One In A Billion | Transformers Prime [1]

𝟎𝟎𝟒𝟐

"Move!" I shoved Jack out of the way just as the tentacle reached down for him, its movements rapid. 

Jack fell and I spun to see it slither towards Miko, who screamed. Letting my instincts take over, I dived towards her, knocking her to the floor, just as the tentacle grabbed onto the back of my jacket. I twisted out of its grasp, prying the claws apart, only to be dropped hard on the ground. Quickly snapping to my feet, I faced the tentacle, spotting Raf start to get up out of the corner of my eye. 

"Stay where you are!" I yelled, but not at the tentacle. Raf got my message and sat back down at the computer, fulfilling the job we came here to do. The job they came here to do. 

The tentacle dived towards me again and I rolled out of the way. Instead of reaching for me again, the tentacle swept left, catching Miko and Jack in one go. It swung them around before launching them into a wall and going after Raf again. This time, I hopped onto it, dragging it down and away from the boy. Still, it struggled against me, and threw me to the side, before completely smashing the computers Raf was working at. Raf ran from them towards me, just as Miko grabbed an axe hanging on the wall and charged at the tentacle. 

"Miko, don't!" I called, but it was too late. She swung and missed terribly. The tentacle shoved her aside and made a grab for the axe. As Jack and Miko went to join Raf and I, the tentacle raised the ax over our heads. 

"You handed it an ax?!" Jack exclaimed, his voice filled with panic. 

The tentacle started to lower the ax when I shot in front of it, holding the tentacle down with all of my might. I struggled against its grasp, being mindful of the weapon that was just inches away from sinking into my head. Straining, the weight of the tentacle forced my feet to slide against the floor, closer to the wall. The ax was so sharp it glimmered in my peripheral, and just when it was about to shove me out of the way, I whipped out my electric baton, plunging it onto the tentacle and shocking it. The tentacle convulsed with electricity, moving erratically and I moved out of the way to avoid the shock, just as the ax dropped and sunk into the floor. 

"We need to get out here," Raf was frightened, holding his backpack.

 "No," I shook my head. "We're not leaving without disabling the space bridge controls." 

"Are you crazy?! What if we get attacked again?!" Jack yelled, disbelief written all over his face. "Besides, we can't do anything with that standing right over there." He pointed to Soundwave's (presumably dead) tentacle. 

"That shouldn't stop us. For the moment, it's not moving which means Soundwave is probably wounded or experiencing a system failure or something, which should buy us enough time to disable the Z-PEMs." I said adroitly, turning to look at all three of them. "We need to finish this, guys. We have to. For the bots." 

We quickly moved to another workstation on the far left of the destruction. Raf resumed his work while Miko stood by curiously looking over his shoulder. Jack commed the base and I went back to standing guard. 

A queasy feeling thundered inside me as I checked my watch, which was now down to barely an hour. I had my plan mapped out. This whole operation had been orchestrated for the last ten years. I could do this, with just an hour left. The package was sitting in my car at base, I had the route visualized in my head;  the nuclear launch codes memorized. It wasn't that I had messed up anything to get here, it's just that I couldn't- I can't-  

Something booted up and Soundwave's dead tentacle retracted back into his space, coming back to life. Terror shot through me as his tentacle slithered out of the room, causing the building to rock from the momentum. The walls cracked and the ceiling tiles above us crumbled, cement and debris starting to fall on the computers.