Bumblebee was now out cold, he appeared to have suffered a severe concussion and was to be sent back to base ASAP.
Smokescreen was a little too eager to take his place, charging into battle through the ground bridge as soon as it opened, but he knew where he was needed, he transformed to robot mode and provided cover fire while Bulkhead did medevac.
Wheeljack and Bounceback had somehow made their way up to the catwalk system during their extensive duel, the black con now equipped with heavy khopesh blades that were surprisingly effective against Wheeljack's quicker and more versatile katanas.
Since Wheeljack's swords were separate from his body, being able to hold them with the flexibility and range of any other tool was a massive advantage, so it frustrated him to no end that he was getting shown up by Mr. Sickle-Sword who probably had at most 5 hours of training.
The wrecker did glean some satisfaction from knowing that Bounceback got his toy taken away, but in the back of his mind he knew the spark stopper would crop up again at some point.
The smaller con was growing agitated, how could it be possible that they were so evenly matched with such different combat styles, the duel had gone on for so long in spite of his initial expectations of getting curb-stomped immediately by the more skilled swordsman.
This had to stop at some point, he honestly didn't care if he lost, he had no right to be doing this well, he was almost willing to sabotage himself just to break the torturous stalemate.
But he wasn't going to take his chances with the Wrecker's questionable capacity for mercy, so he settled for sabotaging both of them.
He brought up one blade to guard and swung wide with the other, cutting one of the suspension cables, this startled his opponent but was not enough to bring down the bridge.
Wheeljack saw what Bounceback was trying to do and redoubled his efforts, taking advantage of the opening and completely breaking the amateur swordsman's guard, quickly following up with a kick to the abdomen.
Bounceback was thrown onto the platform surrounding the elevator shaft at the end of the catwalk, he landed spread-eagled on his back, triggering the automated system which called a lift for him.
He paid no attention to the noise and performed a swift kip-up, now upright he retracted the swords in favor of blasters.
The shots were supposed to pack a punch, but Wheeljack was unfazed, deflecting them with ease. Then to make matters worse, one of them inexplicably jammed, somehow, unhealthy grey smoke rising from the muzzle.
"What the slag?!? how is this possible, why now?" with his concentration broken and one blaster non-functional, Bounceback was now vulnerable.
Wheeljack smirked and charged at the smaller con, he tackled Bounceback into the now open elevator and kept him down with the tip of his sword, his opponent too frazzled to make any clever escape attempt.
Wheeljack pressed some buttons on the control panel and stepped back out of the lift, the doors closed and the lift started moving, then he immediately shot the exposed power conduit on the ground below, stopping the entire system.
He stepped back to admire his handiwork, he could hear banging inside the elevator shaft, Bounceback would likely be trapped for several hours, but as he turned to depart he had a flash of inspiration, it was really stupid but he was going to do it anyway.
"Hey Bounceback, wanna know something? Good puns are like broken elevators, they'll never let you down" there was a moment of silence before he heard a muffled "Frag you"
Wheeljack chuckled to himself and headed back across the catwalk towards the center of the action, the expansive cave holding a large system of overhead walkways.
He was likely to get a good vantage point over the battle wherever he stood, but he wanted to be able to drop in at a moment's notice should things get ugly.
the timescale of this story is basically nonexistent, like I know it says [several months later] or whatever, but that means basically nothing in the narrative context, it's just an excuse for me and my slow brain to shoehorn characters in, in quick succession, like where the hell did squawktalk and beastbox come from? couldn't tell ya. or something happens, then an indeterminate amount of time later something completely irrelevant happens with no narrative connection between.
I know I probably am beating myself up about it for no good reason, but I am a very introspective person, and this just how it be, Asperger syndrome + ADHD + writer's block + stagnant inspiration = anger and disappointment
YOU ARE READING
Shattered Ranks (A Transformers Prime Fanfiction) Discontinued : (
Action{(Non-Canon) Sequel to Ravages Return by Schizo Writer} Two years have passed since Jack went missing and the Autobots went quiet, Miko and Raf were forced to go on with their lives as if nothing had happened, but it isn't long before an unexpected...
