Huffer - Thursday's Child
Title: Thursday's Child
Author: Jen "Newsy" Kerner
Characters: Huffer, Cliffjumper
Word Count: 483
Rating: G
Group/Theme: Days of the week*/Thursday
*using the Monday's Child nursery rhyme - this chapter is based on "Thursday's child has far to go"
Summary: Huffer, with Cliffjumper along for the ride, makes an incredibly foolish move that leaves both of the minibots in trouble with a certain cyclops.
The hum of another engine added to the sound of Huffer’s own. He barely noticed. He had somewhere very far away to go very quickly.
“When’s the next activation?” Huffer’s unseen driving companion asked.
“Dunno,” he replied - then squealed to a halt and transformed with a start. His companion did the same and laughed at Huffer’s expression of shock.
“You are headed for the space bridge, right?” Cliffjumper asked with a broad grin.
“How’d you know?”
“It’s the only interesting thing in this direction.” Cliffjumper returned to vehicle mode, and Huffer followed suit. “Besides… if you’re gonna do something stupid, you’re gonna need some backup.” The two minibots laughed and assumed full speed.
Upon reaching the space bridge, Huffer switched to internal communication to relay a last-minute instruction to Cliffjumper. “Hide somewhere I’m not. We can’t both get caught.”
“Oh, now you’re smart,” Cliffjumper messaged back with a smirk evident in his tone.
“Smart or not, I don’t have a death wish.” Huffer concealed himself and waited for Cliffjumper to do the same.
The minibots, still in vehicle mode for the sake of speed just in case, lay in wait as a steady stream of Decepticons loaded up the space bridge with a stockpile of stolen energon. The last of the ‘Cons cleared out to a safe distance, the bridge began its trademark humming noise that signaled the final lead-up to launch - and Huffer and Cliffjumper drove into the bridge before it closed, leaving the enemy no time to react.
Space-bridge travel was new to the minibots. It was, truth be told, relatively new to all Cybertronians, and still had a reputation for instability. That reputation, Huffer decided, was well-deserved. He felt at once stretched out and compacted, perceived that he was moving at light speed and staying perfectly still at the same time, viewed… whatever he was viewing; he wasn’t sure… from upside down and right side up and every angle in between in rapid succession, and felt altogether ill. Cliffjumper’s voice sounded alternately normal and horribly distorted: “Where does this thing stop?”
The tumbling, the stretching and the distortion stopped, almost as if on cue. First Huffer, then Cliffjumper abruptly slammed to a halt on a metallic floor. The shipment of energon clattered to a rest behind them.
“We made it!” Huffer said aloud, forgetting in a moment of pure relief that they’d just landed at Decepticon headquarters.
Huffer drove straight out of the opening bridge. Cliffjumper at first followed, but froze and backed up slightly. “Um, Huffer -” he started to silently message, but Huffer’s attention was already elsewhere.
“Yes,” a chillingly familiar voice said. “You made it.”
Huffer backed up and collided with Cliffjumper, triggering them both to transform. The minibots directed their optics upward… into the blank, cyclopic face of Shockwave.
“Welcome back,” the Decepticon taunted, raising his gun arm and training it squarely on Cliffjumper’s Spark chamber.
Author: Jen "Newsy" Kerner
Characters: Huffer, Cliffjumper
Word Count: 483
Rating: G
Group/Theme: Days of the week*/Thursday
*using the Monday's Child nursery rhyme - this chapter is based on "Thursday's child has far to go"
Summary: Huffer, with Cliffjumper along for the ride, makes an incredibly foolish move that leaves both of the minibots in trouble with a certain cyclops.
The hum of another engine added to the sound of Huffer’s own. He barely noticed. He had somewhere very far away to go very quickly.
“When’s the next activation?” Huffer’s unseen driving companion asked.
“Dunno,” he replied - then squealed to a halt and transformed with a start. His companion did the same and laughed at Huffer’s expression of shock.
“You are headed for the space bridge, right?” Cliffjumper asked with a broad grin.
“How’d you know?”
“It’s the only interesting thing in this direction.” Cliffjumper returned to vehicle mode, and Huffer followed suit. “Besides… if you’re gonna do something stupid, you’re gonna need some backup.” The two minibots laughed and assumed full speed.
Upon reaching the space bridge, Huffer switched to internal communication to relay a last-minute instruction to Cliffjumper. “Hide somewhere I’m not. We can’t both get caught.”
“Oh, now you’re smart,” Cliffjumper messaged back with a smirk evident in his tone.
“Smart or not, I don’t have a death wish.” Huffer concealed himself and waited for Cliffjumper to do the same.
The minibots, still in vehicle mode for the sake of speed just in case, lay in wait as a steady stream of Decepticons loaded up the space bridge with a stockpile of stolen energon. The last of the ‘Cons cleared out to a safe distance, the bridge began its trademark humming noise that signaled the final lead-up to launch - and Huffer and Cliffjumper drove into the bridge before it closed, leaving the enemy no time to react.
Space-bridge travel was new to the minibots. It was, truth be told, relatively new to all Cybertronians, and still had a reputation for instability. That reputation, Huffer decided, was well-deserved. He felt at once stretched out and compacted, perceived that he was moving at light speed and staying perfectly still at the same time, viewed… whatever he was viewing; he wasn’t sure… from upside down and right side up and every angle in between in rapid succession, and felt altogether ill. Cliffjumper’s voice sounded alternately normal and horribly distorted: “Where does this thing stop?”
The tumbling, the stretching and the distortion stopped, almost as if on cue. First Huffer, then Cliffjumper abruptly slammed to a halt on a metallic floor. The shipment of energon clattered to a rest behind them.
“We made it!” Huffer said aloud, forgetting in a moment of pure relief that they’d just landed at Decepticon headquarters.
Huffer drove straight out of the opening bridge. Cliffjumper at first followed, but froze and backed up slightly. “Um, Huffer -” he started to silently message, but Huffer’s attention was already elsewhere.
“Yes,” a chillingly familiar voice said. “You made it.”
Huffer backed up and collided with Cliffjumper, triggering them both to transform. The minibots directed their optics upward… into the blank, cyclopic face of Shockwave.
“Welcome back,” the Decepticon taunted, raising his gun arm and training it squarely on Cliffjumper’s Spark chamber.