Chapter Text
It had been a few sun orbits since Fighbird joined them. The elite Space Police Force squadron. The massive headquarters was a moving space station in his quadrant of the universe. This intergalactic force was revered for its benevolence and justice. Corruption was unheard of there. Most importantly: they saved those who really needed it. It took a lot of work and perseverance to make it up the ranks. It was a job that put your life on the line. Fighbird, despite the pushback on his planet, opted to join them. As a rescue jet, he was a big bot. Strong and bright to boot. However, he was also regarded as too kind for his own good.
Premier, who would be known as Ace Baron on Earth orbits later, jumped up to punch Fighbird’s winged shoulder. “Oi, Fighbird! Did you hear?” He pried, stepping in front of his much-taller comrade. The tank had a golden grin that glistened more than the crest on his head.
“Good morning, Premier,” Fighbird laughed out, rubbing his shoulder. “Yes, I know the force has opened up a team recruitment panel. I already signed up!” He declared excitedly with a thumb up.
“Me too! Man, when’s the last time they formed teams? We were still rookies. Gahaha, I’m going to be a shoo-in.” Premier said confidently, leaning on his elbow against Fighbird’s giant office space.
“I’m confident you can make it. I think I have a great chance too, even if I just serve as support,” Fighbird looked up to the ceiling dreamily. “Even if it’s not this time, I really hope I get to be part of a team like the Kaisers someday. They get to explore the ends of the universe, meeting all kinds of innocent folk.”
Premier hummed knowingly. “You made the decision to come here because of the legendary Brave Exkaiser, right? Imagine if you got a slot on his team?”
Fighbird shook his helm wildly, tilting his fins down meekly. “No way! The Kaisers are in a whole other league, Premier. Besides, it would be better if everyone started without an established team. I heard it culminates in the best experience.”
“True enough, though I’d rather join a reputed Space Police team to show my might to the big leagues. Though, it would be impossible to become the leader in those teams, so maybe it’s for the best that they're starting anew.” Premier’s tread arms rolled enthusiastically. He looked up proudly at Fighbird. “I hope we get to be on the same team. It’s a slim bet, but we’ve known each other forever. I’d love to boss ya around, big bird.”
“Haha, we’ll see about that. I’d follow your every order, just like your militant drone combiners.” Fighbird did a quick salute, giggling. “I’ll see you out on patrol, I’m just finishing my report. …You haven’t finished yours, have you?”
“Nah, I threw it off to Rescue. He saw more of the action.” Premier admitted casually.
Fighbird’s optics dimmed. “Rescue is also still recovering from the damages he sustained from the battle.”
“You know he can write that thing better than I could, c’mon! He told me he can do it and that he’s fine. I have more pressing duties to attend to, since I wanna impress the higher-ups before recruitment.” Premier marched away, transforming into his tank form and treading off. “Sayonara, Fighbird!”
The big mech sighed out his intakes helplessly, still smiling. “Ahh, he’s never changed since we were back at home.” He reminisced aloud, looking down at his communications pad. Fighbird regarded him like a big brother, yet he was so irresponsible sometimes. Reckless, too. He worried that Premier’s overeagerness to act on impulse could be a detriment to his success… But it was also a good thing in some situations. Fighbird chose to remain optimistic for his close friend, refusing to report his misconduct and deciding to pay Rescue’s office a visit instead.
“Good morning, Rescue.” Fighbird greeted, kneeling down towards the ambulance that was working tirelessly on a work deck, even with cracks and dents lining his white armour.
“Oh, hi, Fighbird.” Rescue returned, glancing over his broad shoulder at the hulking jet robot casting a shadow on his whole space. It screwed with his optics seeing the work he was conducting. “What do you need? I can’t see with you standing there.”
“Premier told me he gave you another report to do. I can’t stand there and hear that without doing something about it! Allow me to do it instead. They’re already giving you enough work, even though you’re still recovering.” Fighbird held out a lofty servo to take the work.
Rescue’s blue optics looked up at him fiercely, which made Fighbird’s hand droop. “I’m doing fine. I can handle it all. I appreciate the thought, but it’s my duty and I intend to finish it.” The ambulance said, his lights flickering red briefly.
“Are you sure? I just finished mine, and you have to do twice as much while your dominant arm is creaking.” Fighbird pulled his hand back, voice full of gentle concern.
“I know the impact seemed bad, but i-it’s nothing. My met protected by head and while I did get assaulted by that lifeform, most of the damage was sustained from falling. No Brave can use falling as an excuse to skip work. I got more than enough rest.” Rescue explained to him straight, turning to face him. His optics still showed a sense of uncertainty that Fighbird couldn’t read.
However, he still stood his ground for his hurt, hardworking friend. “Don’t skip work, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ask for help. That’s what Premier did to you, even though he should’ve just had me do this. You don’t deserve to be treated this way! I refuse to leave until you give me some of your work, Rescue.” Fighbird gave his silver chest a hit, trying to look dignified, but he looked a little silly instead.
Rescue paused, staring at him with a dumbfounded expression. He slowly turned away with a weak groan, retrieving Premier’s digital programming tab spark into his fingertips. Without looking back, the ambulance held out his charged hand for Fighbird, to which the other graciously took the data spark in his larger servo. “You’re remarkably stubborn sometimes, you know that?” He said, getting back to his current work without saying anymore.
Fighbird’s optics computed Premier’s current report. It was barren. “I suppose,” He replied, not thinking about the ramifications of his statement. “Thanks for the work. I’ll go and get it done now! Maybe I’ll see you later today, Rescue.” He waved farewell to his reserved buddy, making his way out of the smaller office hall with an obnoxious duckwalk. Everyone else around ignored it, used to his unorthodox antics.
Later on, Fighbird took flight in his jet mode, cruising through the vacuum of space. He basked close to the suns that were in the vicinity that made him glow like the core of a flame. It was one of his favourite pastimes on patrol, almost freely flying around the galaxies the HQ entered. He would do some corkscrew spins, enunciating his enjoyment. Nobody had the joyous enthusiasm the childish bird did. Fellow officers were scattered around, doing basic procedures. As was Fighbird. He would transform back to normal occasionally to scan the atmosphere of planets that held life. Many of them had primitive life with no signs of intelligence, but one of the Space Police’s greatest missions was to foster their growth to make the universe livelier. “This is Fighbird. I’m checking on Planet R-ZQ79, over.” He inquired over his attached transmitter to the SPF receivers that kept track of any planetary changes in the quadrant.
R-ZQ was an incredibly hot planet filled with purple mineral-like land. It was small, but well-established with a thriving population of advanced lifeforms. Only certain lifeform types were able to check on planets with extreme temperatures. Fighbird, being a plus energy, can brave the intense heat with his special metal body. The big mech levelled himself towards R-ZQ’s stratosphere. He pulled out the scanner, which had a bunch of in-depth readers that were the state-of-the-art of alien technology in what Earthlings would call ‘04. “Analyzing electromagnetism!” He said aloud for no one but himself, optics flaring at the ready.
The sound of a high-speed flyer approaching at mach 1 rang through Fighbird’s audials. He gasped, but was paralyzed in place as the sound became a vision of someone streaking through. It was headed straight for him. Instead, the big mech braced for impact, arms held in front of himself.
The incoming flyer saw Fighbird last second, beginning to stutter themselves the best they could. It was another jet, a smaller red one. The little jet’s light eyes popped wide open, attempting not to crash into the big jet. Their jet nose bashed into Fighbird’s arms harshly, denting through the large, metallic appendages. The big mech hissed in pain, but watched as the other jet bounced off him, plummeting uncontrollably down into the planet’s stratosphere.
He squawked in alarm. Fighbird did not hesitate to pursue the downed flyer. He generated a mighty thrust through his jet engine, flying at supersonic speeds. Thankfully, he quickly overcame the distance the small jet was diving. He held his arms out to catch them.
The little red jet landed heavily into his grasp. Fighbird’s optic flinched in pain since his forearms were crunched already. The fast flyer groaned weakly, shuddering in the big mech’s arms. Their jet nose was bent up and the radiant wings lopsided. Stray sparks jolted out of them occasionally. Fighbird frowned guiltily. “Are you ok?” He tried. He felt a pit of negativity surge through the core of his spark, climbing upward. Slowly but surely.
“Oh. It’s you.” Grumbled the beaten aircraft, immediately attempting to leave his hold. He couldn’t budge and not just because of the collision. The sound of his shattered metal crackling with pressure was audial grating.
Fighbird was unaware of how strong his hold on them was. He stared at the hurt jet with glowing optics, despite the underwhelming response from the other. He only squeezed harder as the other tried to disconnect, almost hugging the damaged jet against his chest like a giant teddy bear. “I’m so sorry. I could’ve gotten out of the way faster. I could’ve caught you quicker. Now you’re out of commission because of me… Don’t accept my apologies, I don’t deserve forgiveness. I’m-“ The big mech blubbered, beating himself down repetitively with the mistake. His high sympathy made him highly sensitive at these moments. His mental state flew into a frenzy again. He couldn’t think coherently. He had to do something. Everything to fix what was wrong and make them happy and healthy again.
The recipient of this reaction was silent. He ceased trying to fight Fighbird off. The jet changed into his mech form in the grasp with some rickety clacks. “…Fighbird. Snap out of it, you oversized plusling. It’s fine.” He said boldly, his shining blue visor flashing to meet the other’s heated face. It also had a crack travelling down its left side. The smaller mecha had a neutral look, still recouping from impact steadily. He had far more control than the bigger.
Fighbird finally realized who he was holding against his aching wrists. His wing fins perked up and shook. “Ah, Wing?! Oh my stars, Wing…! I need to report this ASAP and get you to the recovery station. I’m sorry. I sh-should be moving faster, I-…” The big mech didn’t seem to notice he was flying in a semi-circle, shaking erratically. Wing’s legs swayed around loosely in his servos.
“Such a pain. I told you I’m fine, Bird. …Let me go already!” Wing lost his patience, snapping back at Fighbird with a gruff attitude. The red jet’s thrust sputtered and propelled to forcefully free himself. Wing flew idly, sparking up as his damaged wings hardly kept him afloat. His plane nose in the middle was bent in half downwards. He was in bad condition, but maintained his composure. “What the hell are you doing up here anyways? We have a more pressing problem. I’ll deal with it easily, even if you trashed me a bit!” Wing pumped his fist pridefully, clearly motivated to descend down into the planet’s atmosphere.
Fighbird’s overheated processor made his metal whistle like a kettle. He got a semblance of his bearings back as Wing disconnected from him. “Problem? What’s the problem?!” He called after Wing, following while cradling his fractured wrist. He breathed out his vents laboriously, feeling dizzy and lightheaded after his negative emotions overcame him.
“There’s ruffians, didn’t you get the notice?” Wing responded despondently. He was swerving unevenly through the air as it grew heavier with heat. The smaller jet mech propelled on, generating a burst of electricity to speed through the gaseous steam surrounding them. A few sparks jolted out of his damaged areas painfully, but he ignored them.
Fighbird noticed. He focussed on the pain he caused his cohort. Now Wing was putting himself in even more danger as usual for the sake of his duty. He greatly respected that about the haughty mech, despite his attitude. A lot of the other officers seemed to turn away from him due to his perceived arrogance. While the blue jet mech understood how his personality was unsavoury sometimes, there was also a lot of good he did that many failed to notice. Wing was incredibly capable for a mech of his weight class. His admirable bravery put him through multiple life or death situations before. He was always independently winging it. Wing’s cocky disposition was uplifting in Fighbird’s view. If everyone acted like him, they would feel better about themselves, right?
“An attack?! How come I-” A flighty Fighbird checked his helmet’s transceiver as he became an improvised backup for Wing. “Oops, I forgot to turn on the receiver output.” He admitted lackadaisy, activating his device. He was immediately swarmed by HQ messages telling him about the havoc on R-ZQ. He kept up with his partner effortlessly.
“Damnit Bird, you should know better by now,” Wing snapped at Fighbird playfully. He even cracked a crooked smile towards him. “Not that it matters, since I can take care of it!” He boasted as he led them to the planet’s surface. He halted his speed to hover more gently to the ground.
The big mech hit the ground with far less grace. His head’s circuits were too full, yet too empty all at once. Wing nearly toppled over from his landing, grunting as he struggled to stand. Fighbird was silent and had a mute expression, trying to gather his overwhelming thoughts. Regardless, he was attentive to his new mission’s prerogative. It was time to save others.
A couple stray energy beams flew by the two, exploding on the molten ground. There were a dozen enormous tentacled beasts ravaging the land. The native life was being devastated by a power-hungry clan. The locals were scrambling and screaming. A few of the invaders were diving in and out of the lava rivers, forcing the poor advanced lifeforms out. More beams were shot out of the 8 eyes of one of the criminal creatures. “Become loyal slaves or die!” One screeched, wrapping its hulking tentacle around a group of shrieking lifeforms.
He heard them crying. He wanted to cry out with them so they knew he understood their agony. His empathy, his kindness was weighing him down with such complicated feelings. But above all else, he was ready to fight this injustice. Seeing it happen right before him was unacceptable. Fighbird grit his teeth and sprung forward before even Wing tried anything.
He attacked the tentacle with a kicking uppercut, freeing the hostages. “Trying to enforce planetary slavery through a needless massacre of innocent people is unforgivable! I will stop at nothing to end your reign of terror!” Fighbird cried out wrathfully, trying to point… But his wrist was broken so it just damaged his servo more. He didn’t even wince, pointing a shuddering index finger at the ensnared victims the one beast held. The big mech mimicked the honourable heroics of his idol. He wanted to embody Exkaiser’s bravery as he played hero. It was the best Fighbird knew, including his turgid speeches.
“What do we have here?! Another pretentious copper? We’ll crush you.” The interrupted tentacled invader snarled, towering over 20 metre tall Fighbird. It launched its tentacles towards Fighbird, who hopped and rolled to avoid them. The alien yelled for the assistance of its cohorts, who began throwing a barrage of eye beams in the evading robot’s vicinity.
Fighbird was rather nimble for his larger frame, carefully avoiding the incoming blows from his enemies with anger in his flaring optics. He raised his arms and flipped out his wrist cannons. However, only one gun worked because the one on his sprained wrist was dysfunctional. “Dyna buster!” He annunciated his attack, like Exkaiser. The big mech’s cannon beams aimed for the eyes of the cohorts, successfully hitting a few eyes on one out. The struck cohort wobbled back in vulnerability. While the other one was dodging the projectiles trying to blast its eyes, Fighbird flew forward and dropkicked them in the torso.
That alien forcefully spat out. It continued to gurgle as it was sent flying to a coal mountainside. While Fighbird was recovering his stance, the main tentacled beast trapped him in its many tentacles, constricting him tightly. “You bastard! Die!!” It retaliated against Fighbird by whipping his body around, bashing him against the crumbling hot floor.
Fighbird huffed in pain, struggling as he tried to tear himself free from the enemy’s grasp. His large shoulders were getting dented up. His weight collapsed on top of his breaking wrist and that finally made him groan out. Still, he fought back rigorously, shaking madly in the tentacles. “You won’t have your way, not as long as I’m here..!” He said daringly, trying to improvise a strategy to get out of this mess.
“The hell are you spouting? You’re just a wannabe hero, aren’t you? Maybe hold off on your stupid posing and heroic speeches until your name is known throughout the universe.” The invader mocked, combining its ragdolling of the robot body with eye beams to his face. “Nobody will ever know you after /this/!” It cackled, charging up a multi-eye beam as it slowly lifted Fighbird’s damaged body towards its sneering face
Admittedly, the words got to him more than the physical pain. He tried to play it cool though, servos digging harshly into the tentacle’s rough skin. “The opinion of a power tripping thug like you is worth less than nothing.” Fighbird said with less confidence than he wanted, dimming his optics as he braced himself for a world of pain.
“I love when they ask for it.” The beast taunted victoriously. Before the tremendous beam could be fired, many small bullets went through its eyes, causing the alien’s energy to implode back into them. The tentacled criminal freaked out, squeezing Fighbird hard. Wing appeared, circling its big body like a fly. He punched and kicked and head butted the invader’s head until it toppled over. “Stay down, scum!” Wing cried, hurling another round of his bullets into its head and tentacles. The tentacles wrapping Fighbird went loose.
A few stray bullets hit him in the helm and face plates, but it was nothing Fighbird could complain about when Wing, despite his worse condition, was valiantly saving him. “Wing!” Fighbird called in relief. He would finally break out of the tentacles. Or so he thought. Seconds after he was free of the tentacles of the one beast, he was caught in another tangle of them. “Oh, no! There’s many of them.” Fighbird grumbled about the obvious, firing off his dyna buster within the tentacles. His shoulder wings tried to jab into the arms desperately.
Wing trapped the three invaders they left weak into a special energy net, another high tech doohickey of the Space Police. Unfortunately, that was all he could do before a group of eight from the clan barrelled in, ganging up on Wing. The red jet fought them off restlessly, but his damaged state got to him before long. Another pair of tentacles constricted Wing as well, but these tentacles were wrapping around his wingspan, actively crushing his lightning print flight shoulders. Wing swore in agony. His visor shades completely split apart under the pressure.
“Well, well, well! You’re a puny little pest. If you don’t want to be popped against your internals, free them!” The threatening alien gestured towards the ensnared members of his clan. A few cohorts were doing everything to bust their teammates out, but this net was impregnable. “Tch. As if I’ll cooperate with you! You’re only winning in numbers, tentacly freak.” Wing sassed, spitting oily saliva point blank in the invader’s shocked face.
Fighbird was always surprised by Wing’s audacity, but in this situation, it could spell disaster. He thought smarter in the heat of the moment. “I’ll free them. Please, don’t destroy his body anymore...” He pleaded gently in return.
The tentacled criminal holding the big mech had a moment of hesitation, but gripped more when the others around it started to laugh. “You don’t have any say, “righteous” hero. I want to hear your friend beg and become my newest slave lest they want to be crushed.” It snickered, adding even more of its tentacles around Wing. Wing was boldly silent, though he was audibly in pain.
“V-Vile fiends!” Fighbird bit out, feeling a fire being lit in his core. Despite his disdain for negativity, he harnessed an uncontrollable madness inside. It was due to trigger. Their disregard of life for their own purposes. The likes of that left Fighbird aflame. The big jet mech gathered his strength and gouged the tentacles constraining him, making the beast roar out in discomfort. He broke free of its clutches and revealed his trusty fire rod. The orange staff had two parts that were released from compartments from each of his legs. He connected the staff parts together with a satisfying, fiery clang. “Fire rod!” Fighbird yelled as he slammed the weapon into his capturer, knocking him out hot.
“Woah now, you'd better stop unless you want to see him as a pile of red scrap!” The threatening invader exclaimed to him as some of the cohorts charged their eye beams towards Wing. The smaller Brave was unable to do anything, his rarely-seen green optics flashing with something unreadable. The threatening one charged its eyes towards Fighbird. “Discard the rod or he dies right now!” It said whinily, clearly afraid of what this big Brave was capable of.
Thankfully for it, Fighbird evaluated ramifications with caution. He glared violently at them as he disarmed himself. “Callous and cowardly…” the big mech murmured with great vitriol. He took on a fighting stance, prepared to dodge the enemy’s retaliation.
All the while, Wing’s crumbling body was being played with. “Surrender yourself to us, big mouth. You got some steely circuits in ya. Could use that gall in the clan.” The invader attempted to convince the hostage. Wing rolled his optic lights, body limp and useless in the criminal’s suction claw. “Where’s your nerve now, spud? Deactivate the net!”
Seeing that Fighbird could be antagonized for a grand reaction, the thugs tormented the small jet ruthlessly. “Wait, stop it-” A few diverged to continue their assault on the local life trying to hide away. “No..!!” The big mech stepped back hard, watching all the torture around him with hysteric movements. His optics flinched wildly as his lip quivered. “This… Isn’t fair.” Fighbird whimpered to himself, clenching his fist. He may have been beyond angry, but he was aware and responsible enough that lashing out could lead to unnecessary casualties. He had patience, but he had to act, but acting could kill his partner. The anxious jet’s wings stirred at the ready. His spiraling feelings were getting to him again.
“Fighbird! Save them!!” Wing shouted to slap some sense into him. Even as the tentacled freaks got more violent as he spoke, he continued. “Forget about me. There’s people that need you defending them, now!”
“W-Wing… You’re right. We have our duty to uphold. But, if you were to die here, because of me….”
Just to add more turmoil to Fighbird boiling, the aliens viciously snapped one of Wing’s own wings off. Fighbird gasped in pain, like it was his own shoulder being ripped out of him. Wing’s gaping, opened shoulder wound had electricity jutting out from it while the liquidated energy inside him pooled to the ground. Wing clicked his tongue casually. “Has anyone told you how selfish you are?” He said to him.
The threatening invader guffawed. It would have hit Fighbird with a massive energy beam if the big mech did not seamlessly dodge by pivoting to the side. Black shadow covered his entire face beneath his helm. “If it makes me selfish to care about your well-being too, so be it. I’ll hold myself accountable for everything.” His eyes glowed decisively. At this point, the criminals were planning on annihilating everyone including Wing no matter what. They have proven themselves to be unable to be reasoned with. Fighbird swiftly picked up the fire rod. “IF YOU KILL HIM, I WILL SEND YOU ALL STRAIGHT TO HELL!” The hot-blooded jet warned furiously, charging towards them with bursts of flames hotter than the lava planet itself flying up his backside.
Fear flew through the alien group’s many eyes. A few went into a panic, trying to escape Fighbird’s wrath. The one that was breaking Wing was at a stand-still. “What are you doing?! Crush him dead!” The threatener barked at its paralyzed partner. “He’ll kill ME!” The other retorted, finally choosing to scramble away, dropping Wing in its trepidation. The threatening invader managed to catch the wounded red jet, roaring and strangling his ruined metal frame through all its tentacles at once. Wing was sparking up dangerously. He made a pained high frequency noise that only the likes of Fighbird could hear.
Thankfully, it only took a moment for the big mech to swoop in with hell reigning with him. Fighbird stabbed his opponent through its biggest eye. The rod pierced all the way through the alien’s head, so it was shish kebabed in the burning fire rod. The threatening enemy has its blood pouring out down the rod profusely. Its tentacles flailed as it cried out deafening gurgles. Fighbird’s sharp optics harboured zero remorse as he twisted his rod back out of the creature he nearly killed in one strike.
The writhing body fell out of the rod. His big, broken servo snagged a dying Wing out of the one tentacle that thrashed around fruitlessly. The entire clan had their eyes collectively on Fighbird and what he did to one of them. They began to fan their tentacles around their bodies like helicopters as they began to retreat. “Y-You’ll regret this!” One yelled, evacuating the scene with a black smoke screen. One by one, they all covered the atmosphere with their black ink as they left.
“You won’t get away from me!” Fighbird screamed back. “I’ll eviscerate all you evil plagues on the universe!!” His left hand broke off of his arm, the one holding Wing. The wrist fell down to the terrain harshly, protecting the other bot between the fingers. The mech at his breaking point channeled his light energy through the fire rod. It lit his way through the black blanket as he continued his increasingly personal pursuit against his adversaries. He was on autopilot. Hatred of the villainous creatures blinded his rationale in a fiery smoke. All he could think of was to eliminate their existence for his ends, as was deeply ingrained in a plus energy’s drive. Wiping scum out was the only correct thing to do. The instinctive hatred of negativity ironically led Fighbird to his own.
The jet burnt bright as he gained on his victims. The fleeing beasts were flying for their lives like prey animals. While many got away, Fighbird managed to catch two tentacles in his one hand, grasping them violently like a door slamming into fingers. Two unfortunate invaders were yanked back with him. He fell from the sky, rapidly making momentum as he performed a seismic toss on both of them. Their bodies hit the molten ground vigorously. It was smashed by the big mech’s impact, making the lava seep forward into the gravel. Fighbird dragged the two by their tentacles into the lava pit, dipping them in and out of the liquidated rock. These aliens were practically unconscious, mortally wounded, but he continued to assault them like punching bags. He readied his fire rod to continue hitting the beasts senselessly.
Wing watched in horror as the other officer was in the middle of a heated meltdown. He brutalized the criminals beyond recognition, even though they couldn’t do anything anymore. “Bird…” His voice box trilled hoarsely before he lost consciousness in his hand.
“Why do you do this to the good life of the universe?! Why do you threaten us? Does oppression empower you?? Does it make you feel good to hurt and kill others?? Well, it feels amazing to hurt and kill the likes of you! I can honour them by avenging them, even if they can’t come back! Who will care if you disappeared?! Nobody.” Fighbird almost laughed by the end of his emotional tangent. He finally let up on torturing the limp bodies of the two dying creatures he caught.
Instead, he turned his focus on the three onlookers trapped in Wing’s net. “I’m glad we managed to catch a bunch of you. Maybe we can come up with an “agreement” to serve the rest of your allies some justice?” The jet mech stomped towards them, brandishing his fire rod that spewed flames. His face plates were snapped in a scowl.
“We won’t tell you anything!” One exclaimed as the group fearfully squirmed around in the energy cage. “Stay away from us, we can’t do anything anymore, copper!” Another whined.
Fighbird lifted the net up to optic level. “You can tell me where your hideout is, unless you want me to stab you with a scorching rod!” He shouted, shaking the bag of criminals with his fire rod charging up. He jabbed the fire rod into the wrist hole where his servo was. “Your only chance of mercy now is to fess up, malice fiends.”
The clan members yelped and cried against each other as they were shook. Suddenly, two mechs appeared, hitting the floor behind Fighbird. They were speechless coming to the scene. The car was surprised to see Wing in such disarray on a severed servo. The firetruck witnessed Fighbird’s fury as he bashed his rod repeatedly into the disarmed creatures. “Fighbird!” One called out. “What is going on here?”
Fighbird recognized that voice, softening his blows as he turned around. “Star… An evil group of space slavers set tentacles on this planet. Wing was sent to intervene, but I happened to be close by, so I went on the excursion with him.” His vents were whirring non-stop as he reported to the car mech. The jet dropped the net next to him.
“So those were the ones who retreated. We saw them blast off in a horde. You let them get away,” Star frowned. “You should have waited for us to come to the scene. We could have wrangled all of them together.”
“…I-I’m sorry Star, I didn’t even know about reinforcements. I was thinking about calling, but the cowards made a hostage situation out of Wing… Now look at him.” Fighbird’s helm fins fluttered anxiously as he pointed towards him, collapsed in his torn hand. Everyone could sense that Wing’s plus energy was still kicking, despite his pitiful state.
“Figures he wouldn’t even tell you we were coming. I was shocked to see Wing of all Braves calling for help. We knew it was bad ‘cuz of that!” The firetruck figured with a smug shrug. “…You alright, Fighbird? Your energy signature is at an all-time low.”
The big mech’s dim optics looked at him gently. “I’ll admit, I lost it, Fire. These guys are especially frustrating…” Fighbird huffed. His vision went dizzy and his legs gave in. Fire stayed at Fighbird’s side while Star checked on Wing. “But… it’s not over. With these criminals we caught, we can bust the rest with some persuasion.”
“How much did you lose it?” Star asked bluntly, approaching the body of an alien with a hole stabbed through its head. It died. He swerved his helm to see 2 more mangled bodies that he sensed were holding onto life by a thread.
“…I did what I had to.” Fighbird replied, steadfast to his beliefs. He looked down almost guiltily though. He removed the fire rod from his gaping arm hole, putting it away as it simmered down.
The police car mech lifted the dying beasts up, placing them in the net with the few squabbling criminals swiftly. They were all giant, but they were light as feathers with no strength in them. Star looked up at the big net of tentacles. “What did this officer do to you?” He asked them fairly.
The initiator that first taunted Fighbird described accurately what he did to them in his rampage. His blind rage made more of a mess than they did. The big mech’s instability caused unnecessary suffering and cruelty. The criminal exaggerated all he did while downplaying their threats, but it still petrified Fighbird. He surprised himself with how far he could go. Fighbird shook on the ground, clenching his core surging against his chest. Concerned, Fire held onto the big mech’s forearm. “Is this true, Fighbird?” Star interrogated professionally with a straight face.
Fighbird nodded in silence. His circuits produced so many thoughts that he wavered. His energy was too drained. “W-What have I…” He croaked quietly, losing consciousness from his center.