Scuzzard lands and folds his wings. Then he extends to his full height, towering over Sideswipe.
The young hero had not realized how much bigger the Decepticon was up close. From afar, he seemed like a puny and easy enough challenge.
“Mama-bot told me not to play with my food, but tearing you apart is going to be fun!” Scuzzard gloats.
He slowly advances toward Sideswipe. The hotheaded Autobot is starting to lose his cool. He whispers into his communicator.
“Hey, guys? I could really use some backup right about now.”
“We’re trying to find you,” Bumblebee responds.
Strongarm pipes in. “If you had stayed on course and met at the rendezvous point, this wouldn’t be an issue.”
Sideswipe quickly glances around. Strongarm is right. He is in the wrong part of the woods. He must have lost his way trying to outrun the Decepticon. Scuzzard sharpens his bladed fingertips against one another. The metal sparks and shrieks, causing Sideswipe to wince.
“This will not be quick, Autobot,” rasps the criminal.
“Quick is what I do best,” Sideswipe replies, and turns to hightail it out of the clearing.
Just as quickly, Scuzzard pounces. He hits the Autobot square in the back, pinning him to the ground. Sinking into the dirt, Sideswipe struggles under the massive weight of the Decepticon.
“You’re barely an appetizer!” Scuzzard says.
“You don’t wanna to eat me,” grunts Sideswipe. “I’ll just get stuck in your intake valve.”
“On the contrary,” replies Scuzzard. “Since my incarceration, I’ve built up quite an appetite.”
“Then eat this!” Sideswipe yells.
He grabs a fistful of mud and hurls it at Scuzzard’s face.
The Decepticon reels back.
Sideswipe rolls onto his feet.
“What is this?” spits Scuzzard. “It’s vile!”
Thinking quickly, Sideswipe says, “It’s a very toxic and poisonous Earth element. It will instantly deactivate you!”
Scuzzard falls to his knees and chokes.
“Curse you, Autobot!” he gasps.
Sideswipe can’t believe his good fortune.
The bigger they are, the dumber they are, he thinks.
Quickly shifting into his vehicle form, Sideswipe drives farther into the forest to look for his friends.
A yellow blur blows right past him and Sideswipe swerves to follow. “Bumblebee!” he cries.
The team leader reverses and idles up next to the sports car.
Strongarm, in her police cruiser form, rolls up seconds later.
“What is the status report?” she asks.
“And where is the Decepticon?” adds Bumblebee.
As Sideswipe prepares to tell his tale, a dark shadow swoops by overhead.
SCREEECH!
“Heads up!” Strongarm warns.
The vulturish Decepticon descends upon the red sports car, landing on the roof.
“Nice try, slick,” Scuzzard says, folding his wings. “You had me going for a nanocycle, but I’m still active. Only now, I’m angry!”
He rakes his sharp talons across the young hero, causing Sideswipe to yelp in pain.
Bumblebee and Strongarm surround Sideswipe and Scuzzard.
“Let me guess,” the villain says. “More Autobots in disguise?”
“You got that right, criminal!” Strongarm shouts.
She shifts into her bot mode, as does Bumblebee.
“You are under arrest by order of the Cybertronian Police Force!” he says.
“Ha!” rasps Scuzzard. “Don’t make me laugh, law-bot. We’re not on Cybertron anymore!”
Scuzzard lunges at the heroes, extending his bladed wings. Bumblebee and Strongarm backflip with ease out of the criminal’s razor-sharp reach. The Decepticon lands with a thud.
With his body and pride wounded, Sideswipe drives behind a row of trees and hides. He changes back into bot mode.
Bumblebee and Strongarm are ready for battle. They produce their plasma cannons and aim them at the Decepticon.
“Fire!” Bumblebee commands.
CHOOM! CHOOM!
The laser beams whiz past the vulture. He evades the blasts by soaring into the air.
“I’m just as equipped as you are,” says Scuzzard as he fires a series of bladed missiles from his wings.
FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!
“Aerial assault!” Strongarm cries.
The knifelike projectiles slice through the air, stabbing everything in their path.
Bumblebee and Strongarm run for cover, but one of the bladed darts nicks Bumblebee on the leg. He stumbles and falls.
“ARGH!”
Strongarm aims her blaster from behind a tree and fires at the birdbot.
ZAP!
The energy burst catches Scuzzard square in the chest.
“Direct hit!” she cheers.
As Scuzzard falls back, he unleashes another volley of missiles.
Strongarm dives for cover as the projectiles splinter the trunk above her head. The last bladed dart bounces off her shoulder.
“Yowch!”
She spins around, reeling from the hit, and lands on her back.
Scuzzard reconfigures himself into his large, intimidating robot form and saunters over.
He picks Strongarm up in a tight grip and holds her high above the ground. Wincing with pain, she kicks at her assailant but to no avail.
With the cadet in tow, Scuzzard walks over to her limping lieutenant and prepares to pound him into the ground with his gigantic foot.
“Just my luck,” hisses Scuzzard. “I’ve come across an all-you-can-eat buffet!”
Chapter 7
From his hiding place, Sideswipe musters up the courage and rushes to the rescue, spiriting Bumblebee away from imminent bashing in the nick of time!
The young Autobot deposits the wounded leader against a thick tree trunk.
“I’m so sorry!” Sideswipe cries. “This is all my fault! I botched the plan!”
“We can’t worry about that now,” grunts Bumblebee. “I need you to focus on a new plan!”
Bumblebee aims the plasma cannon at his wounded leg. He sets the blaster to emit an extremely fine laser beam and mends the gash in his plating.
“Whoa,” Sideswipe exclaims. “You are a tough-bot, Bee!”
The young Autobot is thoroughly impressed with his sometimes stodgy leader. Maybe Strongarm is right to look up to him, he thinks.
“Oh no! Strongarm!”
Sideswipe peeks out from behind a tree to see his teammate struggling in Scuzzard’s clutches.
“Time to put my moves to good use again,” Sideswipe says.
He jumps onto the nearest tree branch with ninja-like stealth and speed. He zigzags from one to the next until he disappears into the leaves above.
Ignoring his pain, Bumblebee speaks into his communicator.
“Strongarm, what is your status?”
“Oh, I’m just hanging around!” she says gruffly.
“If Strongarm is making jokes, we must really be in trouble!” Sideswipe quips.
“Focus, everybot. Sideswipe will be dropping in unexpectedly. Strongarm, disengage!”
“Yes, sir!”
Strongarm shifts into vehicle mode, causing Scuzzard to loosen his grip. She pops her hood, catching him on the beak with the full force of an uppercut.
BAM!
Scuzzard’s head snaps back, and he drops the police SUV.
The deranged Decepticon changes into his bird form and flies up into the air. Before he can escape, Sideswipe propels himself from within the treetops and lands on top of Scuzzard.
They spiral back onto the ground, and the Autobot drills Scuzzard beakfirst into the dirt.
Before the Decepticon can recover, Sideswipe shifts into his vehicle form and drives into Scuzzard, hitting the Decepticon with his bumper and smashing him hard against a tree.
Scuzzard drops to the ground, wheezing a
nd hacking.
Sideswipe is mad at Scuzzard for hurting his friends as well as at himself for putting them in danger. He revs his engine and prepares to strike again. His tires spatter dirt into the air.
Bumblebee sternly shouts at the red sports car. “Throttle back, Sideswipe. The battle is over.”
Sideswipe pulls back and shifts into his bot mode. He stands aside so that Bumblebee and Strongarm, now in bot form, can deploy their neo-forges.
Combining their forces, the heroes trap the Scavengebot in a glowing net of paralyzing energy.
“You mess with Team Bee, you’re gonna get stung!” Sideswipe growls.
Scuzzard thrashes against his bonds. “Look at the brave little Autobot now. I’ve seen how scared you really are.”
Sideswipe takes a step back as Bumblebee and Strongarm tighten their grip on the villain.
“Before this day is done, I am going to feast on all of you!” Scuzzard sneers.
“Ugh, creepy!” Strongarm says with a shudder.
Scuzzard snaps his beak at her.
SNAP!
“Permission to treat the perpetrator as hostile, lieutenant?” she asks Bumblebee.
Before her commanding officer can answer, Strongarm judo-chops the vulture, knocking him out.
KA-POW!
“Wow,” Sideswipe says, coming to a slow realization. “Strong. Arm. Now I get it!”
Strongarm lets out an unexpected laugh and quickly regains her composure.
Bumblebee puts his arms around his teammates. “If you want respect, you have to be the first to give it,” he says. “How else will we succeed as a team?”
Sideswipe and Strongarm exchange glances. Their leader is right.
“Let’s get back to the command center,” Bumblebee says.
Back at the scrapyard, Russell and Denny are repairing the pinball machine inside Denny’s garage.
Fixit rolls in and says, “I am very interested in seeing your workstop… chop… shop!”
“Come in!” Denny says with a big smile. He motions his arm in a grand sweeping gesture. “Welcome to my sanctuary!”
Fixit turns in a complete circle, taking in his new surroundings. There are several benches and shelves completely covered with numerous pieces of hardware and items in various stages of repair.
“It just looks like more of the scrapyard,” Fixit says.
“That’s what I keep telling him,” Russell replies.
As Denny tinkers with his tools, he wipes the sweat off his brow.
Fixit focuses his ocular sensors onto Denny’s perspiration.
“It appears you are losing fluids, Denny Clay,” Fixit says. “Perhaps one of your pipe valves has sprung a leak?”
Grimlock squeezes his massive frame into the garage.
“We just got word from Bumblebee,” the dinobot announces. “They captured the Decepticon! Whoo-hoo!”
Grimlock starts dancing, and the rumbling vibrations rattle the delicate pinball machine. The legs start to wobble and pop off one by one.
“I think there may be one too many dinobots in my sanctuary,” Denny whispers to Russell.
“Dad, what am I supposed to do with him?” Russell asks. “It’s not like I can take him for a walk or a run at the dog park.”
“Exercise is a wonderful idea,” Denny says, tousling Russell’s hair. “Why don’t you practice throwing a few passes? I’m sure Gridlock Grimlock is up for it.”
Russell stares at his father, who continues tinkering with the pinball machine.
“Did someone call upon the lob-ball legend?” Fixit asks.
The dinobot perks up. He reconfigures himself into bot mode and cries, “GAME ON!”
Grimlock picks up Fixit in the palm of his hand.
“Release me at once,” Fixit demands.
“No, Grimlock,” Denny responds with a smile. “I meant you and Rusty could throw around the old pigskin.”
“Pigskin!” says Grimlock. “Is that another Decepticon? Let me at ’im!”
“Yes,” begs the beleaguered Fixit. “Throw him around for a change!”
“No, no, no,” Russell says, shaking his head. “Pigskin is another term for a football!”
“Ah, yes,” Fixit replies. “The spheroid that is used to play your Earth sport of the same name.”
Grimlock places Fixit back on the ground and bounds out of the workshop. “The legend has returned!”
Denny hugs the pinball machine close and breathes a sigh of relief.
Minutes later, Russell and Grimlock find a clear path in the scrapyard and take turns throwing the football to each other.
Russell rears back and releases the ball, spiraling it through the air at immense speed. Grimlock sprints, pushing his massive robot form to its limit, and dives to catch the football. He snatches the ball out of the air.
Unfortunately, Grimlock’s rapid movement makes him an unstoppable force. He lands hard and skids uncontrollably—right into the command center!
SMASH!
CRASH!
Russell watches helplessly as the events seem to unfold in slow motion.
Grimlock bashes into one of the stasis pods, cracking the surface. The chamber tips over and breaks upon impact.
A loud hissing sound comes from within, and a sharp metallic claw scrapes away at the debris. Russell runs as fast as he can to the workshop.
“Dad! Fixit!” he yells. “HELP!”
Grimlock groans as he lifts his battered form onto his feet. He turns around to see the shimmering black figure of their old Decepticon nemesis—Filch!
The Corvicon slinks out of the chamber and stretches her robot limbs while emitting a high-pitched shriek.
“I’M FREE!”
Then she flaps her wings and takes flight.
Grimlock watches the prisoner escape.
“Oh, scrap!” he whispers.
Chapter 8
The trek back to the command center through the forest is long and winding. The Autobots created this path so they could travel unobserved by humans.
Bumblebee, Sideswipe, and Strongarm take turns carrying the unconscious form of Scuzzard. Everybot is lost in thought.
Bumblebee contemplates how the members of this motley crew of his need more field training and how they cannot rely on dumb luck to accomplish their missions.
As if reading Bumblebee’s mind, Sideswipe breaks the silence.
“I want to apologize again about what happened back there,” the young Autobot says. “I messed things up.”
“It’s all right, Sideswipe,” Bumblebee says. “Any one of us could have gotten lost on this unfamiliar terrain.”
“Not only that,” Sideswipe says. “I’m mad at myself about being scared and running off. That’s not like me. I’m tougher than that. Stronger than that!”
“Toughness is not a sign of strength,” Strongarm says.
“Strongarm is right,” Bumblebee adds. “You’re very good at what you do, and we are all still learning how to work as a team.”
Suddenly, a message crackles in through his audio receptors. Bumblebee can barely make out what it is, but he knows it’s coming from the command center.
“ZZZK-help-ZZZZK-trouble!”
“Listen up, everybot!” Bumblebee says. “There seems to be a glitch. Let’s pick it up and return to base.”
As the Autobots charge forward, a dark figure swoops overhead. It screeches loudly as it dive-bombs toward Team Bee.
The Autobots cover their audio receptors, losing their grip on the trussed-up troublemaker.
“SHINY!” Filch squawks, eyeing the metallic sheen of Scuzzard’s body.
She digs her talons into his back, and the sharp pain jostles him into consciousness.
“AAAH!” Scuzzard cries.
Filch quickly extends her wings with expert grace and speed, lifting Scuzzard into the air and carrying him away.
The howling Scuzzard hurls insults at his attacker until both fugitives are far beyond the reach of the Autobots
.
Sideswipe blinks in disbelief and turns to Strongarm.
“Sweet solus prime!” he exclaims. “Was that—”
“Yes,” Strongarm replies.
“Did she just—”
“Yes.”
“Are we in deep—”
“Oh yes.”
Bumblebee manages to complete their sentences. “Did our old prisoner just fly off with our new prisoner?”
“YES!” Strongarm and Sideswipe yell together.
“Scrud!” Bumblebee exclaims.
The Autobots immediately shift from their robot forms into vehicle modes. They race at top speed toward the command center.
“Something must have compromised our home base,” Strongarm says. “How else could Filch have escaped her stasis pod?”
“The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the sooner we can settle the score with those slag-heaps,” Sideswipe adds. He revs his engine and races past Bumblebee and Strongarm, kicking up a cloud of exhaust and dust.
Bumblebee watches Sideswipe disappear down the hill before them. “Okay, Strongarm, we have to stay calm. What do you remember from our last run-in with Filch?”
“Filch is a Corvicon,” Strongarm states. “She has a compulsion to hoard objects with extremely shiny and reflective surfaces. That explains her immediate seizure of Scuzzard. Last time we tussled, she was storing all her stolen goods in the headpiece of the Crown City Colossus. It is unclear where her nest will be at this juncture, or if she has acquired one yet.”
“That’s why we need to keep our optics wide and be ready for anything,” Bumblebee replies.
Finally, the Autobots arrive at the scrapyard and change back into bot mode. Sideswipe is already assessing the devastation inside the command center.
The outer wall has been reduced to a pile of rubble thanks to when Grimlock plowed through it. A cloud of plaster still hangs in the air.
Fortunately, most of the computers and monitors are still up and running, but the communication devices are on the fritz.
Grimlock, Fixit, Russell, and Denny are huddled around the stasis pods. The chamber that once held Filch lies on its side, open and littered with debris.
“I’m such a klutz-o-tron!” Grimlock cries.
“Tell us what happened,” Bumblebee says.
Bumblebee Versus Scuzzard Page 3
