Kup wasn't the first to hear the whistle of the shell screaming in, but he was the first to recognize it for what it was.
"INCOMING!" Kup grabbed Daniel and dove for the floor. Hot Rod fell heavily beside him--
SPANG--WHAAMMM!
The shell exploded on the edge of the gun port, sending shards of metal and reinforced concrete spraying across the room. Shrapnel rattled off Kup's back as he crouched over Daniel, protecting the fragile human boy from the force of the explosion.
Springer said something extremely rude and slammed another shell into the breech of the launcher. Kup got up and looked at the terrified boy still crouched on the ground. Daniel looked back up at him, wide-eyed.
"Daniel, are you okay?" Hot Rod asked.
Daniel looked puzzled. "I can't hear anything!"
"What?" It was Hot Rod's turn to look confused.
Kup said, "A lot of beings don't have good audio cutouts. The explosion may have damaged his ears." The old Autobot looked up where the shell had hit, and looked back at Hot Rod. "If you hadn't jumped down when you did, that shell would have taken your head off."
Hot Rod looked back at Kup a bit oddly. "I didn't jump down. Someone pushed me."
The shriek of the incoming shell warned Hot Rod just in time to throw himself over Daniel.
SPANG--WHAAMMM!!
The shell struck the other edge of the gun port, with similar results.
"He's getting the range," Kup observed grimly. "Next one will be right down the middle."
Hot Rod picked up Daniel and shoved him into Kup's arms. "Get Daniel out of here!"
"Don't need to tell me twice," the old Autobot said, running for the door with Daniel in his arms.
"Hot Rod, get yourself out of here and protect Daniel!" Springer yelled. "I can handle the gun, and Arcee can fetch the ammo. My armor's heavy enough to take the pounding, yours isn't!"
"All right, but don't stay too long! Retreat when you can't hold this position any longer!"
"Like I said, I got better things to do tonight than die!" answered Springer, lining up another shot. This time he aimed at Megatron's head, just for variety.
There was a dull 'krump' as a third shell slammed into the armored turret above the gun port. Dust drifted down.
Ghostly and invisible, Prowl and Ironhide looked down from the gun port sill.
Prowl, I'm gettin' real tired of Blitzwing's target practice.
So am I, Ironhide. So am I.
Two shells slammed into the strong point below the gun port, the second one just above the other.
He's finding the range. One or two more shots, and he'll be puttin' 'em right into Springer's face. And Springer can't run--if he does, Megatron and Devastator break down the gates and overrun the place.
SPANG--WHAAMM!!
The sixth shell clipped the upper edge of the gun port, forcing Springer to duck as shrapnel showered the room.
It would be a whole lot simpler if we could just shoot him.
You know better than that, Ironhide. We're not here to kill anyone; we're here to protect them.
Yea, I know--but how are we going to protect them from Blitzwing there?
We'll improvise. And Ironhide?
Yea?
We're not here just for Autobots... or humans. Not anymore.
I'm going to have a hard time with that one, Prowl.
It'll be easier than you think, old friend. It's not our job to protect them from the consequences of their own actions. Let them reap what they've sown. Just... trust yourself. You'll know when it's time to step in.
I know. But settin' aside a few million years o' bad memories isn't that easy.
I know that, too. But we can, even if it isn't easy. That's why we're here, and not someone else.
'We'? Yea, I'm not the only one with a few million years of those bad memories.
Not hardly.
From the roof of another turret, Blitzwing, in tank mode, sighted his cannon very carefully. Laserfire zapped somewhere nearby. "One more round, and I'm golden."
WHA-WHA-WHAAM!
A series of explosions rocked his position, and Astrotrain flew up in robot mode, firing his gun at the turret below Blitzwing. It caved in, sending Blitzwing sliding down the pile of debris.
"What the slag do you thing you're doing?" Blitzwing yelled at his fellow triple-changer. "You just messed up my shot completely!"
"You were so busy playing sniper tank, you didn't even notice Blurr using you for cover! He's been dumping flanking fire into us ever since you decided to set up there, and we couldn't shoot back because we'd hit you, you big idjit!" Astrotrain snapped.
Wha--? I didn't have anything to do with that!
Well, Prowl, some of the youngsters can fight, you know. Pretty sneaky move of Blurr's. Reminds me of some of the stunts you've pulled.
"Well, you ruined my spot. Now I got to find another angle on that gun tower, thanks a heap," Blitzwing grumbled as he shifted into robot mode. "This is like the thousandth time today I've tried to shut that thing down, and one thing or another has gone foobar every single time! One more glitch, and Devastator can damn well go beat up that gun tower himself."
"How about over there?" Astrotrain pointed at a low rise that had once been a heliport, but was now a relatively flat pile of rubble.
"Like you know jack about where's the best place to set up artillery! Yeah, over there will do." Blitzwing and Astrotrain flew to the small rise in robot mode.
When they arrived, two Autobots were waiting for them. Moonlight and flames from the burning fortress-city illuminated them plainly; Blitzwing wondered how they'd gotten there without him noticing.
"Find a different target, Blitzwing," Prowl said. "We're getting tired of you shooting at this one." His gun pointed almost negligently at Blitzwing's midsection. Ironhide stood beside him, stolid, red and implacable, his chemical rifle pointing at Astrotrain.
"And you can just move along, Astrotrain," Ironhide drawled.
Blitzwing just stared long and hard at the two Autobots.
"Why you--" Astrotrain started to raise his gun; Blitzwing clamped his hand on the barrel and shoved it down.
"What do you think you're doing?" Astrotrain asked indignantly.
"Stopping you from doing something really stupid."
"You don't think--"
"I think I'm looking down the gun of someone whose corpse I rested my feet on for a six hour shuttle flight. I think I watched Megatron blow off the head of the guy standing next to him. I think that Devastator can go take care of his own damn gun tower."
"Good thought," said Prowl.
# # #
Prowl, I never would have thought to try asking nicely. Decepticons ain't usually that agreeable.
*chuckle* I think Blitzwing felt guilty about something.
Yea, scuffing up your paint with his feet.
# # #
Blitzwing switched to plane mode to catch Astrotrain as he flew at high speed away from the embattled city. "Where the slag do you think you're going?"
"To find that shuttle!"
"What for? It's right over there." Blitzwing switched to robot mode and pointed at the crashed Autobot shuttle.
Astrotrain dropped to the ground without answering, next to the gaping hole in the shuttle hull.
"What are you doing?" Blitzwing snarled.
The big purple-and-gray triple-changer whirled to face him. "I'm going to find out which one of us was imagining things!"
Blitzwing shrugged. "That's all? Suit yourself."
Astrotrain pushed his way past the wreckage and disappeared into the interior of the crashed shuttle. Blitzwing waited patiently.
Presently Astrotrain came crashing out of the shuttle, visibly shaking as he fought not to switch to train mode and run. "Blitzwing! They were dead!"
"I did mention that, didn't I? Not my fault you were at the back of the bus and didn't see it yourself. You could have believed me." Blitzwing sounded slightly miffed.
"Do you know what this means?"
"Well," Blitzwing said slowly, "I figure it means that come the day someone blows out my laser core, it ain't the end of me. With all the shells and laser blasts that have been flyin' past my head today, that's kind of comforting."