He awoke to the thud of massive pedesteps. Rolling he could see Shrapnel and Bombshell waking up, confusion written on their faces.
A blaster went off and the ground shook.
He knew that sound, he knew what those blasters sounded like. Guardians, how had they found them?! The colony was hidden underground! How did they know?!
He clutched his helm in a panic, distantly aware of Bombshell screaming his name. The roof above them crumbled, revealing a sight from his nightmares.
There above them loomed a white and blue guardian. Raising their gun arm they took aim. A weight slammed into his side, the blast just barely missing both insecticons. Bombshell took his servo, snagging Shrapnel on the way past as they rushed through tunnels in an effort to get away.
Entering the main cave revealed chaos. Bodies littered the ground, more fell with the sound of blaster fire.
He took off to the sky activating his anti-gravs, the others followed.
Making a break to get far away, they were stopped when a large blue claw came swinging towards them. He ducked, Shrapnel wasn't so lucky. The claw slammed into him, sending him crashing into the ground.
Both he and Bombshell were next to him in an instant. Shrapnels leg was twisted into a mangled mess. He took one arm while Bombshell took the other, balancing Shrapnel in the middle. They stared out at what was once the Coleoptera colony.
Bodies littered the ground, caves had collapsed. And there at the center of it all were 5 guardians.
"No one will survive, will they?" It was spoken so softly that Kickback almost missed it. They both turned to stare at Bombshell.
"I. . . don't say that! There can be survivors!" "Like the others from your colony who survived?!" The words hit him like someone had cracked his fuel pump. "I didn't mean it! I'm sorry it just slipped!" He stared at Bombshell. "It's fine Bombshell, I get it."
The ground under them shuddered. "We need to-" Then the ground was gone and they were falling.
He hit the ground hard. A groan escaped his lips as he rolled onto his back, before bringing his arms up at the sight of rocks falling towards him. Pain bloomed across his sensor net when they slammed into his frame. Static overtook his vision when his visor shattered.
The last thing he heard was the screams as the Coleoptera colony was slaughtered. Then there was nothing.