A Special Touch
By: Sapphire
Part Two
Chapter
Five
- Going In
Sapphire was one of those people who really got into something to the point she felt completely submerged in it. When she read a sad book she wept, when she saw a scary movie she was petrified for days after. When she played her Black Hawk Down game, before going into a mission, she'd sometimes break into a cold sweat and get terribly nervous of messing up and getting her platoon killed. She was able to do all this, though, because she knew right at the back of her mind that it wasn't real.
It was driving her almost to breaking point that the journey towards an extremely hostile city in a ship was real. Her life really and truly was in danger.
She was rocking back and forth, holding her knees to her stomach, head down while she whimpered in fear. Beside her sat Hacker who had a comforting arm around her.
"It's ok, Sapph! We'll pull through. You watch my back and I'll watch yours...there's no need to worry..."
The ship was traveling at high speeds under an external invisibility cloak. Everyone could see everyone else within the ship, but the ship itself could not be seen from the outside. The engines made a low whir, the lights were dim and the compartment in the back where they waited was empty, grey and sullen. Not the most uplifting of settings.
Varyn was talking to Miss Special in the front.
"So after we've gotten to that point and executed our mission, we'll fall back and make our way to the Station V-12. We'll try to get there at 7:00 Cybertronian time. You must try and get there before us, to provide cover fire in case we get spotted."
Miss Special nodded at Varyn's words. They'd just gone over their plans together and were making arrangements for their meeting when both missions were completed.
"I've got a couple of Flash Bang Grenades...are they any use? I mean, will they affect a transformer like they do a human?"
Varyn frowned at Miss Special's question.
"I think that they'll get surprised and confused, but I doubt the light will blind them. It'd work best if someone threw one from one direction and the team came up from another direction and attacked."
"Who has satchel charges on your team?" Miss Special asked.
"I do. And you?"
"Dannn. He's only got four...how many do you have?"
"Six."
They both looked at each other in a tense silence.
"I suppose we won't be needing them as much as your team will, then," Miss Special offered.
"I guess."
The ship jolted slightly and the lights dimmed into darkness. Only the strange glow of semi-optics shone in the pitch darkness. Some of them, like Starath and Sapphire, had a mix between optics and eyes. They were like eyes behind coloured glass and emitted a faint glow.
"I take it we're at Checkpoint One," Lady Venom said.
"That's us, then," Kacheetah breathed nervously.
"TB, round up!" Miss Special whispered. Team A froze and listened with bated breath to the soft padding of feet as Team B made their way to the exit hatch. The hatch jerked and hissed and a faint light glowed around its edges as it unlocked and opened slightly.
"Are we all here and ready to go? Say your names," Miss Special commanded. Varyn listened intently to how she handled her team. She managed to command them with amazing calmness and composure for one so frightened.
"Sinead."
"Dannn."
"Blackarachnia."
"Amber."
"Lady Scale."
"Kacheetah."
"Lady Venom."
Miss Special frowned.
"Cheetra?"
"Yes?"
"You're with us, right?"
"Yes, I'm your runner, sorry."
"It's ok."
She turned to the red button on the wall beside the hatch.
"Knock 'em dead," Varyn called gently.
Miss Special smiled mirthlessly, although Varyn couldn't see her.
"We will. Team B, let's move!"
She hit the button and the hatch flung open silently. She ran down and leapt the last six feet to the ground, landing with a small thud. Her team followed suit. Nurannoniel moved to the button once everyone was out and closed the hatch. She got a last glimpse of Sinead giving her a thumbs up and a brave smile before her friends disappeared completely from view. The ship jolted again and went on its way to Checkpoint 2.
Lady Scale darted across the empty road to the shadow of a tall, broken building. There she met up with the rest of her team and waited for instructions. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her hands were shaking with as much fear as anticipation. She could hardly hold her gun.
"I don't need this thing," she murmured, glaring at her silver laser gun. She could fire from her monocle and she had long sharp claws to boot. Both she and Lady Venom had extended claws, but they were very different. Lady Venom's were long, thin and sharp, hers were hooked, thick and made for heavy-duty cutting.
"All right, we have to move north-west until we get to the perimeter. There we will have to bypass the tanks and guards and get into the city. Once we're in, we race to Station V-12, taking out any resistance. We cannot let anyone who tries to block us live to spread the news of our arrival. When we get to V-12, we set up guard and keep watch for TA. Got it?" Miss Special asked.
Her team nodded in union.
"Lady Scale, you've got the best eyesight. You break cover and move north-west, have a good look at the area ahead and report back to us on what you can see. Take Cheetra with you."
"Rodger that."
She immediately ran, Cheetra was right behind her in an instant, and the two of them dashed across the barren road and went through the narrow gap between two large buildings. This was the remains of the city's suburbs and the buildings were actually small by Cybertronian standards, but very big by human standards. Once out of the alleyway, they could see the city in the far distance. Lady Scale zoomed in and spotted a line of tanks roaming like giant ants. Alongside them marched transformers with large weapons. How they were going to get through that unnoticed baffled her.
"And we're supposed to have a plan," she growled.
Cheetra looked at her worriedly.
"What do you see?"
"A lot of resistance to claw through, if you'll excuse the pun. I don't know how we're going to evade so many watchful eyes."
"We have Sinead..."
"That's all we have in this matter. Go back and tell the others there are streams of tanks and patrolling TFs with huge guns."
Cheetra turned on her heels and was gone before Lady Scale could take her next breath.
* * * *
Miss Special bit her lip at Cheetra's news.
"Then we'll have to distract them," Lady Venom declared.
"How, though?" Kacheetah asked.
Everyone turned to Miss Special.
"Well don't all look at me! I may be platoon leader but that doesn't mean I always have the answer!"
"I have an idea," Dannn said.
All eyes turned keenly towards him.
"Why doesn't Miss Special do her trick of focusing on a target and making it burst into flames? If she does that to a tank, the fuel will ignite and cause such an explosion that they won't be able to ignore it. They also might think it's a fault in the tank's fuel tank and not an attack, since it blew up by itself. Using the smoke for cover, the rest of us can move in."
"It's a good plan, but I have to be fairly close by to make something spontaneously ignite like that," Miss Special sighed.
"Well then I'll cloak you," Sinead said gently.
Miss Special turned and look at her, the concern she'd hidden so well until now clearly evident in her eyes.
"Are you sure you can? I mean, you've never practiced on a live, moving person before, and for so long a period of time. It's going to take a huge amount of concentration and mental energy."
"I know that, but I think I can pull it off. It's not like you're going to take an hour to set the thing alight. I can hold on," Sinead persisted.
"We don't have a better plan," Blackarachnia added.
"All right," Miss Special finally agreed. "Let's meet up with Lady Scale and try this thing."
Some time later, the group were assembled in the shadow of the outermost building. Before them lay a huge barren stretch of land. They'd need to cross it using the smoke as cover. Most of them could run very quickly, except Amber and Blackarachnia who were of normal human speed. Dannn offered to fly low and fast and carry Blackarachnia, whilst Amber was going to be carried by Lady Scale.
She got onto the thirteen year old's back.
"Are you sure I'm not too heavy?" she asked.
Lady Scale chuckled.
"I'm very strong in this form. I can carry three times your weight. Don't worry! Just think of it like an extra-long piggy-back ride."
Amber smiled, adding: "Ok, as long as you promise not to drop me!"
"I promise," Lady Scale giggled.
Sinead was standing a little way away, her eyes shut as she tried to compose herself for what was a very mentally exhausting task ahead.
"Sinead?"
She opened her eyes and looked at Kacheetah.
"Are you sure you're ok with this?" Kacheetah asked.
Sinead nodded. "I'll be fine. Just run as fast as you can when your time comes to cross."
Miss Special approached.
"Ok, I'm ready to go. Are you?"
"Yes," Sinead replied, pulling her hands away from her temples, which she'd been rubbing.
Miss Special looked toward Dannn and nodded. He raised his hand and the rest of them silenced and slunk further back into the shadows.
"Good luck," Kacheetah whispered with a wink and a smile as she too drew back.
Miss Special walked forward, out into the open.
Sinead watched her intently, concentrating on her every move. She drew in deep breaths and her eyes remained open and unblinking. Then, almost to her surprise, Miss Special vanished. A slight murmur rose from the others, but it quickly faded when they reminded themselves how that was supposed to happen. It just looked so strange, even to Sinead.
Miss Special didn't want to look at herself, because she feared there'd be something to see. She had put complete trust in Sinead and so decided to focus on one tank and walk towards it, preparing herself for her own mental challenge. She thought of things that made her angry, things that made her sad and frustrated. It started to work. She could feel her body warming up the more she thought about these things and soon her breathing became ragged and sharp, tears stung at the back of her eyes and she channeled all her pain, all the rage and all the fear and adrenaline into one single thought. The tank exploded.
She wasn't even aware of how close she was until she felt the blast of heat. There were many cries of panic and she could see through the flames silhouettes of large transformers, moving frantically about the tanks. Not only did she see them, but she saw something she did not expect. Large crab-like creatures, golden-brown in colour with huge white eyes that peeled back until high on their triangular foreheads. They had low, gaping red mouths with glinting sharp teeth. They were the size of elephants, some even bigger, and they were hissing and spitting angrily. A tall, thin, spindly being with an oblong head and tattered veins dripping fluid onto the ground approached the burning tank. Then everything became obscured from view as the flames rose and spread.
Those things must have been the aliens in the bodies of other life forms they'd conquered. Miss Special was amazed and horrified at the same time. She'd never seen aliens before and suddenly wished she'd never had to.
"Can't just stand here, I'd better move through the smoke..." she thought.
She ran as fast as she could towards the closest building.
Coming up quickly behind her were the others. Cheetra and Dannn were the first to hit the smoke and dodge and weave through it, avoiding any dark hulking forms. They entered the outer area of the city and went towards the building Miss Special has specified for them to meet at earlier. All the guards around that building had rushed towards the burning tank so there was no one to be seen when they arrived. Cheetra stopped directly in front of a closed metal door and turned to Dannn and his passenger, Blackarachnia.
"Now what? Where do we go?"
"We wait for the others, then we carry on north-west towards Station V-12," Dannn said as Blackarachnia hopped off and he landed on his feet.
"Miss Special?" Blackarachnia called out.
"I'm here," she heard a voice in the distance. "Wait where you are!"
Just then the others arrived. All except Sinead.
Miss Special flickered into view as she joined the others.
"Where's Sinead?" she gasped.
"I dunno!! She said she was right behind me when I started to run!" Kacheetah cried out.
"Uh oh," Amber voiced everyone's thoughts as she climbed off Lady Scale's back.
"Lady Scale, can you see her?" Miss Special asked anxiously.
Lady Scale turned and squinted, trying to see through the smoke. She could make out one staggering form moving towards them.
"I think I see her," she informed the others. "She looks like she's having trouble walking!"
"Sinead!" Lady Venom exclaimed and rushed forward into the smoke. A few tense seconds later, she re-emerged with Sinead leaning on her left side.
"Sinead, are you all right?!" Kacheetah questioned and hurried towards her.
Sinead's eyes were squeezed shut and she was coughing and spluttering.
"Yeah...I was breathing so heavily when I ran through the smoke...it kinda caught my lungs off guard."
Miss Special heaved a sigh of relief and turned and looked down the road.
"Let's not stay here. Lady Scale, you carry Sinead. Let's hurry!"
Lady Scale gently took Sinead in her slim but powerful arms and hurried forward. The others did the same.
"Should I fly up ahead and look out for any enemies?" Dannn suggested.
"No, your wings are metallic and possibly detectable and you'll be more visible up there. They'll spot you. Stay close and run or fly low," Miss Special said. In truth, she wished that she could let Dannn go ahead and do that. He was certainly brave enough. She wanted so badly to know what was waiting around the next corner so she wouldn't be caught by surprise. But she couldn't risk his life and the discovery of them all.
"Hold tight, team. And prepare yourself for a fight. I doubt we'll make it to our destination without some resistance..."
The ship shuddered, groaned softly and went still. The hatch hissed as it cracked open.
"Ready, everyone?" Varyn asked.
"Yes, let's get on with it," Sharpshot breathed irritably. The suspense was making him grouchy.
The hatch opened and the dull grey light of a Cybertronian dawn greeted them. Sapphire was the last to come down the ramp and jump the next few feet to the ground, landing beside Hacker.
Varyn turned and looked at the ship. No one else was left. She did a quick count, and then dashed down the empty street and turned the corner into an alleyway. They were in the suburbs of the same city, except on the opposite side. The rest of Team A followed closely behind until they came to rest against the wall of the structure Varyn had stopped beside. The ship had gone all the way around the city and dropped them at the least guarded point. There were only three tanks and several patrollers ahead of them. There was virtually nothing on this side of the city worth enemy interest so the aliens were a little lax on fortifying it. What they failed to think about was the communications tower seven hundred meters in. That was TA's target. They weren't planning on destroying it, but tampering with it so that it scrambled all messages between the aliens. When the aliens came to repair it, Team A would be notified by a special signal, and then they'd send out one of their own to the tower which would trigger another signal that would send off into the city, detonating a number of bombs they were going to plant at various headquarters and heavily-populated areas. It was actually Team B that was going to lay most of the bombs, since Sinead was capable of doing it under invisibility. They could all travel invisible, if they wanted. Cybertron had the technology. Only the aliens were advanced enough to tune into the devices that made their ships and people invisible and hence pick them up on their scanners. This was why the ship had to travel on the outskirts. Sinead didn't use a device, she used her mind. The scientists could not create this in robotic beings and finding humans that were capable of it was extremely rare. When they discovered that she had potential towards this ability, they gave her drugs (while she was unconscious) that would help her access it. Sinead was not happy about this. She didn't like the idea of people tampering with her body without her consent. She held a grudge against Spenzak and the scientists. Nevertheless, she was truly a marvel to the Cybertronians, as well as to her fellow humans.
Team B was going to stealthily plant bombs in less obvious places, like supply lines or electricity substations. This would hinder the enemy.
"Ok," Varyn whispered to her team, huddled in the dark. "Your cue, Sharpshot."
He took in a long, deep breath and stood in front of Skyfire. Sky picked him up and flew with his great, silent bird wings up to a small outcropping of the metal building, probably the remains of a balcony. It was covered in rubble and debris from the explosion that had rocked the city some months before. Sharpshot was placed on this outcropping and Skyfire flew down. Sharpshot buried himself as best as he could in the rubble, getting his sniper rifle into position. One bullet was enough to shatter the metal of even the toughest transformer. Once inside it exploded, wreaking havoc to the internal systems. There was a scope on his gun that penetrated the transformer to reveal exactly where its spark was. If his aim was correct, he'd pierce the spark and instantly kill his target. It was his job to swiftly pick off the seven patrolling guards. Then the others would deal with the three tanks.
Below, Team A was lying in wait, their eyes fixed on the patrollers ahead. Any moment now, Sharpshot would fire his first shot.
"As soon as the seventh one hits the ground, you send a pulse, Sapph," Varyn whispered to the South African.
She nodded, swallowing hard and wiping a trickle of sweat from her cheek.
"After that, we'll go in and finish the tanks off, while they're off balance. Apparently these things can fly, if need be, so we must try and destroy them before they do that. The last thing we need is flying tanks charging at us."
The tanks were grey and sleek and relatively quiet, even quite elegant in the morning light. They were fast and modern and self-operative, i.e. they didn't need a transformer to control them. They had many devices attached that could read invisibility cloaks and signatures, as well as an advanced radar system.
It was utterly quiet, except for the small noises the tanks and transformers made as they moved along. They were in range by now.
A soft bang was heard and one of the Transformers collapsed to the ground. Before the others could get a hold on what was happening, they too fell dead, one quickly after the other. The last, unfortunately, made a loud cry in a language that was certainly not Cybertronian. Immediately, the tanks turned and lifted off the ground, aiming right at them.
"So much for that!" Varyn hissed, rising to her feet from her crouched position. "Sapph, now!"
Sapphire jumped up, cupped her hands and blasted off a massive pulse of energy that could be seen as a ghostly, rippling ball moving rapidly towards the tanks. When it hit, they were thrown back. One hit the wall and crumbled to the ground, but the other two regained their balance and opened fire.
"Aaaaah!" Sapphire shrieked and flung herself to the ground. Charges of laser fire went singing over her head.
"This isn't going as planned!" Varyn yelled in panic as she dodged a barrage of fire. Starath was the first to return the favour. She fired a long charge of purple laser into one of the tanks, scorching its side. Skyfire flew up and shot some of his wing missiles at them. They hit spot on, making considerably large holes in one of the tanks. After that, though, they moved surprising fast and hitting them while they were moving at such a speed became difficult.
"Hacker, watch out!" Sharpshot cried from the ledge above. Hacker's specialty was close combat with alien beings and transformers, not heavily armored tanks. She sprinted towards Starath and hid behind her.
"If you need to fly, take me with!" she cried over the screaming of weapons fire.
"Sure thing!" Starath called, grabbing Hacker and flying up. A huge blast of lime-green fire went underneath her. Hacker stared at the ground in shock.
"Oh...my...gosh...that was too close!"
Sapphire had to charge up for a pulse of that size so currently she had only her telekinesis and speed.
"Never thought my athletic colours were gonna come in handy," she muttered as she got to her feet again and dashed away from the tanks. She stopped and looked around for something to lift. Problem was she could only lift things up to twice her own body weight, which unfortunately wasn't much. She spotted a chunk of rubble that she fancied she could try and heave it up. She guessed right. Just by looking at it and commanding it to lift up in her mind, it rose six feet off the ground. Her eyes darted to a tank, and the chunk of metal followed her gaze and punched into it. The tank was knocked off balance and Starath took the opportunity to send an extra powerful shot at it. It crashed to the ground.
Nurann was standing very close by to where it landed. She smiled smugly when she saw that its jets were ruined. Her smile disappeared when she saw it start to tilt and tracks begin to slide underneath it. It was getting up!
"Oh no you don't!" she snarled and sent a little earthquake into the ground beneath it. The earth opened up while it was still on its side and therefore narrower and it slipped through the crack and got wedged in the ground. It was stuck and useless.
"Good work, Nurann!" Hacker laughed from above her. She looked up to see Starath soaring overhead. She nodded and grinned.
The other tank was taking heavy fire from both Pacerpaw and Skyfire and now Sapphire had charged up enough to send another pulse, completely wrecking its barrel. The tank fell to the ground, sparks flying. It let out a mechanical roar before finally shutting down. The third tank had been rendered useless at the very beginning. A sudden eerie silence filled the air.
"Phew! Glad that's over!" Hacker sighed as Starath put her back on her feet again. Skyfire went and retrieved Sharpshot, dropping him gently to the ground beside the others.
Varyn turned to Sharpshot and patted him on the shoulder.
"Excellent shots."
"No sweat," he replied.
She turned to the others.
"Ok, so we've cracked open the shell. Now let's go for the nut!" she said, pointing towards something. They followed her hand and spotted the communications tower, looming ahead of them in the distance.
"Great... we've still got that to do and then we have to survive the trip to Station V-12," Pacerpaw sighed. Her hands were trembling and her eyes were still wide with fear. She didn't look very different to the rest of them.
"Yeah," Varyn murmured, brushing off some dirt and taking the first stride towards their destination.
"Let's just hope the others are doing ok as well."
Lady Venom held her breath as she turned the next corner. Before her lay an empty street with a few dull lights. In the far distance she could see the massive Dome of Cyberpolis. In front of that dome was the secret underground chamber that had been dug for refugee Maximals in case of a Predacon rebel attack. It was to be their base until they had conquered the city. This was Cybertron's capital and it contained all its richest energon reserves. The aliens were keeping these to themselves, to support their new forms and to prevent their enemies from gathering enough power to launch another attack. If they regained control of this city, the Transformers would have the war tipped in their favour. The main alien threats were here too. All their most powerful military groups and machines were stationed in the heart of the city. They had to capture as many as they could and destroy what they could not. It was the only way to win the war.
Of course, Lady Venom wasn't thinking about all this as she turned each dangerous corner. Her mind was completely focused on her own survival at the moment.
She glanced back over her shoulder and whispered to Miss Special.
"It's in sight, now. Not much further."
Miss Special nodded and led her group towards Lady Venom, who was operating as the scout for the time being.
When Lady Venom turned around again, the street was filled with silently hovering machines. They looked like...
"Tanks!" she hissed as she disappeared around the corner and ran back to her teammates.
"They must have been under invisibility cloaks, because they just appeared!"
"No doubt returning from another successful raid on a small Cybertronian town," Sinead murmured. They had been well informed about the tanks and their regular trips to torment the last few strongholds on this side of the planet. Once inside a safe area, the tanks revealed themselves again. At the moment, Cyberpolis was safe for the aliens. It was their mission to change all that.
"What do we do? They're coming our way," Lady Venom whispered nervously.
"Make them burst into flames again, Miss Special," Blackarachnia suggested.
She shook her head. "No, if we use that tactic again it'll become too obvious to the aliens that something fishy is going on here. Besides, it'd block our main entry to the tower."
"So do we fight or flee?" Lady Scale asked.
"We could try hiding and wait for them to pass. I don't really feel like fighting so many of those things," Miss Special said. She looked around and spotted a large broken window leading into a dark building.
"Come on, this way!"
The group stepped carefully into the building. It was empty and smelled of oils and fluids. It was a small room, the doors were bolted shut so they'd have to hide in the corners and behind debris, out of the glare of streetlights.
Kacheetah stumbled as she tried to get behind what looked to be a metal table. She stepped on something slimy.
"Ew ew ew!!" she exclaimed in a quick whisper.
She looked down. She covered her mouth and choked softly.
"What's wrong, Kacheets?" Sinead asked as she came beside her.
"I...I-I stood in a puddle of mech. fluid..." she said, her voice trembling.
"Shhh!" Miss Special chided. "They're coming."
An immediate silence followed. The air was incredibly tense as they heard the very soft whirs the tanks made as they floated past.
After what felt like an age, Miss Special raised her hand to signal they could move again.
Kacheetah instantly drew back, shaking drops of the silver fluid from her foot. An arm was peeping out from under the table.
"I guess the rest of him is under there," Sinead said somberly.
They hurriedly left the building.
When they stepped outside, the first morning light shone on their colourful forms. Miss Special frowned.
"I couldn't stand out any more! I stick out like a sore thumb."
Amber chuckled. "Blackarachnia and I are wearing the right stuff. Totally black outfits."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get a move on, shall we?" Lady Venom said, getting agitated. She didn't like waiting in the open.
The group moved quickly and silently towards the tower. They were all very relieved their leader had chosen to 'flee' because as they moved along, they found numerous dead transformers lining the sidewalks and scattered in the roads. Most of them were victims of their own technology, turned against them by an invisible foe. This time Cheetra went ahead as a scout, as she was a faster runner.
They were just beginning to relax, when Cheetra came reeling around the corner at top speed, her eyes wide with terror.
"Run!!!" she yelled.
There was a moment of confusion as some of them started to run back and then stop uncertainly and others stood waiting for Miss Special's command.
Sinead stepped out and caught Cheetra before she whizzed past. The impact made them both topple over.
"Sorry! Couldn't brake at that speed," Cheetra rasped. She stared at Sinead as the girl got to her feet, rubbing a grazed arm.
"Aliens!! They spotted me! They're in forms I can't even describe...we've got to--"
She was cut off by a yell from Miss Special. She turned in horror to see the four grizzly things that had been pursuing her, come into view.
They were large yellow lumpy beings with an arched back.. They walked on four elephant-like legs, with many more spider legs growing out from their sides. Two enormous pincers were dangling in the front. They had hard red shells littered with spikes. Most peculiar, though were the two remarkable human-like arms folded below their pincers in the front. No one could tell where their eyes were, although they were certain the creatures could tell exactly where they were.
"Guess you four decided not to get the Transformer make-over, then?" Miss Special called out, the only one still standing where they all were a few seconds before. Her stance was rigid, her hands were several centimeters from her side, ready to summon fire.
"Miss Special! Are you sure we can take these things on?" Sinead asked, her voice unable to cover her panic.
"No choice," she said coolly. "They've seen us now, and they will tell the rest of their kind given half a chance. Then our covert mission will be ended before it even began."
The others exchanged glances.
"It's fight this time," Dannn stated, taking a brave step forward. This action spurred the others on. They stood still, watching as the monstrous animals before them snorted out puffs of grey air and growled lowly.
Amber felt a small vibration on her hip. One of her devices was picking something up. She grabbed it from her belt and read the readings.
"Miss Special? My frequency device tells me that they're communicating with each other, only it's too low for human ears to pick up."
"I can pick it up, Cheetra said, her cat ears alert.
Miss Special nodded. "Let's make sure they don't talk any more, then, shall we?"
With that she cupped her hands and let loose a massive fire ball. With lightning speed, the yellow creature she'd aimed it at flatted its pincers out and reflected the blast into the sky. The pincers glinted like oval chainsaws in the sunrise.
Miss Special sighed.
"Ok, so we're going to have to treat this thing like a turtle. Get it where it's most vulnerable."
"Underneath!" Dannn cried.
"Hit it with everything you've got, team!" Miss Special yelled and broke into a sprint. The creatures' spider legs all lifted and turned at a perfect 90 degree angle, became stiff, and fired shots of sticky acid through the air. It came as a total surprise to everyone. One such acid bullet hit Lady Scale, but fortunately for her it only hit her hand, which was a titanium claw, so it didn't do much damage. It still melted a notch into it, though!
"HEY!" she exclaimed angrily, and sent a laser beam from her monocle charging into the head of the offending creature. It didn't even scorch its tough shelled forehead.
"Spread out! Confuse them!" Sinead yelled. She caught up with Lady Venom.
"I'll make you invisible. You get underneath those things and rip their underbellies!"
Although frightened, she didn't show it. "You got it!" Lady Venom took off towards the creatures that were firing erratically into the air. So far their blasts had missed their agile targets, but it was only a matter of time before the team suffered casualties.
Sinead flattened herself against a building, trying to keep a low profile as she concentrated on the running girl. She was already weary from cloaking Miss Special for such a long time, but she knew she had to do this. It might be their only chance.
* * * *
Lady Venom's arms were moving at her sides in perfect athletic motion. One forward, one back, one forward, one back. Then they both disappeared and she knew she was invisible. She raced towards one of the creatures, put out her leg and skidded neatly under the jutting pincers. Luckily the hideous thing wasn't moving much, so she could take a good aim.
She knelt and looked up.
"Oh no..."
Sinead felt the sweat dripping down her burning forehead. It was running into her eyes. Her hair stuck to her face and her body tingled. This was not a pleasant thing to do. It was exhausting!
"Sinead! Lose the cloak!" she heard Lady Venom's voice coming towards her. She let go of her concentration and Lady Venom shimmered into view.
"Why didn't you slice the underbellies?" Sinead asked frantically.
Lady Venom shook her head: "I couldn't. They're shelled underneath as well!"
"Oh f...luff, as Sapph would say," Sinead caught herself.
"Come one, we'd better let Miss Special know!"
* * * *
Miss Special was very busy dodging acid sprays and tossing fireballs. They weren't having much effect and a couple of her own had been reflected back into her. She was never burned by her own fire, but the force knocked her off her feet.
"Miss Special!! The bloody things are armoured underneath as well!" Lady Venom called over the noise of laser fire, yells and the hiss of acid.
Miss Special felt a headache coming on.
"What aren't they immune to?" she muttered.
There was a shriek and Miss Special looked up to see Dannn dropping Amber in-between two nasty spikes on the back of one of the creatures. Amber immediately clutched at one of the spikes as the creature jolted and shook, trying to throw her off.
"DANNN!! What are you doing?!!" Miss Special yelled. He flew and landed before her.
"It was Amber's idea. She asked me to drop her onto the creature's back. She said she wanted to try something."
Before Miss Special could properly react, Amber yelled: "Dannn! Get back here now!! I need to you to fetch me!"
"Already?" he cried as he shot upwards, dodging an acid spray. Luckily Miss Special dodged too. "That was fast!" he commented as he swooped down and grabbed her.
"What's going on here, Amber?" Miss Special yelled, frustrated.
Dannn dropped Amber in front of the aggravated girl.
"I'll tell you in a minute! Just give the order for everyone to fall back!" she panted.
Miss Special frowned but didn't hesitate.
"Fall back!! Fall back!!"
The others were only too happy to retreat from a seemingly invincible enemy.
"Take cover!" Amber yelled and dived through the glass into a building. Miss Special took this as a sign that it was very necessary to take cover. She went through the hole Amber had made.
A few seconds later, just after Lady Scale (the last one in the open) took cover behind a chunk of debris, there was a huge explosion.
The ground shook and rumbled. Glass shattered, people screamed in fright and there was a roar rising above all the turmoil. Then, everything fell silent.
* * * *
Sinead grumbled as she got to her feet for the umpteenth time. She was getting sick of being knocked to the ground. She raised her head from behind the cybercar she'd used as cover and saw a horrid sight before her.
The four huge yellow creatures were now one huge sizzling blob of muck.
"Grooooossss!" she heard Kacheetah exclaim from across the street.
Miss Special emerged from the building and gagged. "UGH! What a smell..." She turned to Amber, who smiled and said: "High explosives. Beauties, aren't they?"
Miss Special found nothing beautiful about the sludge that dripped off from the signpost above her and splattered down her back. Amber laughed.
After regaining her composure, Miss Special walked out and stated loudly: "I think the enemy is defeated."
There was collective laughter. Miss Special couldn't help but smirk. "But now we must hurry to the underground, before the rest of our enemy come to check out what all the explosive fuss was all about. We don't want to be around when they discover there are enemies in their midst."
The others came out from their hiding places and regrouped in the center of the street.
"How're we going to get over that wall of slop ahead of us?" Blackarachnia asked.
Miss Special sighed. "Dannn? Kacheetah? Would you mind giving us lifts?"
"Nope," Kacheetah said.
Dannn wiped a piece of yellow muck off his shoulder.
"Not at all."
They were all very relieved.
Varyn didn't realize how long she had been holding her breath until someone tapped her.
"Varyn! Scouts report enemy movement towards our position. Coming from the south east."
She turned away from Pacerpaw, who was fiddling with the tower's control systems. Starath was the one looking at her with wide eyes and trembling hands.
"Apparently it's a whole platoon of Transformers and...and a thing."
"A thing?" Varyn asked as she raised an eyebrow.
It had been a long, slow mission of quiet sniper shooting and ducking and diving around corners to get to the central control room of the tower. They'd taken out several robo-guards, which were mindless drones but fast and deadly enough. They'd had to try and avoid raising any alarms, so they took the guards out as quietly as possible. They had then taken out two of their first Transformers, who had been working in the control room. It had been simple enough, since Sharpshot grounded them with two bullets, but fully armed, fully aware Transformers were a different story. At the moment, Pacerpaw was rigging up the signal system, which was to be hidden deep in the wires. It was a delicate operation that required time.
"A...a...thing. Tall, slimy thing with tentacles that drip some kind of fluid. That's all Hacker said."
Varyn shuddered visibly.
"Lovely."
She turned to Pacerpaw again.
"How much longer is this gonna take?"
Pacerpaw was underneath a mass of wires under a steel panel. Her voice came muffled and agitated.
"Seven more minutes! At least seven."
Varyn swiveled around to face Starath again. The room was poorly lit and small. Starath's face was lit by the little coloured flashing lights that dotted the walls. Her eyes were large and worried.
"Did Hacker say how far away they were?"
"Not really. She just said they were in her sights."
"How far is she from our position?"
"Five minutes."
"Shoot!"
Starath stared at her. "You want me to order her to shoot?"
Varyn chuckled briefly. "No, no. I meant shoot as in a curse word. I'm trying to cut down on the swearing around Sapph."
Sapphire raised a thumbs up from her place in the corridor, visible through the open door. "It's something Solar Blaze mad me think of. I used to swear quite a bit, but now I only do when I am very, very angry."
Varyn nodded politely. Now really wasn't the time for this kind of conversation.
"That cuts us very fine. We might need a diversion."
"Might?" Starath queried.
Varyn rubbed her temples. "Well if it's a platoon, then they must be doing military rounds. They wouldn't really need to be coming into a communications tower, would they?"
"They might want to make a city announcement as to shifts and commands and what have you. We don't know for sure," Starath pointed out.
Varyn's growing headache suddenly got worse. She turned to Pacerpaw again.
"Pacer? Is there anyway we can help to speed up this process?"
"Yes," came the muffled reply, "you can stop rushing me! I'm almost done..."
Varyn nodded with a grim expression. She could understand Pacerpaw's frustration. She was trying to rush through a very fragile operation which only she had the knowledge to execute.
"Starath, go back outside and see if Hacker's returned."
"Okay."
When Varyn was on the brink of going downstairs herself, she heard someone rushing up the stairs. It was Starath.
The girl came rushing up to the doorway, scaring Sapphire and Sharpshot, who'd been chatting calmly by the entrance.
"The troops have moved on, but the slimy thing is heading right towards us! It's big, very tall and very nasty looking. Hacker and Skyfire are back inside. Now we're all in the tower. What do we do?"
No one had warned Varyn about tall slimy things patrolling the street. Sure Spenzak had warned them that the aliens came in all sorts of forms, but were primarily inhabiting Transformer bodies, but he failed to mention what to do when confronted by anything other than a TF.
Then again, she thought, he probably doesn't even know what they are, much less how to fight them.
"There's only one way in this tower, and there's only one way out. We need to leave this place quickly and quietly and if possibly, we need to do it whilst avoiding this...thing. We don't know what we're up against."
At that moment, Skyfire, Nurann and Hacker came rushing up the steps. Hacker burst into the room, knocking Starath over.
"It's here! It's inside! It's only a matter of time before it sees one of the dead guards---"
A long, high-pitched shriek pierced the air. Hacker flinched and covered her ears. Varyn felt her blood run cold.
"Too late," Starath murmured after the scream finished, her face ghostly pale.
"What the heck was that?!" Pacerpaw cried from under the control panel.
"A very angry alien, that's what," Varyn said. "Are you done, yet?"
Pacerpaw slid out and sat up.
"Yeah, I just need to fix the front panel back on, otherwise it'll be too obvious we've tampered with the system."
Varyn nodded. She looked at everyone, who had assembled inside. Sapphire was trembling, her eyes filled with fright.
"Ok, we're gonna have to position ourselves along the hallway and up the stairs. When I give the command, you run and do everything you can to avoid getting hurt by that thing, and you do your best to cover your teammates. Don't try and fight it, just try and escape. I can't guarantee we'll win a fight against this...tall, slimy thing..." Varyn trailed.
She then proceeded to give everyone an instruction.
Skyfire was more than a little nervous at being the one closest to the elevator and staircase that led up to the mini stairs which stopped at the control room. He was a frontline soldier against an unknown enemy. He'd only glimpsed the nasty thing heading their way, but what he saw was enough to give him a cold prickling feeling down his back. It was like nothing he'd ever seen before. Tall, thin, in a colour that he couldn't quite describe. Grey...blue...green-yellow. Two enormous, oval eyes stretched from its cone-like head down to its circular waist. They were white with red pupils that widened and rolled. Two bubbles of glass, it seemed, were covering them. It had many dangling tentacles that were constantly leaking silver fluid, like broken pipes. It walked on two thin legs ending in points. It had no feet.
This creature smashed through the elevator door and Skyfire, who had been hiding behind a large metal cupboard, flattened back against the wall and gasped. The noise of the elevator door that scraped along the floor, flipping over twice before slowing to a halt, covered this sharp little intake of air. Then an awful silence filled the air, broken only by the dripping noise of fluid onto a cold, tiled floor.
Skyfire had no idea that it could walk like a cat in complete silence on those tiny point-ended legs. It was too late when he saw a little trickle of fluid slide past his foot. The creature suddenly stepped out in front of him, its two glaring eyes aimed right at him. In between those eyes was a flattened beak. It opened and pointed forward, revealing a row of sharp jagged teeth.
"Oh..." Skyfire murmured, cornered and paralyzed with fear. The creature responded by drawing back its tentacles.
"GUYS!!!"
Sapphire decided now was the time to act. She blasted off an energy pulse that sent the creature sprawling sideways. Skyfire broke into a sprint and ran along the passageway all the way to the foot of the staircase. He turned around and saw Sapphire running towards him.
"You ran right past me!! You could've thanked me!" she cried.
"Thanks," he almost whispered as he stared at the monster. "But it's getting up."
"Shoot it, Skyfire and Sapph!" Varyn yelled from behind.
"If you say so," Skyfire said, feeling numb and worn. The fear had drained him of energy already. He made the decision to fire his wing missiles and use his laser gun at the same time.
Sapphire used what energy she had left and sent off another pulse. The creature screamed again. The noise was so deafening, that Sapphire's ears popped. She couldn't hear out of her left ear. The pain was incredible. She covered her ears with her hands.
Skyfire had dropped his gun and was covering his ears as well, his eyes squinting as he continued to fire his wing missiles. The creature stumbled and fell again.
"RUN!!!" Varyn yelled as loud as she could. No one wanted to listen to that awful sound any longer, but no one was too keen to get any nearer to it either. Still, they had to trust their captain. They'd all promised her they would.
Starath was the first to get past it, as she flew close to the roof and then dived down the central spiral of the winding stairs. The elevator was broken but even if they did want to use it, the thing was blocking the way.
Sapphire was next, then Sharpshot, then Varyn, then Hacker.
Nurann patted Skyfire frantically on the shoulder. The creature was still screeching so she had to yank his hands from his ears to tell him to get a move on.
"Stop firing and run!"
Skyfire nodded and took to the air, swooping over the banister and down the stairs. Nurann ran to the main stairwell, but tripped and fell on her face as a tentacle wrapped itself around her ankle and yanked her backwards.
"Varyn!!" she shrieked.
Varyn spun on her heels, halfway down the first flight, and saw Nurann's hands clinging to the edge of the top step.
"Nurann!! I'm coming!"
She raced up the stairs, stumbling and clambering in a frenzy of panic. Nurann's terrified wails sparked a powerful adrenaline rush in Varyn so that by the time she reached the top of the stairs, she was more than ready to kill something.
The thing had closed its beak-like jaws around Nurann's right leg. Varyn jumped onto its back and started kicking it wildly. Dark red blood squirted up from the wounds her sharp-pointed boots made and the creature reared up suddenly, sending Varyn to the ground. She landed on her feet and head-butted the thing as it stood up, letting go of Nurann's bloody leg. Nurann scrambled down the stairs, sliding down on her stomach. Hacker rushed up the stairs and grabbed her, yelling back to Varyn.
"Varyn get out of there!"
Varyn pulled out of the head butt, finally understanding what her dorky helmet was for. She was just about to give it one final kick in the gut, when she froze. Every limb in her body stiffened. Her heart stopped, her blood went still in her veins, even her lungs refused to inflate. The only thing that didn't stop, was her brain.
"Human."
The voice was low, strange and in her head. It continued to speak to her...
* * * *
Skyfire yelled again: "Varyn, what are you waiting for?! Get out!"
She was stock-still. "Move!! MOVE!"
She remained motionless.
"Something's wrong," he murmured. He looked down the stairs.
"SAPPHIRE!"
He heard a faint cry from below.
"Yeah?"
"Come up, quick! I need you."
Sapphire came racing up the stairs. She came up beside Skyfire, panting.
"Nurann! Your leg...."
Nurann gestured up the steps and swallowed hard. "No...Varyn's who needs your help. She can't move."
Sapphire looked towards Varyn, who looked like a statue she was so still.
"I'm afraid if I go near her the thing might hurt her. You have to bring her here with your telekinesis."
Sapphire nodded and focused on the 20 year old. She lifted her and sent her flying backwards, into her arms.
"Oof! That was a bit fast!" Sapphire breathed as she stumbled backwards. Skyfire steadied her with his wing.
"Come on, let's get going!"
They hurried down the stairs. Sapphire had increased strength in her new form, so carrying Varyn wasn't a problem. She glanced back over her shoulder to see the thing standing, watching them disappear into the shadows. It didn't even try to pursue them.
When they staggered out of the communications tower, Sapphire noticed Varyn was having a small fit. She was unconscious and her body was twitching and jerking slightly.
"Starath, you're in charge. Varyn's out of action at the moment," Sapphire said worriedly. Starath nodded and glanced over everyone.
"Ok, we're all here. Now let's make our way to sector V-12!"
Exhausted and terrified, the others followed her command without hesitation. They wanted more than ever to get away from the horrors this city held. They wanted to be underground, and safe.
"Hang on, Varyn," Sapphire murmured as she sprinted forward.
7:30 AM
Miss Special covered her face with her hands.
"Where ARE they? They were meant to be here by 7."
They'd made it to the underground base successfully. Food and water supplies were in fridges lining the walls. Lots of fridges. Miss Special figured they were going to be here for some time. There were four rooms. One big hall, where she expected all the refugees would have been waiting in. There was another room - a bathroom that was newly installed. They'd obviously been planning this for a while. The third room had stacks of inflatable mattresses and blankets and the fourth room was filled with weapons and medical supplies. All of their special weapons were in there, in sets of seven, in case they lost their originals.
Miss Special was sitting in a steel chair at the end of the tunnel they'd found which led them to this place. The others were eating or sleeping in the main hall. Sinead had almost passed out as soon as there was a mattress on the floor for her. Miss Special worried about it. She was concerned about the strain Sinead was taking on all these 'invisibility' stunts.
Her troubled mind was keeping an exhausted body awake. She'd gone through the medical kits of a headache pill, but only found heavy-duty drugs meant for excruciating pain. While her headache was very sore, she wasn't going to use up valuable painkillers on something too small.
Her thoughts were interrupted by noises echoing down the tunnel. Miss Special shot up and rushed to the gate. It could be them...it could be intruders.
She was extremely relieved for a second to see Hacker turning the corner, but her relief faded when she saw Sapphire come around holding Varyn and Skyfire turn the corner with Nurann in his arms. She punched in the code and the gate flung open. She ran up to them.
"Oh my God, what happened?"
"It's ok, Miss Spesh," Sapphire said gently.
"Varyn's unconscious. She awoke briefly on the way here and said she was ok, before passing out. She's just in shock."
Miss Special nodded quickly and looked toward Nurann.
Nurann's eyes were squeezed shut in pain and her leg was bloodied and punctured.
"Oh, Nurann..."
She opened her eyes and smiled weakly.
"It's all right. I'll be fine...just a few teeth marks is all."
Miss Special looked at Sky as she put her arms around Nurann.
"Let me take her, I know where the medical kits are." He handed her over to Miss Special.
"I'll come with; I've got some medical knowledge in this brain of mine as well," Pacerpaw offered.
"You come too, Sapph. Varyn looks like she needs a check up anyway."
They followed Miss Special to the weaponry where she took from a middle shelf a medical kit. They went into the main hall and laid the two on mattresses. Everyone crowded around, alarmed.
"Are they ok?"
"What happened?"
"Look at her leg! Oh gosh..."
Pacerpaw knelt beside Nurann and put a damp cloth on her forehead.
"This is gonna hurt a bit, ok? I'm not gonna give you a painkiller, because it'll slow your heartbeat and I don't know how much blood you've lost."
"Uh-huh," Nurann nodded bravely.
Pacerpaw tended to her leg wounds for the next two hours. Nurann didn't make a sound.
As for Varyn, she awoke several hours later. She insisted nothing was wrong, but Sapphire sensed otherwise. There was something hidden deep in her eyes that told her that she had experienced something in her temporary paralysis; and that something had changed her.