by sideswipe6520 » Mon Mar 26, 2018 12:06 pm
At least, I hoped I didn’t.
A few minutes later the claws returned. Directly in front of me were two of the 3 power dahers. I don’t think they had names. At least, no one ever heard them before. The claws took them and they never made a sound. My hook shuddered violently. It jarred my rotator and dislocated my shoulder assembly. It moved quicker and closed the gap between me and the next bot.
From behind me a voice spoke up.
“Hey mate, Whaddaya think this mess were stuck in is all about?”
I recognized the voice… Outback.
“I don’t know. Wherever we’re going, it ain’t good!” I replied.
“Damn. Hey Isn’t that a triggerbot in front of ya?”
“Backstreet, yeah”
Maybe he has a couple of rounds loaded in him. Maybe he can blow this conveyor and get us all free….
“Hey, Hey Backstreet. Snap out of it bot!” I said to him.
“Huh? What?” he replied.
“Do you have enough energon to fire a couple of rounds from your shoulder blasters?”
“I think so, why?”
“Blast the conveyor track. See if we can break loose.”
Backstreet gave it his best shot. He had one good blast. The echo off his cannon seemed louder than Megatron’s fusion cannon in a titanium acoustic lab. Nearly burned out my audio receptors.
While the track did receive minimal damage it wasn’t enough to break us loose. It just jarred us as we clicked past.
Then the claws returned again and this time they took Backstreet and a few others. The look of terror in his optics will haunt me for the rest of eternity. If there is one.
I felt responsible for his demise. Even though my own fate was still uncertain, I was still alive, here, now, and Backstreet likely wasn’t. Yet I was also relieved that it wasn’t me… yet.
Click… Click… Click…. Click…
Realizing that we couldn’t stop this machine, Outback and I gave up. We gave in to the despair, believed we were next. That we were as good as dead.
Click… Click…. Click…. Click…
Not wanting to bear witness to anymore I shut down my optics and audio receptors and decided to wait for my fate. Instead, I tried to establish a neurolink to my memory databanks and read some files about ancient Cybertronian history. Anything to take my mind off of certain death. That didn’t last long. There was some sort of neuro jamming frequency.
Some time passed. I couldn’t tell how long but the clicking continued. Even with my receptors on mute I still heard it subconsciously. It was driving me mad.
Out of shear desperation of something stimulating other than that infernal clicking I turned my optics back on. Once adjusted I took notice of the surroundings. It was much the same as before. The walls were a different metal; some alloy I didn’t recognize. Probably not found on Cybertron, it had a pinkish cast to it. The lighting was brighter and there was water rushing like a white water river below us. Up ahead was yet another dark doorway. I guess some more bots were taken while I was out because directly in front of me was Commander Jazz and Cliffjumper. In front of them were Bumblebee, Spike, Beachcomber, Skidz, Gears, and a few others. Cliff was trying to move so I un-muted my audio receptors.
“… can’t transform, no weapons, the clamps won’t budge, what the hell are we going to do guys?”
Bee replied, “I don’t know. But we got to figure out something.”
I spoke up. I told them about Backstreet, about how the blast brought the claws out and sped up our track…
Click… Click… Click…. Click…..Click…
We were nearly to the doorway when we first heard the fading screams. We knew something was through there but even with resigning ourselves to our fate, we were not prepared for that sight.
As we entered the dark corridor there were hieroglyphics along the walls. I couldn’t make it all out but it appeared to tell a story about two giants who were in a constant battle. One the giver of life, the other the bringer of death. We were clearly inside of death. The glyphs depicted a deathbringer cult worshiping a god of destruction by ritual sacrifice as bots would throw themselves into a pit.
Click… Scream…. Click… Scream…. Click… SCREAM!!!!!!!
As we crossed the threshold the screams got louder and louder with every click. And I, I got more horrified.
In the next room; it was massive; the floor dropped an additional 100-200 feet below the hall’s floor. It was wider than Iacon’s Grand Hall and the ceiling was so high I lost sight of it in the blackness.
In the center of the room was indeed a pit. A giant glowing pool of molten slag. A smelting pool. Just as depicted on the glyphs.
I watched as all three of the omnibots were dropped in. Their screams, I will never forget. Camshaft was yelling for help even as his body melted away around him. Override, at least died at near impact as he went in head first. Downshift, poor Downshift floated for a minute somehow on his back. I watched as the slag burned and boiled through his optics and the lesser armored parts of his body. His voice gurgled as he screamed. Somehow, he was still alive as another bot dropped and landed directly across Downshift’s chest. The larger bot, who never made a sound, and may have already been dead pushed poor Downshift under for the final time and then sank himself with his arm still raised into the air. I saw it melt like butter.
Click… Click… Click… Click…
I was scared. For the first time in my life I was truly mortified. I felt as if I was okay if I lost my life in the heat of battle. But not like this.
Click… Click… Click…
Gears fell into the pit. Grumpy as hell, like always, he never screamed. Decided there was no point in screaming. Said it was a waste of energon.
Click… Click… Click…
In the academy, we were taught that death was inevitable. Inevitable, yes, but that the best way to go out was by fighting for a cause. The Autobot cause. I may have been a lowly communications officer but I had received the same training as any warrior. Saw some front line battle myself. I welcomed death in battle but not like this. Not like THIS.
We all watched in horror as a couple of other Autobots fell into the smelting pool powerless to help.
Click… Click… Click…
Not long now
Click… Click… Click…
“I’m sorry my friends,” yelled Jazz. “This looks like our swan song.”
Click… Click… Click…
Down Below, something moved. Outback, who was still behind me shouted…
“Ay looky down dere! Who is that?”
It was an exosuit. Just like the one Spike was wearing. I couldn’t help but wonder to myself… Did we finally have some hope? Was there time to save us?
Spike hollered down.
“Daniel!!!”
“Dad, what can I do?”
“Knock down the acid cover.”
“How?”
“Blast it Son!”
“But I don’t have a gun?”
“Use your Exosuit!”
“Hey, you think da kid has a chance?” Outback asked me.
“I sure hope so” I replied.
“Hurrryyyy!!!!!!!” Yelled Spike.