All was fine and dandy until she came into the mix...
Rumble was comfortable with his life. Happy, maybe not, but comfortable? He couldn't really complain. In fact, this life was all he knew. That is, until he met the perkiest little femme and she...
Of course, we got less than a second to catch our breath, Ruvik's arm catching my chest the moment I turned around and forcing me against the wall.
Footsteps.
I sighed softly, shoving my emotions down for later and flattening against the wall. Nagisa had his own plans.
He stayed where he was, until a group of armed bipeds came patrolling past us. He crouched down like a tiger to vanish into the shadows, lunging at the last bot and digging his claws into the mech's optics.
Obviously the rest of them turned around as they heard the screaming, Nagisa simply rotating himself and his catch. He raised his wings to take up most of the hallway, carelessly digging his claws into he writhing mech's optics and faceplate.
Was he... enjoying this??
The rest of the enemy bots opened fire on him, every single bullet simply stopping on his wings and rolling to the floor one by one.
Not ricocheting, or bouncing, just stopping dead against his wings and falling uselessly to the floor. I watched as each bullet sent a small wave of vibration through his form, from his wings to the base of his neck.
The dragon's optics glazed over as he stared blankly at the mech he was disfiguring, his claws pushing deeper and deeper into the bot's faceplate before finally he yanked them back and slashed his throat to finish him.
He then cracked his neck and spun around. The dragon lunged forward with impressive speed, driving his front paws through the torsos of the two front bots, exploding holes in their forms and spraying energon across the floor.
Without a beat skipped, he spun and dragged his wing along the floor to leg sweep the third bot, somehow fast enough to reach up and catch the bot as they were at a parallel angle to the floor, and drove the mech down into the concrete with a harsh splatter of energon.
Nagisa panted like a rabid dog as he stood there, staring daggers into the final remaining bot, a young femme by the looks of it.
The dragon's entire form was locked firmly in place, apart from his one paw as it lifted to flick itself clean of smashed helm pieces.
The biped femme trembled heavily, understandably so facing down the three of us.
"Don't!" I barked sharply, stopping Nagisa as he had moved his paw to step forward.
The dragon froze once more, his paw still raised halfway through making a step. His helm turned to glance back at me, eerily slow paced, a look in his optics no different from a feral beast on the edge of going savage.
The femme shook violently, the rifle in her servos rattling a bit.
"Just put it down," I spoke calmly to her, trying to convey peaceful intentions in my optics, "You can walk away."
"Walk away...?" Nagisa echoed, his helm drifting back to face the femme.
"Nagisa..." I warned, trying everything to keep my stance neutral and trustworthy for the femme in contrast to my commanding tone towards the dragon.
He stared in silence for an uncomfortable length of time, his optics impossible to read, before his paw slowly came down to rest on the floor.
Even that small movement made the femme tense up, aiming the rifle straight at Nagisa's helm.
The dragon cocked his helm slowly, both me and Ruvik desperately trying to read his intentions. The situation could go in so many directions, not many of them good.
"Did rifles help them much?" he finally spoke.
The femme glanced down at the corpses of her comrades, careful not to take her focus off Nagisa for a second too long. She then moved jerkily, clumsily dropping the rifle and taking out a grenade from her belt.
"Good girl," the dragon responded.
"Nagisa, stand down!" Ruvik ordered.
"You had your fun, let me have mine," Nagisa retorted, a tone both childish and ominous at the same time.
The femme whimpered a bit, Nagisa taking a sudden step forward. The movement, as well as the unexpected distance it covered, spooked the femme into yanking the pin. Though she clasped the release trigger tightly.
One flinch and we could all go.
"What's the matter? Don't trust me?" Nagisa questioned, "I guess I understand, I did just brutalize your fellow troops. Oh! I know... Perhaps it's this stupid guard!" he tapped his muzzle-like mouthguard with his claw.
The femme trembled as she stared blankly at him, backing herself against the wall and holding the grenade out in front of her like a shield.
"Perhaps... would this help?" Nagisa spoke.
Moving slowly to avoid scaring the femme into releasing the grenade, the dragon reached up and tugged his mouthguard free from its sockets with a sharp click and rattling hiss. The guard was lowered with his paw, gradually revealing that which it was constructed to conceal.
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Long scars curved from each side of the dragon's jaws, more than extending an already wicked grin composed of curved, gnarly looking fangs
"Isn't this better?" Nagisa questioned, turning his helm side to side to showcase the grisly scars, "I feel much better."
The femme whimpered again, flattening herself against the wall as Nagisa stalked towards her, each step followed by a lengthy pause. It was like he was toying with her, reveling in the fear he instilled.
When he was a few strides away, he paused an extra moment or two, giving her an exaggerated gasp of shock. Mocking her fear.
He continued his mocking, giving another dramatic gasp with each step, each getting more overly exaggerated.
Before his final step could come down, the femme stepped forward and held up the grenade, giving a halfway defiant look even as she was visibly almost in tears.
"Yeah?" Nagisa sneered, but stayed still.
The femme stood her ground, but her quaking limbs betrayed her. Nagisa lurched forward, his paw snatching shut on the grenade before her digits could release the trigger.
"Didn't think so," he whispered, gripping her servo tightly to keep it locked on the grenade, "I know optics that are ready to welcome death. I see them every... single... day," He tugged her closer and closer to him with each word, until her optics were forced to meet his.
"Yours? ...I don't see welcoming," he whispered, his voice chillingly void of emotional tells as he stared into her optics.
Out of nowhere, the femme raised a side arm, pressed the barrel into the grenade, and fired.
Sparks of bright blue filled my vision as I instinctively lunged to my brother, my only thought being to get him and myself away from the blast.
The entire hallway was engulfed in a blaze, blasting apart and caving in.
