TFP: Legends Never Die

Chapter 2: Nightblade

As soon as light fell upon us, Cybertron seemed to open up.

I jumped, the powerful hydraulics on my hind legs pushing themselves to the limit in a rush of adrenaline that I'd only ever felt when I was bleeding out.The tunnels descended into chaos around us as we burst out of them with the light shining down on us. Had we been clean or healthy, the bright light we'd never seen before would have made us glow. . The only time I had ever seen lights this bright was when there was a fight at night, so I hissed, displeased as my optics flickered before they adjusted.

The blaring lights of the arena were only concentrated, and even then it was nothing like the softer lights of dawn and morning. I took nothing more than a moment before I reprioritized and moved.

We weren't out of the arena yet. We broke into some sort of courtyard with guards and guests, but Cynderfire spotted one of the perimeter walls before I did.

"This way, let's go!" She urged on, her body shifting before she dashed towards it. I followed her, my pedsteps less graceful and I almost tripped over something jutting out of the ground. I paid it no mind, focusing only on the escape. I could stop and investigate everything and anything once I was free, but we had to get to the Badlands first.

At the thought of the Badlands, my coding surged. The idea of having space to roam and to actually be able to run freely was intoxicating, as much of a drug as the anesthetic they put us on occasionally.

The cybertronians milling around broke into a panic, with the guards rushing forwards and civilians falling back, shouting in a language I didn't understand. My wing batted off one guard that came too close, but I was more concerned with escaping than exacting my revenge.

We jumped the wall, our backs arching perfectly and our wings tucked into our side. I wasn't sure I would make it, and I felt the scrape of my back talons against the wall. I landed successfully, although my next couple of steps were unbalancedas my CPU registered the light damage done.

I paused, trying to figure out what had happened. One of my talons was just scraped, but the other had hit something internal and was bleeding. It hurt too badly to put all of my weight on it, and I hissed in frustration. My self repair would be able to mend it in a couple of orns, but we didn't have time.

Cynderfire turned around and noticed the damage. "We don't have time for this. We need to get out of here, now," she said, and although her tone was firm her field was panicked and concerned.

The mecha that were milling about on the other side of the wall scattered. None of them were armed, it seemed, and most of them ran inside buildings or behind other obstacles.

The crowds had always been separated by chains and were screaming, energon hungry husks that demanded gore and glory. These mecha looked strangely normal, and I couldn't help but think about them as we moved on.

"Which way is it?" I asked Cynderfire, both of us sprinting as fast as we could. Mecha ran or dove out of our way, but it was slower than Cynderfire wanted to go. We slid to a stop, coming to an intersection before she flung herself forwards, inciting more screams of panic.

"I don't know!" she responded, "Just keep going, past the last row of buildings, then we'll be free."

I jumped over a strange structure with a tarp on top. This time I was able to clear it, although the pain in my back talon was more distinct.

"And where is that?" I cried out, jumping over a strange structure with a tarp on top. I heard a scream behind me and whirled around, my powerful tail whacking into the structure I just jumped over and sending it tumbling.