Avengeformers

Avengeformers Chapter 7

“I can’t exactly move if you haven’t noticed!” Tony called out through the roar of the rising flames. He pushed himself up, cringing in pain as the sound of a rusted metal Ferris wheel sounded out due to how bent and dented his suit was. He fell back down in pain. “Crap!” The heat rose and became sweltering, boiling, too hot for him to handle. Sweat dripped down his face inside, and soon it became a waterfall.

Optimus looked down at Megatron, then lifted up his arm, ready to stab, then retreated his sword. Megatron gave him a strange look, but Optimus just glared. He stood up and ran over to Tony as fast as he could, scooped him up, and ran off.

“But he’s going to get away!” Tony exclaimed.

“And you would have died from the heat if I had not saved you,” Optimus argued. Tony said nothing more. “Are you alright?”

“In a bit of pain. But otherwise, I’m fine. He’s got one heck of a grip,” Tony replied. “And he’s your brother?”

“Yes. He is, and I am sometimes rather sad to admit it,” Optimus replied. “I am taking you to Ratchet so he can restore your suit. But once he does, we need to get back to finding Megatron. He is obviously going to be somewhere in the city, so we will have to lay low and avoid the people.”

“Fine. Just… He’d better not grip me that tightly again. I couldn’t even breathe,” Tony said.

“He is not exactly a weak opponent. What less could be expected of the leader of the Decepticons?”

Optimus and Tony came to a stop as they looked at Ratchet and the others, all fighting together against Starscream. Optimus went wide-eyed with shock, then let out a sigh.

“What?” Tony asked.

“Starscream… This will not be easy,” Optimus said. He ran forward and put Tony on his shoulder, then jumped up with his sword out and slashed at Starscream. His left arm fell off and everyone stared in silence for a moment, then watched as Starscream unexpectedly threw a punch with his right hand, sending Tony flying off into the distance and Optimus tumbling in the sand.

“Crap!” Hawkeye said. He jumped down off of Bumblebee who began fighting again and ran over to Tony. “Tony! You still awake?”

“I can’t really move. Ugh… Next thing to add to my suit is an emergency eject button to get out when this thing’s down,” Tony said. He fell limp in the sand and groaned. “I can’t move. Get Ratchet!”

Hawkeye rushed over to Ratchet. “Hey! Tony needs you to repair his suit again!”

Ratchet fired at Starscream who rapidly shot around at everything the moment he was hit. “I can’t right now if you haven’t noticed!”

“It is alright Ratchet. I will cover for now,” Optimus said calmly as he stood back up. Ratchet nodded and lifted up his shoulder for Thor to get off. He jumped off and threw his hammer, slamming it into Starscream’s side. He bolted around to smash into him as he caught his hammer, but he jumped and dodged the attack. Ratchet ran off to Tony.

“Geez. Tony, can you please take it easy on the suit? I can’t always stay to repair it,” Ratchet said.

“I might as well just build another then! This isn’t the strongest one but it was the only ready one,” Tony replied.

“Well then do that!” Ratchet was raging as he held out the gun and restored the suit. Tony stood up.

“I thought this was the only one suitable for fighting, but I’ll need to build a special one for fighting these guys,” Tony said as he jumped up and flew to Optimus.

“New plan Tony. We will stay and fight,” Optimus informed. He gripped Starscream’s arm while Hawkeye fired arrows into him. Bumblebee punched him in the back while Captain came up behind and threw his shield. Starscream tugged and struggled, but it was no use.

“Let go of me!” Starscream cried out.

“Tell us the plan and we will,” Natasha said.

“No!” Starscream refused. He kicked Natasha and she went tumbling in the sand. The moment she stood up, she glared, fire dancing around in her eyes while gusts of wind surrounded them, carrying them all the way across. “Crud…” Natasha jumped up and began rapidfire attacking him while everyone else continued to attack. Finally, Optimus let go of his arm while Thor jumped up and hit it, sending it flying across the barren desert. Tony shot at his back, then Ratchet kicked him and put on foot on him. He had no ability to move.

“Now tell us your plans!” Ratchet demanded. Starscream slowly shook his head, silent and tensing as he did.

“By Lord Megatron’s words, I cannot and will not tell you anything,” Starscream said.

“Well you’re telling us or you’re not going,” Natasha said, walking up to him while holding a gun straight out.

“Nat, take it easy,” Captain told her.

Natasha shot around at him. “Don’t call me that.” She looked Back over to Starscream. “Now tell us or you’re not going anywhere.”

Starscream laughed. “I won’t be saying a word.” But before he knew it, Hawkeye walked up to him, ready to fire an arrow right at his head. “Ugh… You are too persistent.”

“And that’s how we’ll be until you say it. Now tell us the plan,” Hawkeye commented. Starscream was silent. He moved in closer. “Tell us!!”

“Alright!!” Starscream cried. “Just stop this…” Everyone lowered their weapons. Bruce walked up to him.

“Then tell us now,” Bruce demanded.

“Bruce! Are you crazy?!” Natasha asked with wide eyes.

“No. It’s best for him to tell us here. It’s not like he can go anywhere. He’s got no arms,” Bumblebee said. “Tell us everything.”

“I don’t know much. But you Autobots keep your word pretty well. So I will only tell you if you let me go immediately after I’m done,” Starscream said.

“Just get on with it…” Tony groaned. Optimus flicked him down into the sand. Tony stood up and flipped up his mask, then gave him a look of pure anger. “Why did you do that?”

“Patients is something you obviously do not have,” Optimus replied. He walked over to Starscream. “Just tell us what you know and then you can go.”

“Megatron is planning on some kind of attack on the city. Whatever it is… that I don’t really know. But he’s using those serpent aliens to dig underground tunnels and then pop up and attack from there. Then he and the other Decepticons are going to come in and attack.” Starscream spoke rapidly, as if he was scared out of his mind. “I don’t know the underground tunnels. I don’t know where everyone will come in at or when. I only know the basic plan. Now goodbye.” He tried to stand up, and Ratchet took his foot off him. “Lord Megatron will have me this time for sure…” As he walked, his two arms came flying toward him, then back onto him so he could use them again. He transformed into an airplane and flew off into the distance.

“And how did he do that?” Bruce asked.

“Sensors… He just had to have sensors… He’ll be back yet again!” Bumblebee complained. Hawkeye patted his leg.

“It’s ok. We can handle him,” Hawkeye said. Bumblebee nodded slowly as if he wasn’t in total agreement.

“Autobots, start again. We came across Megatron, so do not be alarmed and call for the rest if you catch him,” Optimus said. Everyone nodded, and they looked down at their partners.

“I’m ready to go whenever you are,” Captain said.

“Same,” Hawkeye jumped in.

“Let’s just get this over with,” Natasha huffed.

“I will always be ready to move on,” Thor said.

“Whenever you want to go, I’ll go,” Bruce said.

“Now sure if my suit will last… but… fine,” Tony barely agreed.

“Then let us all be on our way,” Optimus said. He turned around and began walking toward the city, motioning for Tony to follow. He did.

When Ratchet, Thor, and Bruce were back on track, Bruce let out a sigh and wiped sweat off of his forehead. He felt how dry his tongue was and groaned.

“What?” Ratchet asked.

“Is there any water around here?” Bruce asked. He craned his neck to look from left to right and far out in the distance, but he couldn’t see the slightest sign of a river, stream, or even a puddle anywhere.  He only saw the long snake-like tracks ahead of him.

“Not that I can see. Sorry,” Ratchet replied. “When we finish this, then you can get some water. I just hope that’s soon.”

“I agree. This place his hotter than any other place I have been to,” Thor said.

“Ugh…” Bruce sighed. “A desert of all places… It just had to be a desert.”

Ratchet sighed. “Well at least it’s not too far away from a city. We’ll just go there if you desperately need it.”

“Fine with me,” Bruce said. They walked on.

As Ratchet made his way down the path, he saw nothing. It was miles and miles of emptiness, and it seemed as though he was walking in place. No step took him to an area different from the last. He finally let out a large sigh, and Thor looked at him strangely.

“What? Are you getting tired of walking?” Thor asked.

“A little. But it’s not that. We just aren’t getting anywhere,” Ratchet replied.

“Then just transform and drive away,” Bruce said.

“Do you know how hard it is to drive in thick sand?” Ratchet asked. Bruce shook his head. “Well I would have stopped within minutes if that was the case.” He walked on.

The moment Ratchet lifted up his foot, an explosion of sand came from underneath him and everyone went flying back. Bruce nearly screamed as he flew back, and everyone went tumbling in the sand. Ratchet stood up the moment he could, and his mouth dropped down in shock.

“What?” Thor asked. Suddenly, he heard Bruce gasp, and he scrambled to his feet. Thor stood up and walked out of the puff of sand in front of him. He let out a sigh. “Another…”

A giant silver serpent that was twice as large as the others stood, its teeth pure silver and seeming to be made of metal. It had green eyes and the most menacing look you could imagine. It let out an ear-shattering hiss and tried to snap its jaw shut at Bruce, but he backed away in time.

The serpent hissed again and glared at Ratchet. “I’m no ordinary Slyther if you haven’t realized,” it howled. Ratchet saw Bruce bend down and cover his ears as its voice boomed. It slithered slyly around them all, and they all stood, motionless.

“Slyther? Is that what you’re called? And how are you unordinary?” Ratchet asked.

“My name is Silvertooth. You are all petty opponents… Slipfang just had to make me fight you guys…” the serpent said. “And yes, we are all called Slythers you knowledgeless fool!”

Thor gripped his hammer and got ready to attack. “What are you doing here? And who is Slipfang?”

Silvertooth hissed and slithered around him, then in the blink of an eye, wrapped its tail around him tightly and began suffocating him. Ratchet and Bruce grasped, and Bruce made tight fists.

“Thor!” Ratchet screamed. He gripped Silvertooth tighter and tighter until he let go of Thor. Thor fell to the ground, and Ratchet chucked Silvertooth away. He bent down. “Are you ok?” Thor nodded slowly and stood up. “Good.” He glared at Silvertooth while Bruce went and stood next to him, his fists tight. “Calm down Bruce.”

Bruce held in his breath, then let it out and let his fists go. He stood normally.

“You’re a stubborn one, aren’t you? Megatron warned me about you,” Silvertooth said.

“Megatron?” Thor asked. He looked up at Ratchet. “So we were not lied to?”

“I guess not,” Ratchet said. “He’s letting out everything.” He looked at Silvertooth. “So who’s Slipfang? And what are the Slyther?”

Silvertooth laughed wickedly. Everyone gave him a strange look. “Slyther are what I am. There are tons of us! Our plans to take you down with help from the Decepticons will easily be completed! And Slipfang is our leader! How did you not know…” He stopped dead sentence. “Crud… I was telling you guys everything… wasn’t I?”

“No. You told us nothing at all,” Ratchet replied with extreme sarcasm in his voice. He kicked him and he went flying into the distance. “If he doesn’t realize I was being sarcastic, then I don’t quite know what to think of his idiocy.”

“Think nothing of it. He will hopefully be easy to fight then,” Thor said. Bruce nodded.

“So while we’re waiting,” Bruce began. “Let’s just get this whole thing straight. So those serpents we’ve been fighting are called Slythers, they can talk, there is one called Silvertooth, and the Slyther leader is someone named Slipfang. How’d they come here, for what reason, and when?”

“Don’t think we’ll get anything more out of him…” Ratchet said. He let out a sigh. “But at least we know a lot. He leaks information easier than Starscream which I never thought possible…”

Far in the distance, Silvertooth began making his way down to everyone again. He looked rather exasperated, and he was panting with each shift he made to slither back over to everyone. “You….. will not……. beat me!” he barely got out.

“I doubt you can do much when you’re that tired,” Bruce said. “Where did you guys come from?”

“Not answering that!” Silvertooth yelled as he shot forward and tried to bite Bruce. He backed away just enough so that Silvertooth was just inches away from him. He could feel his boiling hot breath on his face. So hot that it was like a fire dancing happily on his face. He felt like it would be enough to melt him away to nothing if he stood there long enough.

Bruce’s heart raced, then Silvertooth finally fell forward on his face with a loud hiss. Thor stood on his back with his hammer, gripping it tightly and ready to slam it into him again. Silvertooth lashed around and tried to bite Thor, but he jumped out of the way fast enough and landed on the ground.

“Silvertooth. Why are you working with the Decepticons?” Thor asked.

Silvertooth hissed. “Why would I tell you?” He moved his tail in front and Thor dodged it, but it hit Ratchet unexpectedly and he fell onto his side. Bruce stared wide-eyed at Silvertooth’s tail, then back up at his face.

“Why did you do that? Tell me,” Bruce demanded quietly. His voice was slightly shaky when he spoke.

“Calm down Bruce. I’m fine…” Ratchet said as he stood up. He sighed. “What will it take to get answers out of you?”

“A fight. Whoever wins gets the other side’s information,” Silvertooth replied. “You win, you get the Slyther’s information. If I win, you need to tell me everything. But three to one isn’t exactly a fair fight, don’t you agree?”

Ratchet huffed. “No. Against an opponent bigger than me… I don’t think that it’s fir for only one of us to go up against you.”

“I would do it. I will do as needed,” Thor said, walking forward. Ratchet blocked him from going any further.

“Thor, don’t. You’re not going in alone. We’re all going in,” Ratchet said. Bruce nodded.

“Fine. But what will it take to get you to agree to a battle with all of us?” Thor replied. He looked up at Silvertooth.

“Nothing. I won’t fight unless you agree to go one-on-one.”

Ratchet sighed. “Then I’ll go. Thor, Bruce… stay back. I’ll be taking him on, and you’d better not interfere.”

“No. I will not stay back and watch while you have to fight alone and risk…” Before Thor could finish, Ratchet interrupted.

“You will let me fight him alone!” Ratchet demanded. He whipped around and glared at him. “Is that clear to the both of you?!”

Bruce nodded, but Thor walked forward. “You will not. I have yet to stand by and watch someone get hurt right in front of me, and I do nothing at all. I will not accept that. Is that clear to you?”

“No! You have to stay behind and…”

“Let the human fight with you. One human shouldn’t be able to do much damage to me,” Silvertooth hissed. Ratchet gave him a strange look.

“He’s no human. You’ll regret letting him into battle with me,” Ratchet said.

“I doubt it.”

Ratchet laughed. “See for yourself then.” He looked down at Bruce. “But if you want to try it even more, then let him in on it too.”

“No. You two. No one else,” Silvertooth replied.

Ratchet walked forward, but he looked to Silvertooth who was beyond distracted at the moment, and then back to Bruce. “The first moment either of us is down, step in. Don’t listen to what Silvertooth says, just go for it. Don’t hesitate at all,” he whispered. “Be ready at any moment.”

“Alright,” Bruce agreed. He let out a sigh and hung his head.

“Bruce… listen. I know what you’re thinking. Believe me,” Ratchet began. “You’re anything but useless. It’s just a fear of your other self. It’s alright. You’re never afraid to go in when your friends are on the line. I’ve seen it. Don’t worry. I’ll bet you are a better help than any of us could ever be.” Ratchet turned around and ran into the battle. Bruce stood, motionless, silent, wide-eyed.

Back with Optimus, Tony was inside Optimus as he drove down the streets of the busy city. Neither of them saw a single sign of Megatron.

“Do you think he’s anywhere?” Tony asked. He sat with his arms and legs crossed, his mask up. “You know… I could just fly above and search for him.”

“But then he will find you, and what happened before will happen again,” Optimus said. “And we will both get caught by the people. We need to stay low.”

“So what? The people back home don’t bother hiding when I’m on a mission. It gets to everyone at some point,” Tony commented. He groaned.

“But if the people have heard about Megatron and find out that he is in the city, then they might start getting into a panic. And if you have experience, which I have heard you do, then you know better than to get a city into a panic,” Optimus said.

Tony let out a quick sigh. “Fine. But I just don’t see him anywhere. The clouds are just too…”

“Yes. The clouds may be thick, but we could easily find him here. There are no fighter jets that fly through here, so we will know if it is him,” Optimus interrupted.

Tony craned his neck up to look through the clouds. He could barely see them since they were bundled together like cotton balls in a compressed bag. He let out another sigh. “I doubt there’s any hope. I can’t even see the moon through those clouds.”

“Neither can I. But we must keep going. He is here somewhere, and I know it. As of right now, I am tracking down his signal. There is no telling what we will have to get through to get to him, but we can at least track him down,” Optimus said.

“Well that would have been nice to know earlier!” Tony moaned. He rolled his head. “Just… forget it. We’ll find him.”

With Bumblebee, Captain, Hawkeye, and Natasha, nothing had come and popped up on them yet. All were on high alert, especially Hawkeye. He had his bow loaded and ready to fire at any moment he would need to.

“Hawkeye, I think you can take it easy,” Natasha said. “Just put it all down for a bit and be ready when the time comes.”

Hawkeye whipped around to see her. “But you’ve seen the Decepticons and serpent things. They pop up out of the ground and…”

“They don’t always pop out of the ground,” Bumblebee interrupted. “Not the Decepticons at least. Frankly, this is the first time I’ve heard of something like that besides ambushes back on Cybertron.”

“Well then it must be because of those serpents. Where the heck did those things even come from?” Hawkeye said. “They’re not what we normally see.”

“I thought you guys dealt with this type of stuff,” Bumblebee commented.

“Eh. Only a few times. The worst was when Thor’s brother Loki came to Earth. His army was a pain to deal with,” Natasha said. Bumblebee nodded.

“My first time back in action…” Captain jumped in with. “That was pretty strange. Has Earth always dealt with Asgard? Or is that a new thing?”

“New. We never knew it existed but in legends and myths until Thor came to Earth for the first time. Then he came back when his brother tricked him, and that was when we all came together to fight,” Natasha replied.

“Well he seems to keep coming back, so I have a feeling that that world is going to be close with this one for a while,” Captain said. Hawkeye nodded.

Bumblebee continued to walk on. He found nothing, so he called up Optimus. “Hey Optimus. We haven’t found anything. What about you and Tony?”

“No. We are sorry to say that we have not reached Megatron. We are tracking him, but he is nowhere in sight. He keeps getting away faster than we can get to him,” Optimus replied. “But we have to stay low, so we will have to remain this way.”

“Well I don’t think we have any hope of finding him out here,” Hawkeye said. “We haven’t come across anything but Starscream that hour ago.”

“Keep on the lookout for just a little bit longer,” Optimus said.

“Then what? Go back to Nick? He’ll have us all if we leave before we find Megatron,” Hawkeye asked cockily. He lowered his bow.

“Of course not!” Natasha said. “He means that if we can’t find anything in the next half hour, then we’re going to go help the others.” She let a sigh out. “Am I right?”

“That is fine. But as for now Bumblebee, keep going. Have you told Nick yet?” Optimus asked.

“No. I don’t think we have any way to connect with him out here,” Bumblebee replied. Hawkeye let out a sigh, followed by a “just great”. Bumblebee kept walking. “But I’ll try to tell him. If not, then so be it.”

“Sorry I don’t have anything,” Natasha said.

“It’s alright,” Bumblebee said. “Alright. Good luck Optimus.” Bumblebee turned off the connection between them. “I’m going to contact Nick. Give me a sec.” He stopped walking for a sec, and everyone remained silent as Bumblebee tried to get a signal.

“Bumblebee?” a choppy voice asked. The channel was static-filled. “Have you found anything?” The voice was barely made out to be Nick’s.

“Nick. We came across Starscream a while ago and gained some valuable information from him. We’re working on finding something else, but we haven’t found anything. We’re going to the others in a half hour if nothing else comes up,” Bumblebee replied.

“What? I can barely hear you,” Nick said.

“Nor can we. This is as good as it’s going to get,” Natasha commented.

“I… I can’t hear you guys. Where are you? Is everything…..” The connection was cut.

“Crap,” Hawkeye said. He sighed. “So now what do we do?” He looked at Bumblebee.

“Keep going with our plan. Come on. We’ve got thirty minutes. Let’s use it for the best and see if we can find anything else,” Bumblebee replied.

“Alright. Come on. There’s bound to be something up ahead,” Captain said. Bumblebee nodded and sped up.

Back with Tony and Optimus, Optimus stopped for a moment. “Tony, look up. Do you see Megatron?” Optimus asked.

Tony looked up into the cloud-filled night. “Nothing. The clouds are still too thick for me to see anything,” he replied.

“Then let’s hurry!” Optimus urged. He went to the next lane over and made a turn down the street behind an old building. He opened the door. “Hurry! He is right above us!” Tony gasped and rushed out of Optimus. He put his mask down and began flying up. “Tony! Do not go all the way up. He will catch you. Only go up enough to see if you can find him.”

“Fine,” Tony said. He flew up slowly, and his head popped up through the clouds. He just barely saw anything above the clouds, but he saw just enough to make out two fighter jets.

“Are you kidding me?! You told them everything you knew?!” one asked.

“I’m sorry Lord Megatron. They refused to let me go unless I said it all,” the other replied.

“Sorry will never cut it! Now they know what we’re going to do and they’re going to stop us!”

Tony let out a sigh. “Megatron… Starscream……. Prepare to be blasted out of the sky.” He flew down and landed on stop of the building. “Optimus, they’re right up there.” Tony pointed to the exact area they were at. Optimus stood up and held out his gun to the sky. He let out a missile, then shifted it over a little more and let another one out. They both heard a loud scream as Megatron and Starscream fell out of the sky.

“Hurry!” Optimus urged. Tony followed him, and luckily the streets were dead. Nobody was out, all the lights were off, and not a single sound was heard. There were only a few people here and there.

Tony looked down to the ground as he flied past. A girl with a purple top, short red shorts, a brown ponytail, and green eyes sat down. “Ooh!” He smiled.

“Tony, focus,” Optimus said. Tony shook his head and looked up.

“S… sorry.” Tony continued flying.

Eventually, Tony and Optimus reached an old part of the city where nobody was but Megatron and Starscream.

“You foolish Decepticon!” Megatron yelled. He kicked Starscream in the side, and Starscream cringed. “Why do you always do this?!” He kicked him again.

“Megatron!” Optimus called out. Megatron looked at him and Tony, then scowled. “What are you planning?”

Megatron stood up. “So the human survived? Humans are worthless brother! They are so foolish! We could rule them together and…”

“I am not interested in ruling over those who are my friends,” Optimus commented. “Tony, get ready. He will probably try to get through you to get to me.”

“You’re absolutely right!” Megatron yelled. He jumped out and dived to grab Tony, but he flew out of the way and shot at him multiple times. Megatron fell to his hands and knees.

Optimus pulled out his sword and held it to Megatron’s back. “Tell us what you are planning to do in this attack?” he demanded.

“Not this time!” Megatron pushed Optimus’s sword out of the way and stood up, then took the opening to punch him. Tony looked over at Starscream who stood up and jumped out to attack Optimus, but Tony went in front and let out a huge punch. Starscream went flying back, and Optimus stood motionlessly, his mouth nearly gaping open

“Tony? What did you just do?” Optimus asked.

“Saved you from getting another hit,” Tony replied. He flew in toward Starscream and shot out multiple times at him. “I’ll take Starscream if you get Megatron!”

“That is fine with me!” Optimus called back as he threw out another punch at Megatron. “Today will be our victory, and not yours.”