Vivid Dreams

The attack

It would be strange for any human to see a group of vehicles driving in the desert with a jet flying above them.

Part of team Prime was heading to a stray signal. No origin. Raf had found it the previous night and had suggested to investigate.

Arcee had stayed back at base for the bridge controls and to protect the humans. So it was Ratchet, Optimus, Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Knockout and Starscream heading to the signal

As Starscream was flying he sped up suddenly, a feeling of dread and excitement washing over him. He was feeling somewhat strange, as if the desert reminded him of something. Soon he arrived at the signal, transforming mid air and landing with a thud on the sand, little grinds of it already sticking to his seams. He looked around, red optics searching for a clue leading to the mystery signal. Soon the rest arrived, all transforming and heading to the seeker.

"See anything you like, Scream?"Asked Knockout, putting a hand on his hip and looking around. "Optimus, are you sure those are the coordinates? There is no one here." Said the grey seeker as he looked at his leader.

Prime looked around, seeming weary of something. Before Ratchet could question his leaders behavior, a faint buzzing noise filled in the silence of the desert. Starscream wings perked in caution as Bulkhead looked up. "Do you hear that?" Before anyone could answer, two guns were pointed at Bulkhead.

"My, my... If it isn't the Autoscums!" Yelled a female voice before shooting at the wrecker. He dodged, transforming his servos into blasters and a wrecking ball.

Soon there was an open battlefield. Starscream was in the air, fighting against Soundwave and Laserbeak. Down on the ground, the rest of the team was struggling against Shockwave, Morak and Tailswipe.

Prime grunted behind his mask, throwing off him yet again the femme. Before she could launch at the leader again, Bumblebee body slammed into her, knocking her on the ground. Shockwave shot at Knockout and Ratchet, trying to bring down the medics. The red car pressed at his audio receptor, opening a comm link to base. ":Knockout to base, I request a groundbridge!:"

No answer.

Knockout cursed under his breath as he dodged another attack from his previous comrade. There is no signal where they currently were.

Starscream shot one of his missiles at Soundwave, trying to hit his wing. The telepath deployed his minicon, sending her after the seeker. Said bot did a barrow roll, barely missing impact with the small bot. He pulled his nose up, flying straight into the sky. Soundwave glanced at him, knowing what stunt he'll pull. At one point Starscream flipped over, hovering in the air for a little before plunging down at the ground, gaining speed with every second. He prepared his missiles, ready to launch them. Just as he was about to, Soundwave slammed right in him, sending both bots off course. The silver bot groaned in despair, trying to pull his nose up to avoid crashing. Laserbeak decided to rub salt in her enemy's wounds and shot Starscream in the wing, sending him spiraling down to the ground.

Ratchet watched with dread as a groundbridge opened. Vheicons exited thru it, each ready for battle.

Knockout tried again to contact Arcee, only to get no answer again. All thoughts were short cut out of his head when he felt a sharp sting in his shoulder. It immediately turned into pure agony as the energon started leaking out of his wounds. 

Bulkhead, Prime and Bumblebee were teamed against the twins and Shockwave. All were injured. Shockwave's optic was cracked and his chassis was bleeding, his attacks slowly getting slower and slower.

Somewhere near the battlefield wandered a slightly transparent seeker. "I'm coming..."