Transformers: Fall of Cybertron: Air Raid

Brothers to the end.

~~~~

Iacon was beautiful once.

It was still beautiful, in a way. The skyline was beautiful on fire, all twisted metal, stretching upwards. The shining towers had been thrown down, the priceless knowledge of libraries battled over and ground into dust. Shards of memory crystal crunched under Air Raid's heel as he surveyed the city from his vantage point, atop the spires of a golden tower. His friend Jetfire stood next to him, melancholy.

They looked at the final hope of their people, at the Ark. It was immense, a starship built from ancient designs and fuelled by the last scraps of Energon they could scrape together. That golden mass of metal was the last way off Cybertron. The Core was shutting down, its life-giving flow of Energon receding. Optimus had told them all about it, said the planet would take millions of years to recover.

Below them, a street with a long-forgotten name echoed with gunfire. Decepticon forces were launching another assault. Air Raid activated the scope on a dropped Energon Battle Pistol, and had a closer look at the battle below. He never liked long-range weaponry. He much preferred to fight the enemy at close quarters.

A squad of Autobots charged forward, artillery and one soldier wielding an X16 Scrapmaker covering their advance. The Decepticon emplacements threw shells into the street, spraying Dark Energon or exploding in optic-irritating dust.

Another explosive detonated, throwing the clearing into vivid shades of mercury crimson. Shards of metal were flung out, catching one unlucky Cybertronian in the gut. He staggered onwards, still firing even though he was dripping coolant, before a lucky shot from a Photon Burst Rifle took his cranial unit clean off in a shower of blue Energon. The Autobot was offline before his corpse hit the ground. The story repeated itself, everywhere he looked. The Autobots were being slaughtered in droves.

"Right," Air Raid said. "Time to intervene?" he asked his comrade.

Jetfire, one of the three Aerialbots along with Air Raid and Silverbolt, nodded in reply. He drew his Neutron Assault Rifle silently.

Air Raid threw the Battle Pistol aside and jumped from the ledge of the building. He hung in mid-air for a moment or two before gravity took a hold of him. In slow motion, he began to fall. Air Raid activated his transformation cog, letting his chassis shift into another state. Panels of armour folded and rearranged, mechanisms unused in robot mode activated. His head folded away, optics redirected to other locations. His limbs compacted in, the jets that were normally concealed in his feet emerging. It was tough being a Seeker; you were faster than anything else on the battefield, but you made up for it with much lighter armour.

His wings folded into position and the engines of Air Raid's jet form ignited, sending him flying downwards with a reddish flare. The 'Cons would have no idea what hit them. He glided over the streets, his HUD highlighting friendlies and enemies, choosing his targets carefully.

"The 'Cons on the left are too loose and spread out," Jetfire said, having followed behind him in jet form. Air Raid laughed in agreement. "They're sloppy."

Jetfire went off to speak with whatever Autobot was commanding this area. Air Raid swooped down, engaging his transformation cog once again. He landed on a Decepticon trooper, the jets in Air Raid's feet melting the Con's faceplate before he could fire a shot. Another fired an assault rifle at him, but Air Raid dodged the spray of fire and kicked the 'Con to the ground. He unloaded his Scatter Blaster into the torso of a third Decepticon soldier, blowing a crater in his chest. A melee blade shifted from Air Raid's left arm, and he sliced the 'Con limb from limb in a spray of Energon. The glowing fluid spattered to the ground as Air Raid turned to face an enormous Decepticon Brute.

The monster growled at him. It was a head taller than him, maybe twice as wide. The 'Con carried a huge Energon shield and a Stormbringer hammer. Growling like an engine, he swung it over his head, and delivered a strike that Air Raid narrowly avoided. This 'Con was more or less his polar opposite; big, heavily armoured, and most importantly slow. Brutes only had one weak point, a fact he'd learned over the millenia of war.

Air Raid ignited a short burst from the jets in his feet, propelling him over the Brute's head. The 'Con tried to follow him, swinging its shield clumsily, weighed down by its own armour. Air Raid landed on the Brute's back, bringing out his Scatter Blaster again as the Brute struggled to hit him. Thankfully, the design of its armour actually prevented them from reaching their own backs. Whoever approved those protoform designs was a fool, Air Raid reflected.

Calmly, Air Raid took aim at the heat vent and fired a burst from the Scatter Blaster directly into it. He jumped off as the Brute panicked, flailing its limbs, as the vent turned red, orange, white, before erupting in a blast of plasma that blew the 'Con to twisted wires and molten metal.

A blast of plasma flew over Air Raid's head, and he was jolted out of his triumph. He had forgotten that he was still under fire. The Autobots were nearby now, the troops encouraged by his aid. "Keep going! Blow these stinking 'Cons away!" one shouted, firing a Neutron Assault Rifle steadily into the enemy.

Air Raid jumped and transformed to his alternate mode again, jets flaring. "Here's a move they don't teach you at the Academy!" he sent into the local Autobot communication net. The Decepticons were directly ahead of him, a squad of troopers led by a larger blue and white warrior with a Gear Shredder. The 'Con leader laughed gleefully, sending the razor-edged gears flying through both the Autobots and his own side with little care.

Air Raid accelerated along the broken ground, dodging piles of scrap and corpses from both factions. A Gear Shredder was only accurate in close quarters, unless one had expensive HUD modifications; the chances of him being hit were minimal.

A sudden pain on his right wing, as a gear cut a line down its length, slicing through fibre optics and cables. Air Raid winced internally. So this guy did have those HUD mods after all. Either that, or he was extremely lucky. He'd have to ask a medic about that wound later.

The leader giggled disturbingly. One of his companions gave him a look that suggested he was questioning his loyalty to this maniac. It didn't matter, as Air Raid was only a few seconds away. He rose from the maze of cover he'd been sticking to and activated the Nucleon boost on his engines. Although the 'Con leader and his three bodyguards fired valiantly, they could do nothing against three tons of hurtling metal. Air Raid ploughed into the 'Con leader, his chassis providing no resistance against a Seeker's vehicle mode.

The Decepticon crashed to the ground dozens of metres away, a hole through his torso. Circuits fizzled as he tried to raise his Gear Shredder. Air Raid circled back around and transformed, landing on the 'Con. The Autobot fired a single blast from the Scatter Blaster into his head, blowing it to molten metal.

Air Raid glared at the shocked Decepticons surrounding him. As one, an entire flank of the attackers shifted into vehicle forms or fled on foot, their fear of their leader no longer holding them in place. Cheering came over the communication channels from Air Raid's fellow Autobots. "Air Raid! You just wasted Triggerhappy! That was awesome!"

A low droning sound could be heard as a bulky grey helicopter flew over the scene. It transformed in mid-air, and there was a crunch as one of the fleeing 'Cons was pounded into the ground by him. He stomped one massive foot, and an electrical shockwave spread outwards, stunning and damaging the Decepticons it hit.

The Decepticon was as large as a Brute, a hulking steel grey monster, with helicopter blades folded down his back. "Continue the assault, Decepticons, or face me! For the glory of Megatron!" he cried. As the Decepticons renewed their assault, spurred on by fear, the cheering on the channels turned to dismay. "That's Blackout," one of the Autobots said. "How are we supposed to fight him?"

Air Raid grinned. "Like this," he said, shifting again.

As he flew towards the 'Con ranks, rolling in mid-air to dodge enemy fire, Blackout looked at him. "Autobot fool." Blackout's EMP Shotgun folded away into his arm, to be replaced by a frightful-looking construct of metal plating and conductors. Air Raid's HUD had identified it as a Dimensional Decimator just before it fired.

"Oh frak," he said.

The Dimensional Decimator fired a projectile which arced through the air almost gracefully. It hit the ground mere metres from Air Raid, who desperately tried to spin away. The Decimator was a very dangerous weapon, as liable to kill the user as it was an enemy. The projectile ripped open the fabric of reality, tearing a rift in the space-time continuum. It formed a sphere maybe three metres wide that shimmered with distorted visions of stars.

Air Raid's reactions sped up to their highest levels. If he couldn't move fast enough, he'd be pulled in. He could see the edge of the rift expanding in slow motion, little by little...

He just avoided scraping the edge, rolling away from the rift. He was close to reaching Blackout's position now. The Decepticon stood his ground, his head sheltered from incoming fire by the mass of his shoulders. Air Raid could make out what passed for a smile on his face.

Blackout transformed, his shoulders closing around his head and his rotors folding out from his back. The 'Con leader was an enormous bulky helicopter, powerful engines barely keeping him in the air.

"Face me in my own element, Autobot," he said over an open channel. With that, Blackout turned and moved upwards. He may have been slow, but a flier with that much mass had serious momentum behind it.

Air Raid followed him, moving much faster than Blackout could ever hope to travel. There was no way he could resist that kind of challenge.

Another voice came over the channel. It was Warpath, the crimson tank who was in command of this sector. He was angry, as he always was. "Kapow! Air Raid, get back here!"

"Not a chance, Warpath. I can take this guy." Air Raid shut off the link before Warpath could utter anything more coherent than a growl of rage.

Now it was just him and Blackout, here in the skies over Iacon. It was evening, and Hadeen's rays painted the clouds shades of red and yellow like rust. Moonbase One shone in its geostationary orbit over Iacon like a living spark.

Blackout executed a series of whirls and turns that shouldn't have been possible for a Cybertronian of his mass. Just keeping up with him was making Air Raid's gyros ache. Where was he even going-

A half dozen contacts on his scanners. He took evasive maneouvers, spiralling through the sky. There were Decepticon Seekers all around him. Air Raid still had one trick left, though. He had intended to save these thermal moleculon bombs for Blackout, but these guys would have to do-

They weren't firing. With a start, he realised that the damage to his wing had cut some of his power lines. He couldn't fire his heavy weapons.

Oh scrap.

"Are all Autobots this idiotic?" Blackout asked, extending his Dimensional Decimator from one stubby wing of his vehicle mode. "Decepticons, destroy him."

Air Raid mentally calculated how many 'Cons he could take with him before his spark was extinguished. He prepared the last of his Nucleon boost, getting ready to detonate it.

Suddenly, there was a new signal on the radar. Decepticons fell out of the air, pierced in a dozen places by a rapid-firing machine gun.

"Who dares-" Blackout began, before being hit by an Autobot travelling at high speed. Jetfire grabbed onto the Decepticon's rotors, ripping them off with his bare hands. Blackout started to plummet, trailing smoke, as Jetfire jumped off and hovered using his jets. Air Raid returned to his normal form. "Thanks for the assist," he said, extending a hand to Jetfire.

"Don't mention it," Jetfire said, shaking Air Raid's hand. "We're Aerialbots. We stick together. Now come on," he said, "Blackout's not finished yet."

The two Seekers returned to the firefight, guns blazing.