Best Laid Plans, Chapter Ten. The final chapter!
Title: Best Laid Plans
Series: Pre-ROTF
Rating: T
Summary: Demolisher arrives on Earth too late, and Sideways brings with him more trouble than he's worth.
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town
[...] I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believin' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believin' that we all were on their side --Johnny Cash, the Man in Black
Shanghai, China
Demolisher did not typically bother himself with keeping track of time. Years passed him by unnoticed and decades were like a single drop of Energon into the core of Cybertron. He did not lament his age, or even worry about it, so long as he still functioned. He had endured millennia of peace and war, visited countless worlds and watched nameless stars cool and die. The span of his entire life did not amaze him; he simply existed, and with purpose, he lived.
And yet, despite all this, Demolisher could not stop thinking about how long the past two years on this miserable planet had felt. Germany seemed so very far away, no closer than Cybertron in his mind. The dynamics of the war had changed, both sides demoralized by the loss of the Allspark, but even more fanatical about the eradication of their enemy. The Decepticons were near rabid in their quest for revenge, now plotting the demise of the entire Earth along with the wretched Autobots.
They had learned over the past few months that the Autobots had become just as vicious, no longer taking prisoners of war. What Decepticon they engaged, drone or otherwise, they killed without pausing to question or solicit. It really all came down to a matter of logistics; where on Earth could they hope to hold Decepticon prisoners that wouldn't be a danger to humans? The Autobots lacked the presence to contain them, and their forces were stretched too thin across the galaxy to hold them off planet.
It hadn't taken long for Soundwave to confirm that the Autobots and their human allies were actively hunting Decepticons, no doubt engineering a special strike force to deal with them. For all their effort, though, they really had no idea how many Decepticons were crawling around their new home, with more lurking out in space. Besides the Constructicons, Soundwave had called many to Earth, all them deployed to search out either the Matrix or Megatron's corpse. The skirmishes began when the Autobot scouts found out the Decepticon scouts, and the humans caught in the middle soon realized that the war was far from over.
For their part, Demolisher and Sideways had turned up nothing in Xi'an, another dead end added to the list. Demolisher had spoken to Barricade only once since they parted ways, and he had seemed convinced that the Matrix was near the Harvester itself. He gave no explanation for his determination, and had, for all intents and purposes, dropped off the face of the Earth after that transmission. Not even Soundwave seemed to know where he'd gotten off to, but Demolisher knew better than to fully trust him.
Whatever Barricade was up to, Demolisher could only hope it wasn't too stupid or suicidal, neither of which were common characteristics of the Mustang. Scorponok remained in Egypt, and Demolisher could only guess that it and Barricade had continued to communicate in secret. He couldn't worry about that now; after all, he and Sideways were en route to North America for their next mission. They had only to find a ship to take them across the Pacific, something that Sideways did not look forward to in the least. They waited near the docks in Shanghai, debating between themselves whether or not the Autobots were sharing technology, or if the humans were as sharp as they made themselves out to be.
It was in the middle of a radio conversation with Scavenger that they discovered part of the extent of human ingenuity. Both of them had stopped talking at the same time, hearing not only an echo, but faint, whispered voices in English. Before they could comment on the oddity, Scrapper cut off their transmission and rerouted the signal to Soundwave, who tracked the echo within moments. Demolisher received a short data burst from Scrapper, with new orders to maintain strict radio silence, as the humans had found a way to piggyback on their frequencies.
How they'd figured that out didn't really matter, just that it put several of them in immediate danger. The hack wasn't intended to listen in on the broadcasts, but rather to trace the source of the signals. The last bit of Scrapper's data burst informed him that they had managed to uncover Demolisher's position, but not Scavenger's, meaning he and Sideways were going to have to move. Demolisher took them closer to the industrial sector of Shanghai, thinking they would have a better chance of hiding amongst the machines there.
The speed in which Shanghai was shut down startled Demolisher, and frightened Sideways to no end. Much like in Iraq, they were pinned down and trapped inside a perimeter that was established with sudden and deadly efficiency. Demolisher kept Sideways occupied by having him access the local news feeds, finding that a toxic waste spill had been staged in order to evacuate civilians. The area they were hiding in slowly emptied out of nearly all human life, leaving nothing but potential disguised Decepticons.
After the evacuation, the factory they had chosen to hide by was silent save for the humming of running machinery. Demolisher parked himself next to a stack of massive tubes, though he did not know what their function was. He had ordered Sideways to remain separate from him, and the Audi had vanished from sight on the road below him, tucking into some bushes. The silence they'd been waiting in was shattered by the arrival of military helicopters, swooping in and searching the area with their flood lights.
Demolisher watched several of them dip below the buildings, which meant they were dropping off troops. They had gotten lucky in Iraq, he knew, and that luck wasn't going to hold out here. There was very little chance that they would be overlooked, so running and fighting were boiling down to their only options.
“They're going to spot me first,” Demolisher said, even as headlights flashed through the rapidly darkening district. More humans with bigger weapons - and their safety zone was getting smaller by the second. “You need to stay put and stay there until they're gone.”
“What - you're going to be a decoy?” Sideways yelped, flashing his own headlights once. “You can't be serious!”
“Turn those off,” Demolisher admonished him quickly. The entire idea was to keep Sideways safe until he could draw off the enemy, which wasn't going to work if the Audi gave himself away. “And yes, I'm serious. I'm not getting out of this by playing inanimate machine.”
“Where are you going to go?” Sideways asked, shrinking back into the bushes as another helicopter flew closer than the last.
“The coast,” Demolisher said. “So long as my path goes through a populated civilian area, I can probably make it to the docks.”
“Probably?”
Demolisher reigned in his impatience, already seeing that Sideways was close to panicking. He didn't dare open the symbiotic link to calm him, knowing Sideways would catch on, kick him out, and panic even more. Scrapper had been unable to give them an answer to their supposed ghost symbiosis, mostly because he was stretched too thin acting as a commanding officer in a war. Demolisher did not resent him for it; the two of them had at least found a way to keep it dormant unless they wanted to access it.
“The more damage I cause, the greater the chance of them hanging back to aid their wounded,” Demolisher said. It wasn't a foolproof idea - after all, no matter who drew them up or how long they were cultivated, the best laid plans were always susceptible to failure. “If you are spotted, then you run, and keep on running until its safe. No one outruns you, right?”
“Yeah. Right,” Sideways muttered, clearly unconvinced. Any other conversation was cut short when the black helicopters flew in again, these ones lingering long enough to make them brace for an attack.
It wasn't long before the area was crawling with military vehicles and humans. The choppers continued to circle, but the ground forces fanned out, completely surrounding them. Flood lights passed him over, but the humans that were on foot crept closer, seemingly headed straight for him. He could hear the breathing of each one of them, noting their accelerated heart rates and the adrenaline coursing through their weak bodies. The sound of a transforming Cybertronian echoed across the compound, and Demolisher immediately checked Sideways' position. Seeing no change, that meant there was at least one Autobot to contend with, and countless humans backing it up.
His audios picked up low whispers from not far away, most of it lost when a helicopter passed over head, but he still understood two words: thermal ripple. That did it - if the humans were tracking him simply by looking for a heat signature, then he would stand out like a veritable furnace in the Arctic tundra. His charade as inanimate excavator ended there, and the nearest humans froze as he transformed, many knocked off their feet as he slammed his fists into the ground.
Confusing and frightening the humans was his first goal, which he did by throwing the heavy industrial tubes up in the air, scattering and injuring a good number of the soldiers. Those that were out of range immediately opened fire, which he returned with a few wild shots from his own cannon. Bullets did very little to him, but he could see the helicopters and ground vehicles moving in with weapons that would do some damage. Before they got the chance to fire, Demolisher let loose a concentrated shock wave, sending humans and anything that wasn't nailed down flying through the air.
Demolisher turned himself around, intending to head for the highways when the helicopters fired at him. Feeling his shields falter, Demolisher lashed out at the nearest chopper, sending it crashing to the ground in flames. The other backed off before he could get at it, but at that point several plasma rounds hit his shoulder, and he saw Ironhide charging at him. The Autobot had hung back only because there had been too many humans between them, but now that buffer had run thin.
As Demolisher rolled off, he could hear Ironhide, bellowing at him, calling him a coward and cursing him. Demolisher didn't care; his goal was to escape, not engage in some all out brawl with a trigger happy Autobot. The choppers kept their distance now, but the ground based humans took off after him, realizing he was heading for the highway.
Soundwave had never given them explicit orders about staying out of the public eye, since laying low was key to hiding from the Autobots. Now, however, he could endanger the Autobots' presence on this planet as well as get himself to relative safety. The fact that he would able to destroy a great deal of this city might have been a motivating factor as well. After all, he had been denied the chance to demonstrate to Wheelie just why he was called Demolisher.
Despite being something of a lackluster soldier, Sideways could at least say he was good at following orders. If Demolisher told him to shut up and sit tight, then he was going to do just that. The humans walked right past him, clearly looking for something bigger and not thinking that a target would hide in the bushes. When things started blowing up, Sideways held his ground, trusting that Demolisher knew what he was doing by throwing things around and then blowing them up.
His intentions of staying put were dashed when the helicopter Demolisher knocked out of the sky crashed right next to him. As the flaming bits and pieces rolled across the ground, Sideways became aware that every human that had watched the chopper go down was suddenly staring right at him. He could practically see the gears in their heads turning as they worked out the reason behind a fancy sports car idling in the bushes in the middle of Shanghai. For a brief moment both parties were too stunned to do anything, before Sideways' engine roared to life and the humans gathered their wits.
“There's another Decepticon!” one of the humans called out, but Sideways was already running, swinging himself around and speeding off. So much for waiting them out. He caught a brief glimpse of Demolisher's retreating form before he disappeared around the factory, the black pick up truck from Iraq hot on his wheel.
The silver Audi ducked into the nearest storage warehouse, already plotting a course that would converge with Demolisher's destination. Since they'd both been flushed out, there was no point in staying separated. Engine roaring, it took Sideways a moment to notice he wasn't alone, his radar detecting three motorcycles speeding after him. His scanners went right through the triplet riders, and Sideways picked up the pace, knowing more Autobots had just entered the battlefield.
The Audi made another reckless turn down a narrow road, panic fueling his flight. He briefly registered a near collision with another vehicle - had that been an ice cream truck? - before the motorcycle trio transformed and attacked. His shields absorbed most of their shots, but they still stung and they weren't stopping anytime soon. One of the 'Bots latched onto him, and he transformed simply out of instinct, keeping his speed at a dead run. Just the switch from vehicle mode to robot mode had shaken the cycle off of him, but the other two were closing in fast.
His escape route turned out to be a dead end, but he charged forward, scanners seeing a road just on the other side of the building. Sideways launched himself through the second floor without a care towards its inhabitants, glass and bricks exploding around him. The instant he was on the other side, he rolled back down into his alt mode and accelerated as though his life depended on it. He tried not to think about how true that statement probably was.
Much to his dismay, the motorcycle trio had not been deterred in the least. He had hoped they would hang back to check for injured humans, but now that he thought about it, that wouldn't make any sense. They had sent warriors and soldiers after them, not gawking neutrals or medics. Desperate, Sideways laid on the brakes, transforming at the same time and lashing out with his saws. Two of the cycles veered off in time, the third one loosing a wheel to his blade before lurching around him.
Sideways was already burning rubber in his alt mode by the time the other two were back on him, bullets wearing his shields down quickly. On an even terrain, Sideways could outrun them, but the maze like structure of this section of Shanghai put him at a distinct disadvantage. He was fairly lousy at hand to hand combat, and considered himself lucky for having taken out even one of the cycle trio. The plasma rifle he carried would do him no good, and the -
Feeling like an idiot, and remembering he avoided combat mostly because he was terrible at it, Sideways launched a graviton mine behind him. His speed put him out of range just as it activated, but the two cycle 'Bots drove right into its field, collapsing under their own weight. It effects wouldn't last long on such small units, but the delay would give Sideways his window to freedom - and Demolisher.
His elation at successfully defeating three Autobots was cut short when he nearly drove headlong into a unit of military humans. They certainly hadn't been expecting him so soon, as they dropped back in surprise and fear as he roared past them. Beyond them it was clear sailing, and Sideways fancied he could catch up to Demolisher in no time. They had spent so little time apart in past two years that it felt weird not driving in the excavator's shadow.
No one outruns me, Sideways reminded himself, even if he had never really been convinced of that. Demolisher had said it to try to bolster his confidence, and Sideways repeated it now in hopes that that theory would pan out. Keep moving, keep running, don't stop -
A flash of silver shot around the corner behind him, and several of the humans started yelling and pointing. Panic surged through his systems again, gunning his engine in order to put distance between himself and the new assailant. The Autobot proved to be much, much faster on their wheeled feet, catching up to him in no more than a sparkbeat.
I don't want to die, Sideways thought, somewhat uselessly. Fear paralyzed his mind, even as he drove on, giving the Autobot time to open fire on him. The high caliber rounds obliterated the last shreds of his shield, and pain exploded through his systems when the Autobot's blade sunk into his hood. Dozens of emergency warnings flared up on his processors, but he didn't need any of them to tell him the blade had pierced his engine, inches from his spark.
Somewhere in the midst of his pain, a query from Demolisher popped up in his communications console, but he violently shut it out, not wanting him to know -
The Autobot was in front of him now, and Sideways was quickly losing speed. Systems locked in fear and too damaged to let him do much else, Sideways could only watch as the silver Autobot grabbed his blade and then stopped.
Don't want to die, Sideways thought desperately, even as his own momentum pulled the blade down his frame, causing pain beyond anything he'd ever felt before. Please no, it hurts oh Primus it hurts it hurts no no don't want to no no NO -
Another inconsequential vehicle flew through the air, tossed aside without a care as Demolisher rolled down the highway. Most of them were crushed under his wheels, but trucks or those that were hauling gasoline he swerved around. Or he chucked them off the road, letting them explode and destroy whatever they landed on. It was orchestrated destruction that Demolisher reveled in, two years worth of pent up aggression towards these inferior lifeforms released on an unlucky stretch of road.
The humans had been incapable of following him, caught up in the destruction left in his path and unable to attack him without hitting their civilians. The only things that still dogged him were several helicopters and the damned Autobot, Ironhide. Only he had the skill and reaction time to make it through the devastated highway, but he did not have the speed to bring his cannons into firing range.
With any luck, he could cause enough of a mess to put off the humans entirely, so they would concentrate on aiding their wounded. The Autobots were another matter, but he was confident he could escape once he reached the shoreline. His first major roadblock appeared in the form of an overpass, and rolling over it would slow him down, allowing Ironhide to catch up. Throwing another truck off the road, Demolisher went at the bridge hands first, pulling up the fragile concrete and destroying the entire structure. Vehicles flung off the roadway, several of them striking him harmlessly -
- except the semi that was currently hanging off of his face in the form of none other than Optimus Prime. Demolisher teetered, his balance nearly undone as Prime's weight pulled him to the left and shock slowed his reflexes down. Diverting his attention back to the road before he veered off of it, he took one poorly aimed swat at Prime and missed completely. He was vaguely aware of Ironhide closing in on him, and was already starting to think he wasn't going to make it all that far after all. Not without serious injury, anyway.
Demolisher sent a request out to Sideways, asking for his current status. If he was still hidden, he was going to have to wait until another Decepticon arrived to pull him out. If not, Demolisher would have to order him in the opposite direction just to keep him away from the Autobot leader. No response came, and the second query he sent out was immediately returned; Sideways was blocking him.
“Pull over!” The Autobot leader suddenly barked, having escaped more of Demolisher's distracted swats and succeeding in climbing up on his head. Demolisher responded to that with a furious roar, incensed at the order and the language he was using. Pull over? Pull over? Demolisher thought Sideways recited too much human drivel, and here was Prime himself, hawking lines like -
Demolisher was halfway up to grab Prime off when two rounds were fired point blank into his head, ripping through his armor like it wasn't there. Howling in agony, Demolisher's hand finally connected with Prime, but the Autobot was already making a lunge for safety, knowing his target was going down. Demolisher lost his balance entirely, and he pitched off of the highway. He supposed it was just his luck that he hit everything on the way down, pieces of his superstructure snapping off as he hit the ground.
Pushing his arms out to slow himself down, Demolisher finally ground to halt, wires sparking and hydraulic fluid squirting out from a leak under his optic. His other optic no longer functioned, and a quick diagnostic told him more than half of his systems had suffered the same fate in his catastrophic fall. Hearing the footsteps of the approaching Autobots, he made one attempt to pull himself forward, stopping when that caused one of his wheels to disconnect completely.
Demolisher sent another frantic query to Sideways, finding his communications were still being blocked. He couldn't understand why; the block was coming from Sideways, so neither the humans nor the Autobots were interfering with the frequency. Cautiously, Demolisher opened the symbiotic link, expecting a rush of panicked emotions...
Nothing. Empty silence dominated the link, and suddenly Demolisher was a lot less worried about the Autobots. Thousands of years of war and death weighed down on him, and he finally felt old, worn down and beaten to nothing. He could not adequately describe how empty Sideways' loss made him feel, just that the ache was far worse then the pain of his injuries. After everything he'd been through, everything he'd survived, endured and learned - and he couldn't save the life of a single 'Con that was under his protection.
The ache of failure went all the way down to his spark. Of course, the Decepticon cause would move on without them, indifferent to his lamentations. But Scavenger, his poor, dear Scavenger would have to remember his life before Demolisher, that split second that separated their creation. Demolisher's frame wilted, good optic dimming as his enemies closed in around him. There were times he had contemplated how he might die, but he had never imagined it would make him feel so helpless and small. At the very least, Sideways had died with Demolisher's link still active.
When he looked up once again, Optimus Prime and Ironhide emerged from the smoke left in his destructive crash, their posture maddeningly casual. Even as death called, Demolisher found it in himself to exact some sort of pain on them, some sort of fear -
“Punkass Decepticon!” Ironhide spat, keeping at least one of his cannons trained on the wounded excavator. Prime cast him a brief glace, before looking down at Demolisher, his expression guarded.
“Any last words?” Prime asked, and his tone was so full of the promise of death that Demolisher almost said nothing, just so it would come sooner.
“This is not your planet to rule,” Demolisher said, relishing in the enraged look that crossed Ironhide's face. Surely it would vex any Autobot to be accused of ruling over a species that they claimed to cohabitate with. “The Fallen shall rise again.”
A look of concern passed over Prime's face, the warning delivered with the unsettling results that Demolisher had expected. His expression hardened after a moment, and Prime hefted his rifle, saying: “Not today.”
There was a second of pain, then none at all, and there never would be again.
Two weeks ago, outside of Xi'an, China
“You know,” Sideways said, stirring Demolisher out of his latest attempt at recharging. “I think I'm okay with it.”
“With what?” Demolisher asked, hoping for a short answer and knowing he wasn't getting one.
“With the whole... symbiosis thing,” the silver 'Con said. “It's not really horrible, like I thought it was going to be. I was expecting it to be more like a parasite sort of -”
“Sideways,” Demolisher interrupted. “Symbiotes are mutually beneficial. Parasites are not. Besides, I'm the host. If anyone was going to suffer, it would have been me.”
“Yeah, but I would have felt bad,” Sideways said, and Demolisher snorted at the silver 'Cons defensive tone. “It's not - I mean, it's not just that.”
“Then what is it?” Demolisher sighed, shovel curling in to itself.
“Neither of us actually has to be alone,” Sideways said quickly, as if he had to get it out before he lost his nerve. Demolisher said nothing for a moment, considering.
“You're right,” he finally said, and Sideways relaxed, relieved Demolisher had agreed with him. Dead End had told Sideways that he would die alone and afraid, after all. Demolisher might not be able to do anything about his fear, but a symbiosis meant neither party was truly alone, no matter how far apart they were.
“Hey, once we reach the city, do you think we could watch Cloverfield again?” Sideways asked, folding down into his alt mode. Demolisher felt a wave of relief at that, knowing that meant the Audi was ready to recharge as well.
“As many times as you want, Sideways,” Demolisher said, moving his shovel out of the way as Sideways parked next to him. “As many times as you want.”
End
Series: Pre-ROTF
Rating: T
Summary: Demolisher arrives on Earth too late, and Sideways brings with him more trouble than he's worth.
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town
[...] I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believin' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believin' that we all were on their side --Johnny Cash, the Man in Black
Shanghai, China
Demolisher did not typically bother himself with keeping track of time. Years passed him by unnoticed and decades were like a single drop of Energon into the core of Cybertron. He did not lament his age, or even worry about it, so long as he still functioned. He had endured millennia of peace and war, visited countless worlds and watched nameless stars cool and die. The span of his entire life did not amaze him; he simply existed, and with purpose, he lived.
And yet, despite all this, Demolisher could not stop thinking about how long the past two years on this miserable planet had felt. Germany seemed so very far away, no closer than Cybertron in his mind. The dynamics of the war had changed, both sides demoralized by the loss of the Allspark, but even more fanatical about the eradication of their enemy. The Decepticons were near rabid in their quest for revenge, now plotting the demise of the entire Earth along with the wretched Autobots.
They had learned over the past few months that the Autobots had become just as vicious, no longer taking prisoners of war. What Decepticon they engaged, drone or otherwise, they killed without pausing to question or solicit. It really all came down to a matter of logistics; where on Earth could they hope to hold Decepticon prisoners that wouldn't be a danger to humans? The Autobots lacked the presence to contain them, and their forces were stretched too thin across the galaxy to hold them off planet.
It hadn't taken long for Soundwave to confirm that the Autobots and their human allies were actively hunting Decepticons, no doubt engineering a special strike force to deal with them. For all their effort, though, they really had no idea how many Decepticons were crawling around their new home, with more lurking out in space. Besides the Constructicons, Soundwave had called many to Earth, all them deployed to search out either the Matrix or Megatron's corpse. The skirmishes began when the Autobot scouts found out the Decepticon scouts, and the humans caught in the middle soon realized that the war was far from over.
For their part, Demolisher and Sideways had turned up nothing in Xi'an, another dead end added to the list. Demolisher had spoken to Barricade only once since they parted ways, and he had seemed convinced that the Matrix was near the Harvester itself. He gave no explanation for his determination, and had, for all intents and purposes, dropped off the face of the Earth after that transmission. Not even Soundwave seemed to know where he'd gotten off to, but Demolisher knew better than to fully trust him.
Whatever Barricade was up to, Demolisher could only hope it wasn't too stupid or suicidal, neither of which were common characteristics of the Mustang. Scorponok remained in Egypt, and Demolisher could only guess that it and Barricade had continued to communicate in secret. He couldn't worry about that now; after all, he and Sideways were en route to North America for their next mission. They had only to find a ship to take them across the Pacific, something that Sideways did not look forward to in the least. They waited near the docks in Shanghai, debating between themselves whether or not the Autobots were sharing technology, or if the humans were as sharp as they made themselves out to be.
It was in the middle of a radio conversation with Scavenger that they discovered part of the extent of human ingenuity. Both of them had stopped talking at the same time, hearing not only an echo, but faint, whispered voices in English. Before they could comment on the oddity, Scrapper cut off their transmission and rerouted the signal to Soundwave, who tracked the echo within moments. Demolisher received a short data burst from Scrapper, with new orders to maintain strict radio silence, as the humans had found a way to piggyback on their frequencies.
How they'd figured that out didn't really matter, just that it put several of them in immediate danger. The hack wasn't intended to listen in on the broadcasts, but rather to trace the source of the signals. The last bit of Scrapper's data burst informed him that they had managed to uncover Demolisher's position, but not Scavenger's, meaning he and Sideways were going to have to move. Demolisher took them closer to the industrial sector of Shanghai, thinking they would have a better chance of hiding amongst the machines there.
The speed in which Shanghai was shut down startled Demolisher, and frightened Sideways to no end. Much like in Iraq, they were pinned down and trapped inside a perimeter that was established with sudden and deadly efficiency. Demolisher kept Sideways occupied by having him access the local news feeds, finding that a toxic waste spill had been staged in order to evacuate civilians. The area they were hiding in slowly emptied out of nearly all human life, leaving nothing but potential disguised Decepticons.
After the evacuation, the factory they had chosen to hide by was silent save for the humming of running machinery. Demolisher parked himself next to a stack of massive tubes, though he did not know what their function was. He had ordered Sideways to remain separate from him, and the Audi had vanished from sight on the road below him, tucking into some bushes. The silence they'd been waiting in was shattered by the arrival of military helicopters, swooping in and searching the area with their flood lights.
Demolisher watched several of them dip below the buildings, which meant they were dropping off troops. They had gotten lucky in Iraq, he knew, and that luck wasn't going to hold out here. There was very little chance that they would be overlooked, so running and fighting were boiling down to their only options.
“They're going to spot me first,” Demolisher said, even as headlights flashed through the rapidly darkening district. More humans with bigger weapons - and their safety zone was getting smaller by the second. “You need to stay put and stay there until they're gone.”
“What - you're going to be a decoy?” Sideways yelped, flashing his own headlights once. “You can't be serious!”
“Turn those off,” Demolisher admonished him quickly. The entire idea was to keep Sideways safe until he could draw off the enemy, which wasn't going to work if the Audi gave himself away. “And yes, I'm serious. I'm not getting out of this by playing inanimate machine.”
“Where are you going to go?” Sideways asked, shrinking back into the bushes as another helicopter flew closer than the last.
“The coast,” Demolisher said. “So long as my path goes through a populated civilian area, I can probably make it to the docks.”
“Probably?”
Demolisher reigned in his impatience, already seeing that Sideways was close to panicking. He didn't dare open the symbiotic link to calm him, knowing Sideways would catch on, kick him out, and panic even more. Scrapper had been unable to give them an answer to their supposed ghost symbiosis, mostly because he was stretched too thin acting as a commanding officer in a war. Demolisher did not resent him for it; the two of them had at least found a way to keep it dormant unless they wanted to access it.
“The more damage I cause, the greater the chance of them hanging back to aid their wounded,” Demolisher said. It wasn't a foolproof idea - after all, no matter who drew them up or how long they were cultivated, the best laid plans were always susceptible to failure. “If you are spotted, then you run, and keep on running until its safe. No one outruns you, right?”
“Yeah. Right,” Sideways muttered, clearly unconvinced. Any other conversation was cut short when the black helicopters flew in again, these ones lingering long enough to make them brace for an attack.
It wasn't long before the area was crawling with military vehicles and humans. The choppers continued to circle, but the ground forces fanned out, completely surrounding them. Flood lights passed him over, but the humans that were on foot crept closer, seemingly headed straight for him. He could hear the breathing of each one of them, noting their accelerated heart rates and the adrenaline coursing through their weak bodies. The sound of a transforming Cybertronian echoed across the compound, and Demolisher immediately checked Sideways' position. Seeing no change, that meant there was at least one Autobot to contend with, and countless humans backing it up.
His audios picked up low whispers from not far away, most of it lost when a helicopter passed over head, but he still understood two words: thermal ripple. That did it - if the humans were tracking him simply by looking for a heat signature, then he would stand out like a veritable furnace in the Arctic tundra. His charade as inanimate excavator ended there, and the nearest humans froze as he transformed, many knocked off their feet as he slammed his fists into the ground.
Confusing and frightening the humans was his first goal, which he did by throwing the heavy industrial tubes up in the air, scattering and injuring a good number of the soldiers. Those that were out of range immediately opened fire, which he returned with a few wild shots from his own cannon. Bullets did very little to him, but he could see the helicopters and ground vehicles moving in with weapons that would do some damage. Before they got the chance to fire, Demolisher let loose a concentrated shock wave, sending humans and anything that wasn't nailed down flying through the air.
Demolisher turned himself around, intending to head for the highways when the helicopters fired at him. Feeling his shields falter, Demolisher lashed out at the nearest chopper, sending it crashing to the ground in flames. The other backed off before he could get at it, but at that point several plasma rounds hit his shoulder, and he saw Ironhide charging at him. The Autobot had hung back only because there had been too many humans between them, but now that buffer had run thin.
As Demolisher rolled off, he could hear Ironhide, bellowing at him, calling him a coward and cursing him. Demolisher didn't care; his goal was to escape, not engage in some all out brawl with a trigger happy Autobot. The choppers kept their distance now, but the ground based humans took off after him, realizing he was heading for the highway.
Soundwave had never given them explicit orders about staying out of the public eye, since laying low was key to hiding from the Autobots. Now, however, he could endanger the Autobots' presence on this planet as well as get himself to relative safety. The fact that he would able to destroy a great deal of this city might have been a motivating factor as well. After all, he had been denied the chance to demonstrate to Wheelie just why he was called Demolisher.
Despite being something of a lackluster soldier, Sideways could at least say he was good at following orders. If Demolisher told him to shut up and sit tight, then he was going to do just that. The humans walked right past him, clearly looking for something bigger and not thinking that a target would hide in the bushes. When things started blowing up, Sideways held his ground, trusting that Demolisher knew what he was doing by throwing things around and then blowing them up.
His intentions of staying put were dashed when the helicopter Demolisher knocked out of the sky crashed right next to him. As the flaming bits and pieces rolled across the ground, Sideways became aware that every human that had watched the chopper go down was suddenly staring right at him. He could practically see the gears in their heads turning as they worked out the reason behind a fancy sports car idling in the bushes in the middle of Shanghai. For a brief moment both parties were too stunned to do anything, before Sideways' engine roared to life and the humans gathered their wits.
“There's another Decepticon!” one of the humans called out, but Sideways was already running, swinging himself around and speeding off. So much for waiting them out. He caught a brief glimpse of Demolisher's retreating form before he disappeared around the factory, the black pick up truck from Iraq hot on his wheel.
The silver Audi ducked into the nearest storage warehouse, already plotting a course that would converge with Demolisher's destination. Since they'd both been flushed out, there was no point in staying separated. Engine roaring, it took Sideways a moment to notice he wasn't alone, his radar detecting three motorcycles speeding after him. His scanners went right through the triplet riders, and Sideways picked up the pace, knowing more Autobots had just entered the battlefield.
The Audi made another reckless turn down a narrow road, panic fueling his flight. He briefly registered a near collision with another vehicle - had that been an ice cream truck? - before the motorcycle trio transformed and attacked. His shields absorbed most of their shots, but they still stung and they weren't stopping anytime soon. One of the 'Bots latched onto him, and he transformed simply out of instinct, keeping his speed at a dead run. Just the switch from vehicle mode to robot mode had shaken the cycle off of him, but the other two were closing in fast.
His escape route turned out to be a dead end, but he charged forward, scanners seeing a road just on the other side of the building. Sideways launched himself through the second floor without a care towards its inhabitants, glass and bricks exploding around him. The instant he was on the other side, he rolled back down into his alt mode and accelerated as though his life depended on it. He tried not to think about how true that statement probably was.
Much to his dismay, the motorcycle trio had not been deterred in the least. He had hoped they would hang back to check for injured humans, but now that he thought about it, that wouldn't make any sense. They had sent warriors and soldiers after them, not gawking neutrals or medics. Desperate, Sideways laid on the brakes, transforming at the same time and lashing out with his saws. Two of the cycles veered off in time, the third one loosing a wheel to his blade before lurching around him.
Sideways was already burning rubber in his alt mode by the time the other two were back on him, bullets wearing his shields down quickly. On an even terrain, Sideways could outrun them, but the maze like structure of this section of Shanghai put him at a distinct disadvantage. He was fairly lousy at hand to hand combat, and considered himself lucky for having taken out even one of the cycle trio. The plasma rifle he carried would do him no good, and the -
Feeling like an idiot, and remembering he avoided combat mostly because he was terrible at it, Sideways launched a graviton mine behind him. His speed put him out of range just as it activated, but the two cycle 'Bots drove right into its field, collapsing under their own weight. It effects wouldn't last long on such small units, but the delay would give Sideways his window to freedom - and Demolisher.
His elation at successfully defeating three Autobots was cut short when he nearly drove headlong into a unit of military humans. They certainly hadn't been expecting him so soon, as they dropped back in surprise and fear as he roared past them. Beyond them it was clear sailing, and Sideways fancied he could catch up to Demolisher in no time. They had spent so little time apart in past two years that it felt weird not driving in the excavator's shadow.
No one outruns me, Sideways reminded himself, even if he had never really been convinced of that. Demolisher had said it to try to bolster his confidence, and Sideways repeated it now in hopes that that theory would pan out. Keep moving, keep running, don't stop -
A flash of silver shot around the corner behind him, and several of the humans started yelling and pointing. Panic surged through his systems again, gunning his engine in order to put distance between himself and the new assailant. The Autobot proved to be much, much faster on their wheeled feet, catching up to him in no more than a sparkbeat.
I don't want to die, Sideways thought, somewhat uselessly. Fear paralyzed his mind, even as he drove on, giving the Autobot time to open fire on him. The high caliber rounds obliterated the last shreds of his shield, and pain exploded through his systems when the Autobot's blade sunk into his hood. Dozens of emergency warnings flared up on his processors, but he didn't need any of them to tell him the blade had pierced his engine, inches from his spark.
Somewhere in the midst of his pain, a query from Demolisher popped up in his communications console, but he violently shut it out, not wanting him to know -
The Autobot was in front of him now, and Sideways was quickly losing speed. Systems locked in fear and too damaged to let him do much else, Sideways could only watch as the silver Autobot grabbed his blade and then stopped.
Don't want to die, Sideways thought desperately, even as his own momentum pulled the blade down his frame, causing pain beyond anything he'd ever felt before. Please no, it hurts oh Primus it hurts it hurts no no don't want to no no NO -
Another inconsequential vehicle flew through the air, tossed aside without a care as Demolisher rolled down the highway. Most of them were crushed under his wheels, but trucks or those that were hauling gasoline he swerved around. Or he chucked them off the road, letting them explode and destroy whatever they landed on. It was orchestrated destruction that Demolisher reveled in, two years worth of pent up aggression towards these inferior lifeforms released on an unlucky stretch of road.
The humans had been incapable of following him, caught up in the destruction left in his path and unable to attack him without hitting their civilians. The only things that still dogged him were several helicopters and the damned Autobot, Ironhide. Only he had the skill and reaction time to make it through the devastated highway, but he did not have the speed to bring his cannons into firing range.
With any luck, he could cause enough of a mess to put off the humans entirely, so they would concentrate on aiding their wounded. The Autobots were another matter, but he was confident he could escape once he reached the shoreline. His first major roadblock appeared in the form of an overpass, and rolling over it would slow him down, allowing Ironhide to catch up. Throwing another truck off the road, Demolisher went at the bridge hands first, pulling up the fragile concrete and destroying the entire structure. Vehicles flung off the roadway, several of them striking him harmlessly -
- except the semi that was currently hanging off of his face in the form of none other than Optimus Prime. Demolisher teetered, his balance nearly undone as Prime's weight pulled him to the left and shock slowed his reflexes down. Diverting his attention back to the road before he veered off of it, he took one poorly aimed swat at Prime and missed completely. He was vaguely aware of Ironhide closing in on him, and was already starting to think he wasn't going to make it all that far after all. Not without serious injury, anyway.
Demolisher sent a request out to Sideways, asking for his current status. If he was still hidden, he was going to have to wait until another Decepticon arrived to pull him out. If not, Demolisher would have to order him in the opposite direction just to keep him away from the Autobot leader. No response came, and the second query he sent out was immediately returned; Sideways was blocking him.
“Pull over!” The Autobot leader suddenly barked, having escaped more of Demolisher's distracted swats and succeeding in climbing up on his head. Demolisher responded to that with a furious roar, incensed at the order and the language he was using. Pull over? Pull over? Demolisher thought Sideways recited too much human drivel, and here was Prime himself, hawking lines like -
Demolisher was halfway up to grab Prime off when two rounds were fired point blank into his head, ripping through his armor like it wasn't there. Howling in agony, Demolisher's hand finally connected with Prime, but the Autobot was already making a lunge for safety, knowing his target was going down. Demolisher lost his balance entirely, and he pitched off of the highway. He supposed it was just his luck that he hit everything on the way down, pieces of his superstructure snapping off as he hit the ground.
Pushing his arms out to slow himself down, Demolisher finally ground to halt, wires sparking and hydraulic fluid squirting out from a leak under his optic. His other optic no longer functioned, and a quick diagnostic told him more than half of his systems had suffered the same fate in his catastrophic fall. Hearing the footsteps of the approaching Autobots, he made one attempt to pull himself forward, stopping when that caused one of his wheels to disconnect completely.
Demolisher sent another frantic query to Sideways, finding his communications were still being blocked. He couldn't understand why; the block was coming from Sideways, so neither the humans nor the Autobots were interfering with the frequency. Cautiously, Demolisher opened the symbiotic link, expecting a rush of panicked emotions...
Nothing. Empty silence dominated the link, and suddenly Demolisher was a lot less worried about the Autobots. Thousands of years of war and death weighed down on him, and he finally felt old, worn down and beaten to nothing. He could not adequately describe how empty Sideways' loss made him feel, just that the ache was far worse then the pain of his injuries. After everything he'd been through, everything he'd survived, endured and learned - and he couldn't save the life of a single 'Con that was under his protection.
The ache of failure went all the way down to his spark. Of course, the Decepticon cause would move on without them, indifferent to his lamentations. But Scavenger, his poor, dear Scavenger would have to remember his life before Demolisher, that split second that separated their creation. Demolisher's frame wilted, good optic dimming as his enemies closed in around him. There were times he had contemplated how he might die, but he had never imagined it would make him feel so helpless and small. At the very least, Sideways had died with Demolisher's link still active.
When he looked up once again, Optimus Prime and Ironhide emerged from the smoke left in his destructive crash, their posture maddeningly casual. Even as death called, Demolisher found it in himself to exact some sort of pain on them, some sort of fear -
“Punkass Decepticon!” Ironhide spat, keeping at least one of his cannons trained on the wounded excavator. Prime cast him a brief glace, before looking down at Demolisher, his expression guarded.
“Any last words?” Prime asked, and his tone was so full of the promise of death that Demolisher almost said nothing, just so it would come sooner.
“This is not your planet to rule,” Demolisher said, relishing in the enraged look that crossed Ironhide's face. Surely it would vex any Autobot to be accused of ruling over a species that they claimed to cohabitate with. “The Fallen shall rise again.”
A look of concern passed over Prime's face, the warning delivered with the unsettling results that Demolisher had expected. His expression hardened after a moment, and Prime hefted his rifle, saying: “Not today.”
There was a second of pain, then none at all, and there never would be again.
Two weeks ago, outside of Xi'an, China
“You know,” Sideways said, stirring Demolisher out of his latest attempt at recharging. “I think I'm okay with it.”
“With what?” Demolisher asked, hoping for a short answer and knowing he wasn't getting one.
“With the whole... symbiosis thing,” the silver 'Con said. “It's not really horrible, like I thought it was going to be. I was expecting it to be more like a parasite sort of -”
“Sideways,” Demolisher interrupted. “Symbiotes are mutually beneficial. Parasites are not. Besides, I'm the host. If anyone was going to suffer, it would have been me.”
“Yeah, but I would have felt bad,” Sideways said, and Demolisher snorted at the silver 'Cons defensive tone. “It's not - I mean, it's not just that.”
“Then what is it?” Demolisher sighed, shovel curling in to itself.
“Neither of us actually has to be alone,” Sideways said quickly, as if he had to get it out before he lost his nerve. Demolisher said nothing for a moment, considering.
“You're right,” he finally said, and Sideways relaxed, relieved Demolisher had agreed with him. Dead End had told Sideways that he would die alone and afraid, after all. Demolisher might not be able to do anything about his fear, but a symbiosis meant neither party was truly alone, no matter how far apart they were.
“Hey, once we reach the city, do you think we could watch Cloverfield again?” Sideways asked, folding down into his alt mode. Demolisher felt a wave of relief at that, knowing that meant the Audi was ready to recharge as well.
“As many times as you want, Sideways,” Demolisher said, moving his shovel out of the way as Sideways parked next to him. “As many times as you want.”
End