push himself together with his captor through the still open hatch.
“HEEEY!”, Starscream screamed in annoyed surprise, before he furiously transformed into his jet mode and tried to chase after the transporter again, but B-127 wouldn’t let him. He hold tight to one wing and shot at the other, which caused Starscream to abruptly change his course in order to shake him off. He was successful.
Damn it all, B-127 thought contritely. Was he completely useless? Couldn’t he save his friends at least this time?
Falling, B-127 saw how high they had actually risen during their intermezzo and how the Autobot escape ship followed by the Decepticon ship was about to enter space. The smaller ships and flying robots quickly returned to their mother ships until only two angular shapes were left visible in the distance.
“Ha…”, B-127 sighed, wondering, if they would ever return. Then the impact on the ground came and it hurt like a whole-body treatment without being in stasis. For a moment he saw only blackness and for once he was glad, when the glaring red error messages returned. Outstretched on his back, he stared at the wounded sky and a second impact hit him just as hard: He was alone now. Maybe forever.
Distant shrieking and the sight of a seeker aimlessly flying around with a burning wing, told him otherwise, though.