A Special Touch

By: Sapphire

Part 6

Chapter 7

- Battle

"Perfect valor is to do unwitnessed what we should be capable of doing before all the world." 

- Duc de La Rochefoucauld.

"Good luck, fight hard and remember who you are."

Lady Venom carried Rampage's words in her head as she strode forward.  The early morning air was crisp and icy.  Her breath misted before as she walked, keeping to the shadows.  It occurred to her that those who were going cloaked might have a problem with their breath showing in the air.  It was something she would discuss with Sinead once they had reached their destination.

The teams had already broken up and were simultaneously approaching the building on all four sides.  The signal to attack would be the explosion Miss Special caused with her igniting things.

Lady Scale wiped the sticky mech fluid drying on her claws across her pant leg.  To think, she'd already had to take out some enemy, alien-infested Transformers before she'd even reached the target!  This was going to be one heck of a battle.

Varyn wiped the sweat from her forehead, trying not to draw any attention to herself.  She'd spent half the day yesterday familiarizing herself with the strategy, but she still felt nauseatingly nervous.  Then, she did suspect there was more to her cold sweat than simple fear.  The tension was building up inside of her.  She could feel her blood boiling, her cheeks burning and a desire to release such rage, she feared the damage she might cause!  The last thing she wanted to do was hurt someone on her own team.  

You're scared.  You're weak.  You're pathetic.  

"Shut up!" she snapped and Sinead gave her a scolding look.  

"What was that for?  Shhh!" she said, although her face softened in concern immediately afterwards.  She could see the discomfort on Varyn's face.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Varyn growled and walked ahead.

What an aggressive, self-loathing waste of space you are.  No aim, no ambition.  Just liquor and sleep. 

"I'm going to kill you!" she hissed under her breath.

Suicide.  Ah, what a coward we are.  Now that would bring yourself to an all time low.

Varyn wished she had someone to punch, only the voice was her own, echoing inside her head.  She had to drown it out.

"The building's just ahead.  Stay close to the shadows now.  We're approaching the zone," she commanded, her voice hard.

"Follow my lead."

Markaya didn't even think that any of the aliens had noticed her marching in the line towards the Hall.  She was so small and insignificant in their eyes, that she didn't even warrant their suspicion.  How sad.  For them.  

In front of and behind her were all kinds of Transformers.  Some were Predacon, some were Maximal.  They all had the same blank expression on their faces, as they marched to secure the defenses around the Hall.  Finally, they reached the enormous gates.

"AYLINK!" one of the Transformers cried.  It was a foreign language.  Well, he obviously issued out some command to cause the gates to open.  They were magnificent and black with gold tipped arrows at the top and huge silver disks in the middle of each half.  Slowly they parted and she could see the Maximal and Predacon logos shimmering in the early morning light as the disks caught the first rays.  The Alliance.  How strange, that it would take an invasion on this scale to truly bring the Maximals and Predacons together.  Funny, how war brings out the best and the worst qualities in people.

The line of troops marched through the opening, heedless of the splendour of the building that came into view before them.  Markaya had been in the Hall only once, as her son used to work there.  However, she still remembered where the Control Room was.  Up the elevator, sixth floor, down the corridor, second door on your left.  It had no sign on the door, no grand entrance.  It was designed to be in a mundane place, so it would blend in with the metal walls and doors that lined every corridor.  Transformers had the ability to program information into him.  The day she phoned him and asked for instructions to find him, he had told her where to go.  It was top secret information, of course, but because of her family background (her parents had been heroes in the Great War) she was granted access to such information.  She had not been allowed inside the room.  Instead she met him outside it.  She still remembered his smile when he saw her that day.  It felt good to be using the information in her head to avenge his death.

Things were going well until she reached the building.  The marching line halted, turned around and stared dumbly ahead.  This was where they were to remain until replaced by fresh troops.  A wall of guards.   Wedged in between two enormous Transformers, Markaya easily slipped out of formation and turned and walked the short distance to the steps.  She started up the stairs towards the entrance of the Hall when two more large, dull-coloured Transformers stepped in front of her.

"Melkontra Sintrel."

She stared at them.  Uh oh...

"Melkontra Sintrel!" the demanded simultaneously, again.

"Right, my melkontra sintrel," she murmured, nodding, clueless.

She turned around and tried to walk casually away but suddenly felt a firm grip on her shoulder.  A gun was put to her head.

"WICKED WOMAN!!!!!"

The Canadian nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard her name shrieked from afar.  She had just come in range of the building grounds, cloaked by Sinead, when she heard the call.  In panic, she used her power and suddenly every moving in front of her was slowed to a halt.

"Sorry to rush you, girls, but it's time we move!" she yelled.  Amber and Pacerpaw joined her as she ran forward towards Markaya.  All three were cloaked, Sinead was nearly two hundred meters away, straining to concentrate on them from such a distance.

Wicked Woman arrived just as the laser blast was leaving the gun that was an inch away from Markaya's head.  The Transformer's mouth was still open in a scream.  Wicked Woman grabbed her and threw her over her shoulder, came to the door, pushed through it and stumbled inside into a crowded room of Transformers that were NOT frozen, as they'd been out of range.  They all turned to see the floating, stiff little Transformer hovering in the entrance hall.

Wicked Woman flickered into view, as did Amber and Pacerpaw.  They were too far from Sinead for her invisibility power to work.

"Hi..." Wicked Woman breathed to the stunned audience of squid-like aliens and Transformers.

"Bye!" Amber cried and turned left and darted down the corridor.  Markaya unfroze at that moment and gasped, temporarily confused as she found herself soaring through the air, riding on the back and shoulders of a sprinting Wicked Woman.

"Spotted already?!" she exclaimed

"Oh, you're back."  Wicked Woman threw the Transformer off her.

"Now get on you feet and RUN!  You know where you're going, YOU lead!" she panted.  Markaya didn't waste any more time.  The threesome dashed to the stairs, unable to wait for an elevator, and started climbing fast.  Sirens blared, red lights flashed and there were angry voices coming from all directions.

"So much for stealth!" Pacerpaw yelled above the cacophony of noise.

"Get ready to use that gun of yours, Pacer.  I need time to power up before I can pull my slow-mo thing again!" Wicked Woman informed her, hurrying after Markaya who was clambering up the stair.

"Enemies, dead ahead!" she called.

Pacerpaw took out her weapon from its silver bag on her back.  "I was hoping I'd never have to use it again," she murmured, and fired.

The Firecats could hear the sirens even from where they were.  

"Oh crap!" Sinead cried and shot a glance at Varyn.  "We'd better attack!"

Varyn nodded with steel determination.  "You know the plan.  Let's do it."

Sinead took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and Miss Special disappeared.

The Californian walked forward, trying to agitate herself.  Instead of calming her pounding heart, she indulged in the fear, the anxiety, the worry.  She concentrated on the line of Transformers.  They were dead shells inhabited by a cruel, conquering enemy.  She should feel no regret for killing them.  Yes, she felt some guilt in every kill she made.  She took this guilt, added it to the whirlwind of emotions she was stirring up as a thousand bad memories and painful feelings surged inside of her.

The line of guards burst into flames that lunged ten feet into the air.  There was immediate panic and all the aliens opened fire, shooting through the slowly closing gates at an unseen attacker.  Miss Special threw herself onto the floor and tried to crawl out of the line of fire, but the bullets were coming from every direction.  Not far away, Sinead was struggling to keep her friend veiled.  She could hear the others move off to help, but she knew that if she let up now, Miss Special would be a very obvious target in an open field.  Dead meat.

Lady Venom walked out and grimaced as the laser beams and bullets pelted her body.  She could feel the wounds burn but felt confident in her healing power.  She had hidden her amulet beneath her shirt, and had made a quick prayer to whatever Supreme Being there was that it would not break.  Following her was Nurann, who needed Lady Venom as a sort of shield until she was close enough to inflict her earthquake.  The gates closed but Lady Venom continued towards them, now bleeding in various areas as her armour was torn apart by the barrage of fire.

"Close enough?!" she yelled in pain.

"Not yet."

She continued a little further.

"Now?"

"Erm, not yet!"

She walked on and a bullet hit her in the face.  She yelped and snarled, blood running from her cheek.

"Hold cow, Nurann!  ARE you in RANGE NOW?!"

"Uh huh!"  

An earthquake tore apart the foundations of the wall and gates and they came crashing and crumbling down.  For that time the siege of weapons fire stopped as there was too much dust for the enemy to see them.  Lady Venom touched her cheek gingerly, only to feel a fresh scab.

"Took you long enough!" she sighed.

"Hey, I had to be in range!" Nurann defended and rushed though the dust.  "Hurry, this cover won't last forever!"  Lady Venom followed suit.

As it was safe for her now, Sinead unshielded Miss Special and moved forward herself.  She and Varyn were going to have to get close to the enemy to inflict damage.  She unsheathed her sword.

"You ready?" she asked her Canadian friend as they jogged towards the dusty pile of rubble that was the wall and gate.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Varyn answered, although she seemed to struggle to say it.  Her face was grave.

"AAAAAARGH!"

Sinead grinned.  "That's Miss Special's battle cry.  Very original, don't you think?"

Varyn was switched off to all talk, her head was bowed slightly to hide her expression of plain malice.  She disappeared into the cloud of dust and Sinead followed blindly after her.

"Be careful, Varyn!" she called, but the Canadian had gone on her own mission.

"That's our cue!" Sapphire cried as she heard the explosions come to her ears on the wind.

She stepped out from her cover and sent off a blast she'd been saving for three days.  She blew a hole right through the wall protecting the rear of the building, and with it destroyed several patrolling alien Transformers.  The blast carried on into the building itself, making a large hole that led into what looked to be a kitchen.

"Whoa!  Go Sapph!" Hacker cried and clapped her hands.  Sapphire had no time to gloat, though, as a few seconds later a shower of laser blasts came upon them.  She ducked and rolled back to her cover, which was a large chunk of cement, the remnants of a guard tower.

"Your turn, Skyfire and Dannn!" Sapphire called to the sky.  The two of them swooped in, taking the enemy by surprise, and pounded them with shots.  They did this for ten seconds, then drew back.  If they hung around too long, the anti-aircraft guns would nail them.  During that time of confusion for the enemy, and while many of them were injured or dazed from Sapphire's blast, Hacker moved in for close-combat fighting.  

She wrapped her wings around her to protect her from incoming fire and then entered the battle zone.  With sharp, accurate kicks and well-placed punches she took out and finished off twelve Transformers and one alien in the first five minutes.

Behind her, Sapphire was utilizing her telekinesis to whip out the guns from the hands of attacking enemies and bring them to her.  She had quite a collection.  She took the biggest and meanest looking.  It was so large  she had to carry it like a rock in both arms, using her whole hand to pull on the trigger.  Enormous blasts of power pounded into the remaining parts of the wall, successfully blowing it up and any enemies concealed behind it.  It was a temporary way of attacking until she had enough strength for another sonic blast.

Dannn and Skyfire came in for another aerial attack, after Sapphire destroyed all the anti-aircraft autoguns that she could spot.

In the air, after completing his second round of attacks, Skyfire channeled into Sharpshot.

"This is Airblast to Sharpshooter.  Do you read?"

"Loud and clear.  What's the sitch?"

He turned sharply and came to his resting spot on a balcony of a building not far from the attack site.  Here he and Dannn had taken care of any lurking enemies, and the area was safe, for now.

"All things are running smoothly here.  How're the Firecats doing?"

"There seemed to be a hiccough in the plan.  The attack was initiated earlier than expected.  From what I can see, all field units are alive and fighting," the young Brit replied.  Skyfire could hear the crackle of gunfire come through the comm. link installed on his arm.  It was like a large wrist watch  Still a field radio, just a fancy one.

"Ok, keep us posted on the progress."

"Will do, and you call in every ten minutes or so, so I can be sure you're all right," Sharpshot told him.

"Affirmative.  Airblast out."

Dannn came and landed next to him.

"Hacker's being swamped.  There are more enemies on this side than we anticipated." 

Skyfire groaned.  "Great, and I just told Sharpshot that our situation was peachy!"

Dannn took to the air again.

"Don't just stand there, come and help me!  She's in trouble."

Skyfire spread out his wings and flew back to the hot zone.

Starath stared at her arm.  She still marveled over how it glowed such a bright purple before it sent off a charge of laserfire.  She looked a the devastation she had caused.  Angry aliens were firing at her from below, but she was very stealthy in the air.  So far every shot had missed.  Down below, Lady Scale was wreaking havoc.  She'd taken out all the air-assault defenses and was now aiding Kacheetah in taking down an enormous blue alien.  It had a humanoid form, only it had upward reaching blades sticking out from all over it and two glaring yellow eyes that sent off streams of tiny balls of light, that upon impact with the ground, sent up sparks of energy that contained a thousand volts in each.  Needless to say, it was important that neither Kacheetah or Lady Scale come into contact with any of these sparks.

Starath ignored the other attacking aliens and Transformer for the moment and pelted the blue beast below with her mini-cannons.

"For the Royalty!" she cried, and then laughed hysterically at herself. The fear had subsided and now she was consumed by a desire to survive, and make sure her friends did too.

The blue alien below roared in pain as it received the volley of shots Starath had sent off, as well as a bright green ball of power from Kacheetah.

Starath heard her comm. rattle to life.

"This is Sharpshooter calling the PITBulls, do you read?"

"Yup."

"Yup?  Come on, Starath!  Make it sound a little cooler than that!"

"Lieutenant Starath here, Sharpshooter!  What is your report?" she asked as she landed with a thud and folded her wings and then opened them quickly, smacking back two Transformers.

"Just checking in on you.  How're you faring?"

"Um..."   She felt a shot hit her in the chest and she stumbled back and looked down.  It had ruined her clothes!  She bared her teeth and fired a shot and the navy Transformer who had delivered the shot.  He exploded.

"We're doing just fine, and you?" she asked.

His reply was cut off by an agonized roar from the blue alien, which came crashing to the ground, bloodied and defeated, and sparking all over.  The little sparks drifted through the air, little balls of energy capable of giving anything that came into contact with it a very nasty shock.

Starath stepped aside as one of these balls floated casually past.

"Pardon?"

"I said I'm fine, and the Firecats are kicking butt.  Over and out!"

She glared at her comm.  Ooh, but Sharpshot was impatient!  Then again, she didn't like repeating herself either.

She flew over to Kacheetah, who was nursing a wound she'd gotten from one of the blue alien's protruding blades.

"Well, we took out the big one," she sighed as she held her bleeding left forearm.  "But there are still a lot of---ack!"  Another hit made her fall over.

"Lady Scale!" she wailed in frustration.

"I'm on it," the Romanian said and sent a beam from her monocle which successfully blew the attacker several meters back.

Starath turned to face a still fairly large army of guards.

"Hurry up in there, Pacer and Amber!  We aren't going to be able to hold off this forever."

Pacerpaw didn't realize she was biting her lip so hard it was beginning to bleed until she tasted it in her mouth.  She was stationed at the computer screens, Amber at her side.  They had successfully hacked past the Alien's first computer firewall and were now fighting the resulting virus that had been unleashed.

"Slag, it's eaten into the system files!  How're you coping on your side, Amber?" she asked as she typed furiously on the control panel.  She didn't even need to think.  Everything came naturally to her.

"They've put up one heck of a firewall to the Jet and Ship controls.  I'm struggling here.  I've never seen so much garbled code in my life!  Man, there's just streams of it!"

"Keep trying," Pacerpaw said a little absently.  Halfway through Amber's reply she had detected the virus.

"Oh no you don't, you little horror!" she muttered as she pursued it with a virus of her own.

"Um, Pacer, Amber?" Wicked Woman popped her head into the room.

"I can't keep freezing everyone who turns the corner.  I'm running out of steam here."

"Well just pick off the frozen ones with your weapon, then," Pacerpaw said.

"There's something dishonorable about killing a frozen enemy," Wicked Woman replied with a scowl.

"Wicked, this is no time to get Dinobotish on us.  Just do it, or we're all done for!"

Wicked Woman closed the door silently.  There was quiet a moment, and then there were the sounds of single shots, followed by thuds.

"I agree with her, it's a horrible job," Amber spoke up.  "Ooh, I decrypted some data."

Pacerpaw completely agreed with Wicked Woman, but she had to concentrate on what she was doing.  Wicked wasn't the only one having to do horrible things to buy them time.

"GOT YA!" she yelled with exuberance.

"Nailed the little sucker, huh?" Amber inclined her head towards Pacerpaw.

"Yes, now I can help you with that firewall."

"Good, coz there's a lot of data here, and very little time for it!" she sighed.  The Swede got straight to work.

The Beez were having a better time than most of the others.

Blackarachnia kicked, twisted, thrust a punch, ducked, leapt, rolled, jumped back up again, thrust her fingers into the gut of an enemy, fired, pulled out, turned, kicked again.  She'd been doing this for ten minutes straight.

"Whoa, BA's got a lotta stamina," Cheetra panted as she fell back after an explosion caused by 'Blaze.  The Floridian flew down and settled beside her.

"Get to your feet, Cheetra.  I've taken out a group of nasties coming from the west."

"Phew, I'm a cheetah girl, 'Blaze.  I was built for running, not fighting."

"A little help, please!" Blackarachnia yelled ad she dodged another blow from a bot with razors for hands.

"This side has a lot of baddies, but it's not as bad as the other sides of the building, or so I've been told by Sharpshot.  The Firecats are facing heavy opposition."

"BLAZE!"

"I'm coming!"  she took to the air.  "Watch out, Cheetra."

Cheetra instinctively ducked and rolled as a surge of green cyber venom went pummeling through the air.  It came from one mean Transformer that they'd been battling to kill and who seemed to have an unlimited supply of the venom, which he fired, revoltingly, from a barrel in his stomach.

"That's it!  We're taking that sucker down!" Cheetra huffed, irritated.  She drew her weapon and fired.  Blaze joined in with her super gun, as she liked to call it.  The Transformer developed a shield around it, and their hits bounced off harmlessly.

The stray shots went flying.  "Yikes!" Blaze swerved left in the air and just missed having her foot taken off my her own blast.

BA swung a punch only to find her enemy had been taken down rather suddenly.

"Oh, thanks for the help!" she sighed, then turned again, hearing a low growl behind her.  she shrieked.

"OH that's ugly!"

All three of them stared at the blubbering slug moving at a surprisingly fast pace towards Blackarachnia.  It was magenta and yellow with two silver axe-like blades extending from its sides.  It had eyes like a caterpillar, only they moved out of sync like a chameleon.  It was drooling some hot oily substance from its mouth.

"Gross," Cheetra swallowed back her nausea.  The mere smell of it was enough to knock out any living creature with nostrils.

"Kill it, kill it!  Ew!!"  Blackarachnia groaned.

"Stand back to avoid the...erm, after blast," Blaze recommended.  Blackarachnia turned just as the slug spat out a blob of the sticky oil.  It hit her in the back and she fell to the ground, and remained there.

"YUCK!  Ohhhh, ew ew ew!  Guys, I'm stuck!!"

"Well that's pleasant!" Cheetra moaned and raced towards the slug from behind.  She stood fast and fired several shots into it.  The blasts caused holes which resulted in eruptions of the oil.

"Heh, I struck oil!" she laughed.

Blaze realized she'd have to fire at the slug now.  There was no point in trying to prevent Blackarachnia getting slimed; she already was.  She took aim and fired.  The slug exploded, and amid the lumps of slime flying everywhere, were splinters of very sharp teeth, which had been concealed in its underbelly mouth.  A piece tore at Blazes ankle and she yelled in irritation more than pain.

"Please tell me we have anti-septic!"

Cheetra wiped a lump of muck from her cheek.  "Hey, looked like the slug scared our enemies away.  There are no more left."

"Mmmmf!"  Blackarachnia protested under the sticky clump of oil.

Blaze landed beside her, gingerly putting her foot down, and sighed.

"We'd better take advantage of the moment then, to free BA from this...mess."

They set to work, while Blackarachnia decided that she loathed slugs, and would carry salt with her the next time she went out to murder aliens.

Skyfire hit the ground with a painful thump.  He crawled behind the chunk of cement and rolled, exhausted, onto his back.

"Skyfire," he paused to breathe, "To Sharpshooter.  Do you read?"

"I'm here, go ahead."

"We're... not coping.  Hacker's so surrounded by enemies, we can barely catch glimpses of her.  We need to pull out a.s.a.p."

"I read you.  I just got a call from Wicked Woman.  Apparently the girls are almost done.  Just hang in there for another few minutes."

Skyfire wiped away some blood and dirt from a cut on his cheek and stared at the dark red mix that now covered his hand.

"Ugh, okay.  But you let us know first when we can blow this joint."

"You can count on that.  Sharpshooter out."

Skyfire hard a yell and looked up a second before Sapphire came crashing into him.

"OOF!"

"Ow..."

Sapphire turned and found she was lying on Skyfire.  "You broke my fall!  My hero!"

"Get, off, Sapph," he grumbled and pushed her off.  He peeked over the cement block.  "Man, Hacker's just engulfed!"

"I know, I've tried everything to free her of some of her load, but I'm all out of power.  I can't muster even a small blast, and my telekinesis is becoming mentally exhausting.  Seems like Dannn's the only one who hasn't broken something," Sapphire said as she watched the flyer.

Skyfire eyed her.  "You've broken something?"

Sapphire held up her hand and Skyfire could clearly see her little finger was out of place.

"That is indeed a very broken finger.  But it doesn't compare to my shattered wrist!"

"Ooooh..." Sapphire screwed up her face.

Skyfire stood up, fired a few shots into the swarm of enemy Transformers, and then ducked before he got hit by return fire.

"Uh oh, they're advancing on our position.  They're quite aware where our cover is," he told her.

"Drat.  We have to hold them back."

She lifted a stolen gun from the pile she had behind her.  It was amazing she'd used up the energy and ammo of three of her collection of seven, already.  She fired a few shots and knocked off a few approaching enemies.

Dannn swooped overhead and sent off a powerful few hits into the ground around Hacker, knocking away a considerable amount of her attackers.  The sight his shots revealed sent a chill through him.  Hacker was staggering on shredded legs, her elegant robes were tattered and blood stained, her hair was clinging to her sweaty and bloody face, and her wings were scratched and damaged.  She glanced up with a weariness so immense Dannn almost lost his balance in the air current he was in.

"Skyfire!  Call Sharpshot and tell him we have to pull out now!" Dannn yelled from the sky.

Skyfire and Sapphire exchanged glances.  "Did you call?" she asked.

"I did.  He said we needed to wait a few more minutes."

"Screw that, this mission isn't as important as Hacker's life!"  

She got to her feet as did Skyfire, and they stood their ground, and fired up a storm.

"We've cracked it.  Leave me to the rest, Amber, you hardwire that bomb."

Amber rolled back her seat and got onto her knees, took out a bomb and some tools and set to work.

Pacerpaw finished off what she needed.  The defenses the alien's controlled at the Main Army base no longer responded to their commands, and she typed in a command of her own, which turned it against them.  It reminded her of an episode in Beast Wars, where Sentinel had turned against the Maximals.  She smiled briefly.  "I hope there are no clever Rattraps among those aliens," she murmured.

"What did you say?" Amber asked from under one of the computers.  

"Nothing," Pacerpaw replied as she sent out a message to the Transformer Alliance head General.

"Mission Acc.  Code: 45923789#GRIW77," the computer hummed.  The got a reply within a few seconds.

"Thanks for your help.  We have access.  Destroy Hall immediately."

She typed a few more things and then pulled her chair out and stood up.  "It's done.  The Allies have full control over their own base again.  It's time to get out of here."

"Just hang on..." Amber's muffled voice came from her position from under the machine.  

Pacerpaw tapped her foot impatiently for a few intense moments.

Amber pulled herself out from under and blinked up at Pacerpaw.  "Bomb's all ready to blow."  She smiled.

"That's a comforting thought," Pacerpaw grumbled as she helped Amber to her feet.  Wicked Woman entered the room at that moment, looking alarmed.

"We have to go!  I can't hold off any more enemies!"

"We're done.  Where's Markaya?"

Wicked Woman shook her head somberly.

"She didn't make it?  But you two were fighting side by side!" Amber exclaimed.

"I told you I needed time to power up my slowing power.  You were probably too engrossed to hear the fighting going on outside.  She took the hits for me..."

Wicked Woman turned away with a pained grimace and Pacerpaw opened the door and shooed Amber outside.

"I'm sorry, Wicked.  I know you did your best.  But we mustn't let her death be in vain.  We must get out of here, save ourselves."  

The Canadian nodded and followed Pacerpaw swiftly out of the room.  Pacerpaw grimly walked past Markaya's wrecked body.  Her chest had a gaping hole in it, but her face was peaceful.

"They've disabled the elevator, and the stairs are swarming with oncoming enemy traffic!" Amber cried as she ran back from her little trip down the hallway.  "How're we going to get out?" she panicked.

Pacerpaw looked around.  No windows...

"Amber, you're gonna have to blow a hole, quick!"

"And then what?  It's a six story drop!"

Pacerpaw pulled out a long piece of rope from her silver bag.  "We climb out the old fashioned way!  Now hurry!"

Amber took out a bomb and then paused.  "The explosion might set the other one off."

"She's got a point," Wicked Woman said, her eyes constantly shifting to the stairs where at any moment the next wave of enemies would appear.  She could hear the clattering sound of metal feet.

"For heaven's sake!" Pacerpaw blurted irritably.  She pushed Amber and Wicked Woman behind her, whipped out her machine gun, and fired.

As she had hoped, the wall was riddled with holes.  It may have been one of the most well guarded places, but even the building's strong walls were no match for Spenzak's state-of-the-art weaponry.

The wall gave way and crumbled outwards and a nice, person-sized hole was made.  The morning sun peered in and before them lay an open, wrecked battle ground.  They could see Miss Special sending off fire balls while Sinead thrashed at a group of enemies with her sword.

Pacerpaw rammed open a door opposite of the hole, found a solid table that was fixed to the floor and tied the rope around it.  Fortunately it was a very long and durable rope.  She let the rest of it fall over the edge.  It stopped six feet short of the ground.  "It'll have to do.  You first, Wicked."

Wicked Woman nodded without a word and slipped down the rope with ease, as her hands were metal.  Amber was next.

"Thank God for leather gloves!" she cried as she too disappeared down the rope.  Pacerpaw heard a blast and felt the heat of a laser beam skim past her back as she leapt off through the hole, snatched at the rope and slid down, burning half the skin off her palms.  It was painful, but she was beyond caring.  As soon as she touched down, she brought her comm. to her lips, and switched it on as she sprinted across for cover.

"Pacer to Sharpshooter!"

"I can see ya, girl!  Have you completed the task successfully?"

"Rodger that, now tell the others to fall back and get out of here!" she yelled as she lowered her head.  A bullet sang over her.

"Got you.  Sharpshooter out."

Pacerpaw ran through a small tornado of dust and nearly crashed into Sinead.

"CRAP!  Pacer!  I almost killed you!" she gasped as she drew her sword back.

"Mission accomplished, Sinead.  Pull back."

Sinead thrust her sword into the gut of an enemy that appeared from out of nowhere.  Even Pacerpaw had not seen his approach.

"I'd love to, but the rest of us Firecats are in a dilemma.  We can't find Varyn, and she's not answering her comm."

Pacerpaw's squinting eyes surveyed the dusty, smoky scene around her.  She watched as Lady Venom cut a tall alien with tentacles drooping at its side, spilling fluid...

It jogged a memory, and she closed her eyes in a quiet horror.

"Oh no..."

"What?" Sinead breathed, her chest rising and falling as she panted, beads of sweat pouring down her face.

Pacerpaw turned and looked around for Varyn.  Nurann was sending off a small earthquake.  The ground opened up and two Transformers slipped in.  The sight was almost comic, only her heart was laden with worry.  She turned back to face Sinead.

"I think I know what Varyn's gone off to do..."

It was surreal, this place.  It was like some kind of semi-soundproof wall surrounded this little patch of land and the explosions and gunfire and yells were locked out.  It was not far from the hall and it was sandwiched between two tall grey buildings.  The colour of the ground was greyish brown and it was rocky and dirty.  The dust formed a kind of dome over the funny little courtyard in which the sun's light filtered through in a hazy, yolk-yellow light.

Varyn stared ahead, her hands clenched hat her side.  He knuckles bled, her clothes were torn, her helmet was cracked and her knee was fractured.  She felt no pain.  All she felt was It.

And there it was  It appeared about one hundred feet ahead.  A mirage, a nightmare.  It watched her with those big, horrible white eyes and their rolling red pupils.  It had lured her here, she knew.  It was a trap, she knew.  She may die.

She didn't care.

"Human."

That low, monotonous voice...haunting, penetrating.  She did not flinch, even though the voice triggered an eruption of a volcano of fear and anger.

She took her time sucking the air in carefully, silently, threw her nose as she braced herself to talk to it.  It felt as if an invisible hand was clutching at her throat and she was fighting with everything she had to force out her voice.  Like in nightmares, when you can't scream, cannot run fast enough, cannot open your eyes...  The sheer claustrophobia of it.  The agonizing helplessness.

"Die."

One little word, but she had said it.  She meant it with all the malice she could muster.

There was an ominous, suffering silence of dread and then its beak opened and she swooned in ecstasy and anguish.  All her thoughts, every single last one she had every created in her brain flew though her mind like a speeding train and every single memory she had, even the ones she had long put away came back to her, vivid,  heaving, breathing.  Every injury suffered, every emotional breakdown, every suicidal intention  - it all came out in an explosion that tore her up from the inside out and shredded her sanity and threw her hard against the earth.  She skidded, her skin split off with the friction, her helmet rolled away and she lay, eyes open, staring ahead, stricken.

"Die," It replied, its voice dominating her head as she lay in shock, twitching.

"Die."

She saw herself crying.

"Die."

She saw her blood seep out through a newly made mark.

"Die."

She saw the broken bottles, the glass glistening in the moonlight.

And then, she inhaled, and she wept.

"NO!"

She exploded into a ball of power.  She arose from the earth like a vampire, straight, without using her legs to push herself off the ground.  She walked steadily forward, tears running down her wide eyes and then she stopped in front of It.

She watched it stiffen, almost afraid, surprised she had come so far, that she had survived.

"No being, no matter how great, should have the power to see into a person as well as you can," she said softly, her voice clear and sad.

She fancied that the creature tilted its head slightly to ponder a moment, just before she jerked her arms into its eyes.

It died instantly.

She pulled her arms out.  She had cracked its bubble shield over its eyes, mangling her fists beyond recognition.  Her hands were limp pulps of blood at her side, now, but they did not hurt.  She had done it, and she was free from It.  Her mind cleared, her memories faded and she was the Present.

She held up her bloody stumps and pushed them together.  It almost looked as if her arms had grown into one big loop.  The wounds would be fatal, if she was not attended to soon.  A voice came riding to her on the wind, and she turned her head sharply at the noise.

"Varyn!!"

It was Sapphire.  Her senses heightened, Varyn was able to follow her voice as if it left a trail in the air.  In a way it did, because although Varyn had defeated the monster that had held her in suspension and numbed her from the world for a time, she had not lost touch with those she cared about and to her, that was her greatest achievement.

She picked up her pace and began to run.

"I'm coming Sapph!" she cried, her voice breaking with emotion.  

Within two minutes, she arrived on the scene to see a frantic Sapphire screaming at a gathering of Transformers.  They appeared to be beating something.

"Sapph!"

Sapphire turned and saw her friend approaching.

"Varyn!" she wailed.  Varyn could see the flicker of concern light up in Sapphire's eyes as she noticed her bloody stumps.  But her attention was drawn to the Transformers once more.

"Varyn, Hacker's in there!  They're killing her!"

Varyn raced towards the group. She didn't realize she had begun to glow.  Her protective shield came down over her again.  "Where's Dannn and Sky?" she asked loudly as bullets flipped off her shield.

"We're grounded and out of ammo!" Dannn replied from behind a chunk of cement.  "Not to mention virtually immobilized!"

Varyn leapt six feet into the air and crashed down on her enemies.  With raw, brute strength she thrashed and pummeled her way through them all until everyone lay dead, or unconscious on the floor.  The few who survived fled.  Varyn had done this in thirty seconds, such was her power.

All at once, though, it had been drained from her, and she collapsed, worm out, to her knees beside Hacker.  The latter girl was lying on her side, crumpled and broken, but alive.

A sudden, eerie silence settled over them.  Sapphire rushed over to her sister-fighter.  She skidded on her knees and put a hand n her shoulder, shaking her gently.

"Hacker!" she blurted.  The girl did not stir.  She was rasping, a trickle of blood running from her mouth.

Skyfire and Dannn approached slowly, both in obvious pain.  "Hacker!" she tried again, starting to cry.

Varyn caught her breath and got to her feet.

"We need to take her out of here.  Can either of you fly?"

Skyfire opened his mouth to reply when his comm. rattled to life.

"This is Sharpshot to Air--oh, bugger it.  Skyfire, are you there?"

"Yes."

"Get out of there, you lot!  Everyone else has retreated and is regrouping at the transport ship in Grid 15.  I need to fire my bullet and get out of here too."

"We're ready to go, but warn the medics, we have a seriously injured Hacker with us."

"Roger that.  By the way, have you seen Varyn?  Sinead's out looking for her.  We can't find her anywhere."

"I'm here," Varyn spoke up as she lifted Hacker gently from the floor and passed her to Skyfire.  He opened his tattered but still functional wings and lifted off, still talking to Sharpshot.

"Oh good, I'll call her back.  Now you lot move out, now!"

"Ok, ok!  Skyfire over and out!"  

He glanced down at Dannn, Varyn and Sapphire.

"I know your wings are ruined, Dannn, but can you walk along with Sapph and Varyn?"

Dannn nodded.  "Yeah, but we must hurry."

"Agreed," Varyn heaved a sigh.  Without further delay, they took a planned route out of the area and headed towards the ship that would take them away from it all.

Sharpshot made a brief call to Sinead and waited until he had gotten a Morse code signal from both her and Varyn before he took aim with his rifle.

"Ah, and so my moment of glory arrives," he sighed with relief.  He found the spot on the building behind which he knew were the computers, and the bomb.

With a smug grin, he said:  "Hasta la vista, alien suckers!" proceeded to release a maniacal laugh, and then fired.

The resulting explosion was spectacular.  It was like something out of the movies.  The pieces flying everywhere, the rising, bulging cloud, the reds and oranges and yellows lighting up the entire area in hellish glory.  Sharpshot laughed the whole way through with awe and enjoyment.  

When the explosion started to die down and he realized his sniper's perch was shaking rather ominously, he started his decent down.  He had taken about four cautious steps when he felt himself being plucked from his rope ladder.

"Hey!"

He twisted his head to see Blaze glaring at him.

"You were taking too long, basking in your glory, so I came to fetch you.  Ship's leaving in three."

Sharpshot pouted.  "The climb was part of the grand finale!"

Blaze snorted but secretly grinned as she sped back to the ship.  They arrived just in time to watch Varyn, Sapphire and Dannn stagger up the ramp.

Dannn, being the last one of the three to go up, turned his head to see Blaze drop Sharpshot to the ground lightly and land behind him.

"Blaze!  Good to see you!" he greeted.

"And visa versa.  Heh, you won't believe who the pilot of the ship is."

As if on cue, a voice came drifting out from, the ship.

"Allll aboard the Fadeway!"

Sharpshot and Dannn exchanged glances.

"She's the pilot?!" Dannn's jaw dropped.  Blaze chuckled.  "Apparently so, and she's so good, they named the ship after her!  It is rather fitting, considering it goes invisible and then flies away."

Dannn  shook his head in amazement as they boarded the ship from the rear.  The door closed.

Inside the carrier cabin, things were a mess. There were two long benches on which most of the group was splayed out, groaning in some pain or another. Those who could stand, however, were huddled around Hacker, who had just woken up.  

Sapphire was squeezing her hand, kneeling at her side.  Lady Venom, despite her injuries, had given up her amulet as soon as she saw her.  Hacker had it around her neck.  Sapphire sobbed quietly over her.  Sinead gripped Hacker's left hand and watched her face gravely.

Hacker too was crying, from fear and pain.  Her body was wracked with sudden violent jolts of trembling.  Her eyes were open and glistening in the dim light of the ship's cabin hold.

"Hacker, Hacker please hold on..." Sapphire whimpered.

"Sinead!" she breathed.  "Sinead, I think...I think I'm dying."

Sinead shook her head calmly, although she could not mask the fear in her eyes.  "No, you're not.  I won't let you die."

"Move aside, move aside!" Pacerpaw grunted ahs she moved through the huddled group.  She knelt next to Sapphire and examined Hacker with a little medical scanner.

"Geez, Hacker, your insides are a tangled mess.  You sure took a beating."

Hacker closed her eyes and squeezed her tears out.

Pacerpaw took out her medical kit.  "But fear not, old Pacer's here to patch you up," she said soothingly.  Her tone of voice brought some relief to everyone at that moment.

"Move away, Sapph, I need my space," she told the South African gently.  Sapphire nodded and put Hacker's hand down carefully, before standing up and watching with silent tears.

Varyn sighed and sat down on the other side of the cabin.  Lady Venom walked over to her.

"That Pacer's amazing.  It's like---GEEZ, what happened to your hands?"

Varyn cocked an eyebrow at her.  "I ate them."

Lady Venom slumped down onto the bench and sat beside her.  "Funny, they're not bleeding anymore."

Varyn nodded.  "I know, they're just dried stumps.  Peculiar.  Bit of a bummer, really.  I thought I was going to leak to death.  Wouldn't that make a funny epitaph? "Varyn:  Died because she ate her hands and leaked to death.  RIP."

"You didn't really eat your hands.  What happened?"

"Aw, wish you were as gullible as Sapph.  She would've believed it."

"Varyn, stop avoiding the question," Lady Venom scorned.

She sighed again.  "LV, it's a hang of a long story, one which I think I need time to put right in my own head, before I tell anyone."

Lady Venom nodded softly and stared ahead through the poor light, watching as Pacerpaw talked gently to Hacker.

"Now hold still and breathe deeply.  There's no need to panic, Hacker.  It's all over...."

Chapter 8

 - Success

'Success is a journey, not a destination.'

- Ben Sweetland

She awoke with her head on a most uncomfortable surface.  Slowly, groggily, she lifted her head and waited for the dizzy blackness with its speckled stars of colour to clear before she could see.  A keyboard.  She looked up.  A screen.

A computer screen.  Her computer screen, and displayed on it, an AIM chat room.

"No....way...."

A string of g's filled the typing block, evidently that was the key her nose had rested upon.  She felt her face gingerly and stroked the indentations and creases the keys had made on her face, as she stared in disbelief at what she saw.  A chat, with...

"Nuh uh, no no no.  That was NO dream!" Hacker exclaimed and deleted the g's from her text box.  She typed frantically.

HackerSBRE: Hello?

LunacticRaptor13:  Hey...

Hacker shook away a little headache that was starting to trouble her.

HackerSBRE:  Varyn?  Did....did that just happen?

LunaticRaptor13:  If  'that' is a whole adventure of murdering aliens and posses Transformers for a mad scientist called Spenzak...then yeah."

Hacker gripped at her chest as she felt her lungs close in for a second.  "My God...."   She turned around and stared at her back.  There were no enormous turquoise wings.

HackerSBRE:  Where's everyone else?"

skyfirech9:  I'm here... The rest are still waking up.  Did you also drool on the keyboard?

Hacker stared at the text on her screen incredulously.

HackerSBRE:  No.... Ok, my head's spinning.  Did we just come back from Cybertron!?

LunaticRaptor13:  Yup, and they kindly put us back just where they found is, simply to confuse us.  Don't worry, kid, Sky and I have figured out that it was real.  Besides, we can't all three of us have dreamed up the same thing.

skyfirech9:  Look under your pillow.  There should be a gift for you.

LunaticRaptor13:  Yes, mine was awesome.

HackerSBRE:  I can't believe you're all so calm about this!

LunaticRaptor13:  We left pretty quickly after we arrived back at Spenzak's lab.  We only stayed there a day while the doctor's healed you with this incredible bone-building machine!  I have my hands back!"

HackerSBRE:  Your hands?

LunaticRaptor13:  Yeah, I ate them.

skyfirech9: Lol!  So she keeps telling everyone.

Hacker shook her head with a smile and looked herself over.  She felt fit as a fiddle, except for the small headache, which came from trying to grapple with the idea that...that it all actually happened.

HackerSBRE:  I'm gonna brb, guys.  I have to see what my gift is, just for proof...

LunaticRaptor13:  lol, go ahead!  Enjoy.  ;)

Hacker left the computer and made her way to her bed.  She paused a while and stared at her pillow.  

What if?  Was it actually possible...?

With a deep breath, she lifted up and revealed a little velvet, green box.  She gasped and froze, her hand at her mouth as she let the pillow drop from her other hand.  Slowly, she reached out and picked it up, and opened it.  Inside of it was a gold necklace, with a little disc attached to it.  Inscribed on it, in tiny writing, was:  Hacker - The greatest and most beautiful flying warrior ever to exist.  She smiled a small smile and turned the disc over.  There was a little embedded picture of a manta ray, and below it another inscription:  With love, DC.

Hacker sank down onto her bed and let the little gold chain of the necklace drape over her fingers.  She examined the box and noticed a piece of gold paper attached to the inside of the lid.  She took it out, opened it and read it.  As she did, a quiet sense of achievement assailed her and she felt a small, warm little tear roll down her cheek.

"This is Spenzak.  The war is won and the aliens have been driven out.  I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to say a proper goodbye to you, Hacker.  I'm also sorry that I wasn't able to give you the chance to say goodbye to your special touch.  You will notice your wings and your powers have gone.  Disappointing, I know, but practical.  You can't very well go walking through the streets with huge blue wings jutting out of your back.  Still, you will always feel a little of the power inside of you.  It is a residue that one cannot erase -  a sense of confidence and success.  I want to thank you for all you've done.  You and your friends tipped the balance of a war in our favour, and for that we are eternally grateful.  One day we will find a way of repaying you properly.  I promise that Depth Charge and I have something special planned for you, but not for just yet.  Now your reward is a good rest.  May you keep safe and healthy and find happiness in your own world, as we have finally found it in ours. 

Kind Regards,

Spenzak."

The young woman folded the letter quietly and put it back in the box.  She returned calmly to her computer to find that the chat was bustling with chatter.  As she sat down she felt her entire body droop in a pleasant kind of weariness and resignation.  She put her fingers to the keyboard and typed.

HackerSBRE: Hey guys. Nice to see you all again...