'You gotta be screwing me. An actual slagging Decepticon?! Here?! On Earth?!' Mantis thought as she and Bee stood, bodies tensed as a coiled spring ready to pounce.
For once, she felt fear seize her rather than adrenaline because she realized that compared to her 'missions' back on Cybertron as a saboteur, this is her first time actually fighting a con head on.
Then she pushed it away and told herself to calm down. To freeze up now could mean death.
"Tch, I was hoping for Autobots to show up, not pathetic minibots." He sneered, looking down at them and whoa, he really was tall.
"That's rich coming from you. Memory serves, the power you so desperately wanted ended up blowing up in your own ugly mug!" Bee retorted to hide his own fear.
"Who do you think you're talking to you infidle?!" he screeched- ow, her audio receptors. No wonder he's called Starscream.
He fired his null rays again except this time, both of them jumped out of the way in time.
"Let's dance!" she said and took her tessen out, battle mask sliding on.
She waited just for the right moment and.........
Threw it straight into the muzzle of one of Starscream's blasters.
"Gagh!" he cried out in pain as his shot literally backfired on him. "Why you little-"
Thump, something was thrown and stuck onto him and.......
Beep....beep....beep-
Oh slag.
Boom!
He was enveloped in a plume of smoke.
"Bruh, you talk too much." Mantis said.
However the smoke cleared to reveal..........
A ticked off Starscream with a messed up paint job.
'It barely even scratched him?!' she thought as she involuntarily took a step back. Primus, she was too cocky. She was too complacent, thinking she could end this swiftly once she caught him off guard.
"You're going to pay for that!" he said, aiming his one good null ray at her. But then Bee pressed his stingers together and released a single blast of concentrated electricity at him strong enough to throw his shot off.
"Cash or credit?" Bee asked as he went over and stood beside Mantis.
Starscream righted himself and glared at them.
"Run." They both whispered to one another. They instantly turned around and hightailed it.
"Get back here you insects!" Starscream yelled, giving chase.
"Why don't you get away, Decepticreep!" Mantis shouted back as they both ran through the forest, snapping or pushing branches out of the way, foliage getting trampled under their pedes and mud dirtying their tyres.
As they ran, Bee would turn around and fire off some stray shots with his stingers but Mantis knew the chances of them hitting or actually dealing any damage of sorts was little to none.
The terrain worked to both their advantage and disadvantage as they couldn't transform into their alt-modes without any hindrance but neither could Starscream. Plus, they were small and more agile compared to Starscream so it gave them a higher chance of losing him.
Or so they thought.
They burst through a copse of trees and Mantis began to panic as they found themselves in a flattened out grassy field cliff leaving them dangerously exposed.
They turned around to double back but were blown off their pedes as a jet knocked them down. They scrambled back up just as Starscream landed and transformed back, null ray aimed at them.
"Did you really think you could escape the wrath of the mighty Starscream?" he asked.
"Actually....yeah, we were." Bee said as they were both taking steps back closer and closer to the cliff as Starscream advanced.
While Bee sassed with Starscream, Mantis picked up the sound of rushing water somewhere....below them? Maybe there was a river or a waterfall near the cliff.
An idea began to form.
A crazy, suicidal, reckless, stupid idea.
Then again, what choice did they have?
They both stumbled and yelped as they found themselves reaching the brink of the cliff, a few pebbles and loose soil falling down into the drop below. But looking down, they both saw rushing water down there.
"End of the line, minibots." Starscream said. "But, I am merciful so feel fortunate as I am kind enough to offer you two an option out of your miserable predicament."
"The only miserable predicament right now is bearing with his yapping." Mantis whispered to Bee who couldn't help but smirk at that.
"Contact the rest of your allies and tell them my one demand- the AllSpark. Bring it to me and I will spare your sparks." He said.
"Didn't you learn from last time?" she said. "The AllSpark doesn't want to be in your disgusting servos so it'll just blow up in your face again."
"Then I'll just have to prove my worth to it." He said confidently like it was no big deal.
"Then we'll just have to bring popcorn as it yeets you away." Bee said with a smirk.
"Face it, you can't kill us, we're useless to you offlined." Mantis said. "And even if you used us as bargaining chips, the AllSpark will never stay with you."
He stayed silent.....then shrugged his shoulders.
"Then I'll just have to lure more Autobots here until I get what I want....after I'm done with you two annoying insects that is." He said and once again brought his null ray up to them, muzzle charging up. "Any last words?"
'Scrap.....scrap scrap scrap!' he was serious. He was going to offline them without hesitation.
"We're stuck between a rock and a hard place." She said.
"No, we're stuck between death and dying!" Bee hissed back. "Like slag we'll go down without a fight!" he said, activating his stingers but it was just an attempt at dying with dignity.
Then Mantis grabbed his servo.
"Do you trust me?" she asked.
"Yeah?" he said, wondering what she was up to.
"I'm sorry, Bee." She said.
"Sorry for wha-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" he yelled as she gripped his servo tightly and jumped off the cliff, pulling him down with her just as Starscream unleashed a missile at the place they were clicks ago, the explosion unleashing a shockwave that hit them and sent them hurling forwards slightly before gravity performed its duty and they both plummeted down.
With the wind whistling and Bee's screaming in her audio receptors, her servo still grasping Bee's for dear life, she turned around until she was somewhat upright and.......
Activated her jetpack mod.
That brought them to a jarring halt, their pedes a feet above the rushing waters below. Bee let out a cry of pain as the impact from the sudden stop suddenly jarred his servo out of the socket.
"Bee!" Mantis cried in horror as she realized the mistake she's made. She quickly flew them over to a cave that was just big enough for them both to squeeze into- Thank Primus, some form of luck was still on their side- and set Bee inside, laying him to lean against the wall.
Then she turned around and activated her holographic projector to hide the cave mouth. Better safe than sorry.
"Bee, hey, hey, talk to me." She said, kneeling down beside him.
"WHAT THE SLAG WERE YOU THINKING?!" he asked her, looking at her as though she had lost her mind.
"Not dying now shut up and let me see your shoulder!" she snapped at him.
"Can't.....move...." he hissed as he clutched it. "Hurts like the Pits......"
She examined it and realized the damage wasn't too severe and there was a way to fix it. She's done it before but only on herself, twice.
Welp, best way to learn is under life threatening pressure.
"Bite down on this, we don't need you screaming our hidey hole to the whole world." 'Or Starscream' she added.
Bee for once, complied without complain. He was glad he did as his denta nearly sank into the rock, a muffled shout coming out as a metallic 'CRACK!' filled the air when Mantis reset his shoulder.
"Sorry." She apologized.
He spat the rock out. "Ow." He said.
"Can you move it?" Mantis asked.
Bee rotated his shoulder and clenched his servos, activating his stingers to test it out. His shoulder was sore and definitely needed some oiling but he could move his servo, albeit it had an aching numbness to it.
"Should work for now.....thanks." he said. "Sorry for yelling at you." He added.
She waved it off. "Can't say I blame you. We're lucky to be alive." She said. 'Again.' She realized as she was hit with déjà vu at the predicament they were in.
".....................so...what now?" he asked.
Good question, wish they had a good answer to it too.
".....we try not to get offline." She said.
"Yeah, but how?" Bee asked.
She bit her lip. "I say we focus on getting the heck out of here." She said.
"You want us to run away like cowards?" he asked.
"Ever heard of a tactical retreat?" she shot back. "Bee, this is Starscream. He's an annoying egotistical afthole but he's a strong afthole that's stronger and bigger than us. We're outclassed here, we don't stand a chance."
"Backup. If we call the others in we'll definitely stand a chance." Bee said. "We beat him before with our awesome teamwork, we can do it again." He said with more sincere certainty this time.
Mantis nodded and pressed a digit to her comm. "Guys, it's Mantis.....hello?" Static. "Anyone there? Brother? OP? Bulk? Ratchet? Sari? ......hello?" she asked, voice growing more desperate as no one picked up.
"Guys? Hey? Hellooooo? Anybody home? We could really use backup right about now.........hello?" Bee asked, also receiving the same response. He tapped his comm and cursed.
"Damn it!" he hissed. "I....I think the blast messed up my comm."
Mantis tapped hers and still got no response. "Either we're too deep down to get a signal, our comms are damaged or.....Starscream could be jamming them." She deduced.
".............we're on our own." He said.
Mantis nodded somberly. "Sadly so."
Sad but true.................the truth sucked like slag.
Mantis's p.o.v
Scrap. We were really neck deep in scrap this time.
That's the one thing that stuck out in my processor as I tried to put it to use to think of a plan.
No promises that it'll be a good one though.
Right now, the two of us were sitting here in the cave waiting it out and to get some breathing space. Starscream might be out there searching for us, or waiting for us by the cliff so better to play it safe.
And we needed time to think.
I sighed and slumped my helm back against the wall. Primus, so many things have happened in my life in like what, a month? Wow, time flies.
Then it hit me right then and there that right now, Bee and I were fighting against a con, an actual con. Not one of those petty bots doing dirty work against the law, a legit Decepticon that fought in the War, lived past it and has experience and skills way ahead of Bee and I combined.
It made the ones I 'encountered' on my 'missions' look like child's play. And this was different. This time we had actually fought one face to face head on.
And look where that got us.
This was different from the ones back when I was a saboteur, this was the real deal. Were the cons who attacked my home and killed Shifu just like this? Just as merciless and ruthless? Probably.
Then I shook my helm to clear away any thoughts that were irrelevant. I could freak out later, right now I need to prioritize and strategize.
Think.
'We can't fight him, he'll whoop our afts Cyberninja or not.' I mused. 'Our main priority isn't to beat him, it's to escape.'
That thought gave me some grounding.
"We need to get out of here." I said to Bee. "Forget about Starscream, right now our main goal is to get outta here."
"So we sneak out of here commando way." Bee said.
I nodded, glad to see he had no qualms of runni-retreating. We were doing a tactical retreat.
"You got a plan?" he asked.
I put my servo out, palm down and tilted it left and right in the 'so so' gesture as the humans call it.
"More or less. Step 1, get out of here. Step 2, avoid Starscream. Step 3, get out of the forest. Step 4, call for backup and end of story.....hopefully." I said.
He took a deep vent and stood up.
"Then let's get this plan underway." he said.
Third person's p.o.v
Slipping her servos under Bee's armpits, she used her jetpack mod and flew them back up to the cliff.
After taking wary glances and seeing the coast clear, they both heaved themselves back up.
They made their way through the forests warily, as stealthily as they could. For Mantis she had no problem but she winced everytime she heard a branch snap underfoot because it sounded as loud as an avalanche in the forest.
There were no birds chirping or insects buzzing further adding to the tense atmosphere and it was beginning to get to them, they both resisted the urge to break into a run to burst out of there.
"Which way now?" Bee asked. They had both strayed off their earlier path in their wild run to evade Starscream.
"Um......" Mantis glanced around, just as uncertain as Bee. "I.....think........." then she paused as her audio receptors picked up something. "I think I hear something."
They both looked up......
And saw Starscream fly by.
"Get down!" she hissed and pushed both of them into a nearby trench. A wet 'splat' filled the air as their bodies were covered in mud. Not that they cared.
They both heard the telltale sounds of transforming and risked a glance pass the bushes- at least they has some cover for camouflage- to see Starscream standing there, looking around.
"Hm......I could've sworn I saw something....." he muttered to himself.
They both held their vents and flattened themselves against the trench some more. Tense clicks ticked by, feeling like hours with their sparks dangling on a tightrope.
"What a pity." He said to himself. "To think, my magnificent plan would bore such pathetic results. Of course, I had no doubt it would fail since it's one of my plans."
'Is he seriously monologuing to himself?!' they both thought. Oh, how long would this torture last?!
"It was genius, genius I say. Luckily being the great leader I am, I had the initiative to keep that spare signal transmitter with me. It took some trial and error but finally my efforts bore results and it worked! I manage to get the transmitter to release a hoax signal similar to a Neutral's. An Autobot's would've been better but regardless they let their vulnerable conscience cave in to it and would of course attempt to launch a 'rescue' of some kind." He said.
'So that's how he fooled us!' she realized. It made sense; signal transmitters can be tweaked and messed with if you knew your way around one.
"Still to think they would willingly throw themselves off a cliff." His back was turned so they didn't see his raised optic ridges. "And I thought Blitzwing was the one with the glitched processor." He mused to himself.
Bee tugged her servo and whispered into her audio receptor. "I'll distract im', then we bail." He said.
Mantis nodded in agreement. Better to bail now while they had the chance.
Bee picked up a nearby rock and glanced at her. Instantly, she got the message and her digit hovered over her holographic projector.
She gave him a nod. He reared his servo back and hurled the rock off into the foliage.
A branch snapped and leaves rustled, instantly snapping Starscream out of his villain monologue.
"Who's there?!" he asked, bringing out his null rays.
Mantis pressed the holographic projector and it did its magic as Starscream saw 'Mantis' come out.
"What?! How are you still online?!" he asked in shock.
"Unlike you, I'm an actual bot." she said, raising her chin up haughtily. "Why don't you try to catch me and fight me like a real bot, Starshriek?" 'Mantis' taunted.
"You're good at this." Bee whispered to her.
"I'll make you regret uttering those words!" he screeched, preparing to shoot her.
"You'll have to catch me first!" 'Mantis' said before sprinting off into the forest.
"Get back here!" Starscream yelled, taking the bait and giving chase.
"Now!" Bee and the real Mantis said, seeing their chance. They sprung out of the trench and ran through the forest once again.
Of course, the fake hologram 'Mantis' was long gone and Starscream had already figured it out.
"Move, move, MOVE!" Mantis yelled as they heard the jet approaching.
Starscream transformed in mid-air and gave chase in bi-pedal form. As they jumped down, Bee grabbed hold of a tree of sorts, the trunk bending down with his weight then he released it, sending it smacking into Starscream's faceplate and throwing him off.
"Nice move." Mantis said to Bee, impressed.
"Saw it on TV once." He said.
Then she bent down and scooped up a handful of mud. She pivoted around and threw it.
There was a 'splat' as the mud hit Starscream's optics, blinding him. He released a cry of frustration as he furiously rubbed away the messy substance blinding him.
"Damn you miserable cretins!" he yelled, getting more agitated.
Mantis dashed forward and jumped up, slamming a jumping back kick into his chassis with all her might. It made him move backwards slightly but rarely did damage. She quickly whipped her tessen out and smacked him sideways before landing back down.
"Move!" she rolled out of the way as Bee came, skating with his tires full speed for more momentum as he flipped up and dropkicked Starscream.
He landed and they both fist bumped each other, pride filling them at the accomplishment of their combo move.
Then that moment was ruined as shot were fired. They brought their servos up in a reflexive defense as the shots kicked up dirt, mud and smoke. They leaped out of the way as Starscream began to fire away at them with wild abandon. Bee yelped as he felt a shot graze him and front cart wheeled to avoid another.
Both the minibots used their small size, agility and wheels on their heels to the most advantage as they weaved and dodged Starscream's shots like some morbid twisted dance.
"Stay still already so I can squash you two like the annoying bugs you are!" Starscream yelled, his pride wounded over the fact that he still hadn't taken care of the minibots.
"Make us!" Mantis yelled, throwing her tessen at him. It hit him in the helm but that just annoyed him further. She skated forward and front flipped over a trunk in her way, feeling one of her dreads getting shot off.
Both of them came to a halt and took cover behind a nearby boulder.
"Anymore ideas? I'm open to suggestions." Bee said and they winced as the boulder was mercilessly peppered with gunfire, slowly chipping away their last form of defense.
Mantis tried to rack her processor for something. The element of surprise was diminished but could potentially be reused if they have the right plan and Starscream was already being blinded by impatient anger which could work out for them.
She took out one of her smoke bombs and explosive disks. The smoke bomb wasn't made for damage, it was made for dazzle and distraction while the explosive disks scratched his paint job at best.
But it was still combustive and volatile which means........
She looked at the branches behind Starscream, then her optics darted to his wing, then his boosters, then at Bee and then towards the explosive disk in her servo.
"I need a distraction." She said.
"On it." Bee said, activating his stingers and hopping out of the boulder. "Hey Starshriek! Betcha can't even hit a ship if its right in front of you! No wonder Megatron is always better than you!" he mocked.
"HE'S NOTHING COMPARED TO ME!" Starscream yelled, triggered and firing with wilder abandon except his shots were more off now.
"Oh yeah? Well at least he can actually accomplish something unlike you!" Bee continued to mock as he dodged the gunfire. "I mean, seriously? The 'magnificent Starscream'? That's just pathetic! At least Megatron had better naming abilities in his CPU then yours! Oh wait, you probably don't even have one!"
Starscream was so focused on crushing the yellow minibot that he didn't notice Mantis stealthily yet steadily climbing up at the branches in the tree behind him.
Mantis crouched by one of the branches and waited.......now!
She pounced off and grabbed onto one of Starscream's wings, throwing the Decepticon seeker off balance.
"What the- get off me!" he demanded and began to wildly spin and turn around in an attempt to wrench her off but Mantis held firm. Bee aimed his stingers but couldn't shoot. They were moving around too much and he risked hitting Mantis.
She hoisted herself up and wrapped her servos around his neck in a chokehold. He twisted and turned and flailed and did somersaults, making Mantis dizzy. Then she felt a servo grab the nape of her neck and she was yanked off.
She gasped as she was harshly thrown off and crashed into a tree, upside down before sliding down. "Primus....ow......" she groaned. Ok, she was definitely gonna feel that tomorrow.
Bee jumped up and threw his entire body at Starscream, tackling him and wrapping his servos around him in an attempt to hinder him. Starscream tried to push him off.
"Get off!" he demanded.
"Make me, Decepticreep!" Bee said, keeping one servo wrapped around and the other pointed a stinger straight to his faceplate.
"Heads up!" he heard the sound of something smacking onto metal........
It was then he noticed a beeping red light on Starscream's wing.
He instantly let go and hit the ground running.
"Take cover!" he yelled though it was unnecessary as Mantis had scrambled to the back of the tree already and he threw himself behind one too, covering his audio receptors with his servos-
Just as all the explosive disks exploded, the chain reaction occurred as Starscream's boosters and wings went against him. Direction became no more as he as he was sent blasting off with zero control.
"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!!!!" he yelled as he blasted off with a resounding 'BOOM!'.
A dust cloud was kicked up and for a while, the two of them just stayed behind their trees, chassis rising and falling as they vented and waited with their sparks in their throats.
Then they both stood and walked out.
They looked at the now charred but empty previous battlefield.
Then each other.
Then upwards where Starscream blasted off to God knows where- hopefully anywhere far, far away in general.
Then each other.
Then they smiled.
Then they were chuckling.
Then they were full out laughing close to hysterics but they didn't care as they both hugged each other, whooping and jumping for joy.
They did it! They actually did it! They defeated Starscream!
"We did it.....we actually slagging did it!" Mantis whooped. "We just sent one of the top Decepticons packing!"
"I knew we could do it!" Bee said.
Then they both separated and stood there. The adrenaline slowly wore off but the sense of pride, happiness and accomplishment never left.
They were covered in mud, grime, ash and leaves- their paintjobs ruined, their tires definitely needed a good scrub and they were exhausted.
But they couldn't care less.
"You know, we make a pretty badass team." Mantis said.
"Of course." Bee agreed and put his fist up.
Mantis smiled and they happily bumped fists before she pressed a digit against her comm which was thankfully, finally working.
"Hey, guys? We're gonna need a pickup and boy do we have a helluva story to tell you."
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Quick author's note and explanation. The reason the chain reaction was so huge and why Starscream didn't notice the disks sooner was cuz Mantis covered the beeping light part with some mud and slapped them on as Starscream kept twisting and turning so he didn't notice them.
That's all. Bye! And thanks for the support!