Born To Be A Hero

Chapter 16: Flight

"So I've been told."

The swirling blue-green bridge came to life not far from them and Magnus began walking toward it, an incredibly small smirk on his face. "I thought you planned on flying off?"

"Oh, shut up," she grumbled.

Magnus chuckled.

The trees beside them rustled, and he stopped. Both of them became instantly serious, turning to face the wilderness with alert optics and eyes. Silent permeated the air, broken only by a whistling of wind and rustling leaves.

Errrrreeeeeeechhhhhhhh

Taking a surprised step back, Magnus quickly transformed his servo into a blaster and pointed it at the underbrush.

"Duck!" Alias yelled.

Magnus hit the floor and rolled aside, narrowling avoiding a flash of dark gray when something jumped at him from behind. Alias steadied herself from the sudden movement by grabbing onto his shoulder stacks.

Their attacker growled, walking on all fours and crouched low to the ground, metal canines flashing in the sunlight. A Decepticon insignia sat proudly on the minicon's chest, swaying with the movements of his front legs. The minicon was almost as tall as Magnus's knee, but seemed rather condensed, his body rippling with muscle.

"Humph!" the distraction was more than enough for a large cybertronian to kick Magnus square in the back, throwing him forward and into the grass.

"Magnus, are you planning on using that grou-"

Ratchet's voice was interrupted as the comms burst into static. Magnus pushed off the ground, but didn't get far before the minicon jumped onto his back, pinning him to the ground. Dangerously sharp claws dug into his armour and slipped into cracks, slicing at exposed protoform.

Alias hit the ground at the same time Magnus did, but as the bot was effectively forced down, she scrambled to her hands and knees, crawling under his neck as he strained to look up.

A pair of dark gray pedes landed in front of Magnus's face. The Autobot's optics widened as he looked up at the face of his attacker.

Or rather, lack of face.

Soundwave knelt. "Where is your base?"

Magnus didn't have time to respond before Alias came charging out, wings flapping with skillful speed, propelling her straight into the visor on the con. For the first time in five years, Magnus saw the flash of silver as Alias's sword grew into existence, already swinging horizontally at her target.

Soundwave didn't react fast enough. Her sword slammed into the visor, shattering it upon impact, and continued foreward, burying itself in the bot's wires, slicing through energon veins, sensors, and other exposed components of the bot's processor.

The minicon lurched up from his perch on Magnus's back, jumping onto Soundwave and snapping his jaws at her, practically shoving it's face into Soundwave's exposed wiring. Alias zipped out, her wings tucked in, and she let gravity pull her down before gliding to Magnus.

"Get up!" she barked.

Magnus rushed to his pedes, mirroring Soundwave's movements. The minicon growling and snapped, guarding an invisible barrier between the two larger bots. Soundwave's servo was lit with energon as he held his leakage in.

"Must find Autobot base. Must reach Cybertron," Soundwave spoke. "Intentions not harmful."

Magnus glared. "You just attacked us."

Soundwave took a step forward blindly, nearly stepping on the tail of his minicon. "War is over. Megatron is terminated. Soundwave is not threat."

"Then why do you need to go to Cybertron?"