Dancing Dead End

[dragoness_e]

As usual, too long to fit a comment, though not as long as some. This one turned out to be a combat scene.

Aerialbot Tango

aka Dancing Dead End

The mission came apart in classic fashion. First, it turned out that COBRA had beaten the Decepticons to Swift Enterprise's new reactor. Megatron took the main force and took off chasing the COBRA forces, leaving the Stunticons to mop up what was left of the human defenders. That was when the Autobots showed up--Prime, Jazz, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and the Aerialbots.

"I'M KING OF THE ROAD!" Motormaster roared with rage (or delight; even Dead End couldn't tell the difference), transformed into truck mode and charged Optimus Prime. The rest of the Stunticons dove into the fray in their usual flanking positions--better to act as a unit than to get slagged separately.

Dead End was sure they'd just get slagged as a unit. He wondered which Autobot would kill him and how spectacularly gruesome his final exit would be--

Silverbolt's lightning bolt took him square in the hood. Dead End's forcefield blunted most of it--before expiring from the electrical surge. Dead End's memory of much of the rest of the fight was hazy, something he attributed to the repeated energy weapon shots to his head. Or perhaps it was Sideswipe's pile-drivers. The next thing he remembered was finding himself a few thousand feet in the air, hanging onto Air Raid's left wing.

"Get off me, Decepti-creep!" Air Raid rolled, trying to dislodge Dead End.

Dead End got a good look at distance between him and the ground, and the blinking red diagnostic in his memory queue that told him his lifters were slagged again. He took advantage of the roll to throw himself across Air Raid's belly and grab hold of his fuselage.

"Um, no. I believe I shall stay right here," Dead End answered. "You are a much better partner for this dance than the ground--and I suspect your companions will be reluctant to shoot me off of you."

"Oh no you don't!" snapped Air Raid as he plunged into a power dive. "No riders allowed!" At the nadir of the dive, he pulled up suddenly. "Ground, meet Dead End. Dead End, meet ground. You two were meant for each other!"

G-forces dragged at Dead End, pulling his fingers loose from Air Raid's fuselage--then his eye caught another jet straying across Air Raid's line of flight. With a twist, Dead End flung himself into the air--

And landed square atop Fireflight's fuselage, which he grabbed hold of with his arms and legs.

"Wha--?" Fireflight squawked. "Hey, get off me!"

"Don't mind me, I'm just along for the ride. Air Raid was concerned that he was unfairly monopolizing my charms," said Dead End, "so I switched partners. Care to tango?"

"NO! You're crazy, Dead End!" Fireflight yawed violently, climbed rapidly then transformed into robot mode, shaking Dead End loose--almost. Dead End managed to grab hold of one leg, only to get kicked in the head repeatedly by Fireflight's other foot.

Dead End's memory circuitry reset again. Next thing he remembered, he was plummeting from the sky, watching the earth grow nearer with a certain fascination. "How disappointing! To be killed by something as utterly inanimate as the ground is a most humiliating end. And I shall have--"

"GOT YA! Steal my rhubarb, will you?" The voice of Sunstreaker reached Dead End at the same time as the Autobot's missiles. Two missiles slammed into the Stunticon and exploded, flinging him violently to one side. Dead End was greatly surprised not to be blown to metal scrap--his forcefield had come back online during one of his blackouts. He collided with something metallic that screamed in panic. Without thinking, Dead End grabbed hold, and found himself clinging to Silverbolt's nose as Silverbolt stalled, falling rapidly.

"No one wants to dance with me," Dead End said morosely. "My partners keep dumping me."

"I can't fly with you dragging on my nose!" Silverbolt screamed as he plummeted. In his panic, he had overcompensated for Dead End's weight and raised his nose too high. Too panicked to force his nose down, Silverbolt plunged rapidly toward the ground.

"I really have no interest in such a forceful acquaintance with the ground there," Dead End said as he slid back along Silverbolt's nose to his cabin. "Perhaps you could postpone introducing us?"

Silverbolt unconsciously shifted his nose downward to compensate for the backward displacement of Dead End's weight. Looking down his nose, Silverbolt gave the rapidly approaching ground a terrified glance. "This is it! Goodbye, cruel world!"

"'Hello, cruel Earth' seems more appropriate," murmured Dead End, bracing himself for the impact.

Silverbolt's nose-down attitude lowered his wings below the stall angle--suddenly the silver jet's wings bit the air again, lifting him in flight. He zoomed along, just above the nap of the earth.

"DECEPTICONS, RETREAT!" Motormaster's order thundered in Dead End's radio receiver.

Dead End leaned over and tapped Silverbolt's cabin window. "I apologize for dropping out early, but I really must be going. Do try to enjoy yourself without me. Ta-ta!"

"I may just be able to overcome my disappointment," Silverbolt replied dryly.

Dead End rolled, transformed, and drove off one of Silverbolt's wings in a leap that landed him quite neatly on the slope of a nearby hill. Now which way had Motormaster and the others gone? He flicked on his radar. Ah--there they were. Dead End accelerated off the hill, chewing turf and flinging gravel as he bounced cross-country.

If he hadn't been shot and kicked in the head quite so many times, Dead End might have realized that Optimus Prime, Jazz, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe together had a very similar radar image to Motormaster and the other three Stunticons....

Comments

[ravenclaw-devi.livejournal.com]

Jet Judo the other way? Devi likes!

Poor Dead End, though... *laughs*

[jessara40k.livejournal.com]

I love the way Dead End's so polite as he lands on and clings onto each Aerialbot. Great fun.