Being Human (Transformers Prime)

Chapter Twenty One | New Prey

"When you are being hunted, set your mind as the predator."

~Toba Beta

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Shovel was absolutely ecstatic to get off the ship and look at Scotland, but to his dismay there was neither unicorn nor leprechaun in sight. The place was a spacious plain, but they hadn't come here for the scenery. The Vehicon made himself focus on the task at hand, waiting patiently for the deck of the ship to lower- well, as patiently as he could, bouncing from one foot to the other in excited anticipation.

"This, is, awesome!" Miko crowed, leaping off the platform the moment it was lowered and heading towards the large hole from whence the signal of Decepticon activity came.

"Miko, wait up!" Bulkhead hissed, him and Shovel following her. The Wrecker quietly asked for Shovel to remain at the edge, to provide cover, while he attempted to scamper down to his partner. Some rocks fell as he put his weight on the uneven and weakened ledges provided, Miko looking up when they hit her helm.

"Go slow, Miko. We don't want to cause too much noise and draw attention to ourselves!" Bulkhead warned, climbing down a little further to her.

"Aw, come on Bulk! I wanna kick some tailpipe!" She argued, but then stopped when the green giant put a finger to his lips, spotting a Vehicon guard stalking out of the entrance to the mine. He had either heard them, or was simply doing a routine check, but to Bulkhead's amusement the guard never looked up.

Of course, that's Wrecker rule #17. Guards never look up.

His pede slipped, however, and caused more rocks to topple onto Miko. She opened her mouth to protest again, but stopped when she realized that the rocks were going to give away their arguable vulnerable position.

If I stick the landing right, I can jump.

The Vehicon guard didn't see what was coming next as Miko's mace smashed its way through his helm at high velocity, the girl cracking the ground and making a fairly large cloud of dust as she landed. She grinned up at her two companions before her gaze refocused on the entrance to the mining operation, somewhat startled by the arrival of more Vehicons.

"Scrap."

Shovel transformed both of his servos into guns, pointing them at the Vehicon troopers below. He didn't recognize them, and they were trying to hurt his Autobot friends. He might feel bad about hurting one of his own, but those two things trumped everything else. Imagining that it was Ratchet on the front lines helped even more; despite being a field medic, he didn't seem very combat-savvy.

The first Vehicon that tried to attack Miko fell by his servo, Bulkhead joining to bash the other next two in the faces and terminating them instantly. The new femme-bot was proving good at what she did, kicking and spinning around, unafraid to put her servos on the Vehicons and throw them at one another.

Shovel saw how quickly his friends were becoming overwhelmed and jumped down to help, servos digging into the rock and accidentally knocking a few sizeable pieces loose, which happened to help rather than hurt in the ensuing battle. He kept the handful of dirt and rock he acquired on his way down and threw them at the nearest Vehicons, soon shooting at the Decepticons.

"Traitor!" One Vehicon in particular shouted, charging toward him.

You weren't made to last long in battle.

But neither were they.

Shovel thrust his gun into the chest of the offending Decepticon and fired, quickly offlining his spark. He used a few different maneuvers he had picked up from watching the other Autobots, such as spin-kicking and punching. It was a lot more effective than shooting and hoping to hit something.