Jump Shot, Part 5
Title: Jump Shot
Rating: T
Series: G1
Summary: There are a lot of reasons Seekers and Stunticons don't mix. This is only one of them.
Notes: Alas, the weather is relatively nice, which means I have to finish the yard work. There's only one more part anyways!
“We get two free points to start.”
“For what?”
Thundercracker held back a sigh, wishing there was a way to stop Skywarp's mouth before it started. Putting them two points ahead would make Drag Strip even more crazed about winning, and that was something he didn't want to see.
“Thundercracker's damaged,” Skywarp shrugged. “You know, sympathy points. It's Breakdown's fault anyways, so -”
“Alright,” Drag Strip huffed dramatically. “But we get to start with the ball.”
“What? It doesn't work like that,” Thundercracker said, and Drag Strip's face told him he hadn't been expecting him to know any of the procedures of the game. “Have Breakdown toss it in.”
Even if he chucked it towards the other Stunticons and not down the middle, at least he'd throw it. Dead End already looked so uninterested, he might as well be on another planet.
“Fine,” Drag Strip growled, making Thundercracker even more uneasy. Ticking him off was going to make him intolerable to play against. “Let's lay down some rules. First, no weapons.”
“No force fields,” Skywarp shot back.
“No teleporting,” Drag Strip didn't hesitate.
“No alt modes.”
“No flying.”
“No internal comms.”
“No -”
“Why don't we just stand around and stare at each other if you're going to have that many rules!” Wildrider burst out. Drag Strip and Skywarp looked at him, then each other. Skywarp shrugged.
“Eh, good enough,” he said.
“We can boil it down to 'no interference',” Thundercracker said. He meant Breakdown and Dead End, but his gaze wandered over to the bunker.
“Motormaster's busy,” Drag Strip said, noticing where Thundercracker was looking. “He doesn't want anything to do with this, anyway.”
“Hey, remember when you threw the ball and it bounced into the bunker and whacked him in the head?” Wildrider's face split into a grin.
Drag Strip's frown was deeper than the Grand Canyon, and Thundercracker thought for a moment that the ball was going to pop in his hands.
“Yeah, that was funny,” Wildrider said. His smile faded after a moment, and he said: “Actually, no, it wasn't. It was pretty awful.”
“You sure you don't wanna forfeit now?” Skywarp asked, jerking his thumb at Wildrider. Seriously, he thought he was going to win with that on his team? No wonder Prime always flattened them in battle.
“Breakdown, right up the middle,” Drag Strip said, ignoring Skywarp and tossing the ball towards his teammate. Breakdown caught it and stood up, waiting for both teams to line up and face one another. When he hesitated, everyone looked down at the ball in his hands, instead of at him.
Thundercracker gave him credit for throwing the ball exactly down the middle, and not at his teammates, but it hardly mattered. Drag Strip had the ball so fast that even Wildrider got left behind,. It went through the hoop before Thundercracker was even halfway there.
“Tied!” Drag Strip laughed, bouncing the ball after catching it.
Not the best start, Thundercracker thought. Skywarp looked furious, but also determined. If he hadn't been taking this seriously before, he was now.
The ball was passed back to Breakdown, and the process was repeated. Drag Strip nabbed the ball again, but this time Skywarp was on him, blocking his path with his height and wingspan. This did nothing to stop Drag Strip from throwing ball over him, where Wildrider caught it and earned them another score.
“Four-two,” Breakdown announced, catching the ball as it bounced his way. Thundercracker felt completely useless - he could see what was happening, but wasn't nearly fast enough to do anything about it. They were going to get creamed if something didn't give.
Drag Strip caught the ball a third time, and while Skywarp moved to block him, Thundercracker managed to intercept Wildrider. As soon as he had the ball he spun to the side, away from Wildrider, and threw it from where he stood. With no one to knock it off course, it hit the wire hoop, and then bounced in.
“Four-four,” Breakdown said.
“Ha!” Skywarp said. “Nice one, Thundercracker!”
“Lucky shot,” Drag Strip muttered, jogging past them to scoop up the ball.
By some miracle, Thundercracker caught the ball when Breakdown threw it, and he darted towards the hoop, Skywarp covering him. Wildrider cut Skywarp off, which allowed Drag Strip to barge in. There was a sharp sting of electricity when the Stunticon got too close, the shock landing Thundercracker on his aft as Drag Strip ran off with the ball.
“Six-four.”
Skywarp went to haul Thundercracker up, but he waved him off. He was starting to get dizzy, though it wasn't from the shock of the force field. The scowl on Skywarp's face indicated he knew exactly what had happened, but he didn't say anything about it.
Once the dizziness wore off, he heaved himself to his feet, and they lined up against the Stunticons once again. It occurred to him that they hadn't set a time limit, which meant he was probably going to pass out before the game ended. This was the last time he ever agreed to do anything with any Stunticon, unless it involved shooting at Autobots.
Skywarp snatched the ball this time, narrowly avoiding Wildrider as he ran for the hoop. Drag Strip lunged for the ball, intending on stealing, but there was a flash and Skywarp vanished with it. He reappeared above the hoop, slamming it down hard enough to shake the tree.
“No teleporting!” Drag Strip bellowed as soon as Skywarp was back on the ground.
“And no force fields!” Skywarp shouted back, pointing an accusing finger at the Stunticon. “Fair's fair!”
“The force fields are instinctive!”
“Well, so's the teleporting!”
Thundercracker covered his face with one hand. This was why it was a bad idea; not only would the game be entirely unbalanced, but he knew the arguing was going to get out of control eventually. Skywarp and Drag Strip were inches away from one another, shouting so loudly he saw Breakdown shoot a nervous look towards the bunker.
Wildrider was looking back and forth between them with poorly concealed amusement, which fell into a frown after a moment.
“Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Skywarp snapped, rounding on Wildrider.
“It sounds like -” Wildrider stopped, looking up at the same time Drag Strip looked down. Having looked in the correct direction, Wildrider was the first one to see what was coming, and dove out of the way before it hit. Concrete buckled and shattered under the impact of something big, knocking Drag Strip and Skywarp off their feet. Skywarp crashed into Thundercracker, sending them toppling to the ground.
The pain caused Thundercracker to black out for a moment, and he came back online wondering whose great idea it had been to drop a bomb on them. Had the Autobots snuck up on them?
“Hey, get off -” Wildrider's voice cut off when he went sailing through the air, and Thundercracker heard him crash into the other Stunticons. Managing to push himself upright, Thundercracker got a good look at what had hit them.
It hadn't been the Autobots; it had been Astrotrain, falling on them like an atomic bomb with an bad attitude.
Drag Strip had his blaster halfway up when he found Astrotrain's rifle aimed right at his face. Considering the rifle was about as long as he was tall, he wisely dropped the blaster, keeping his hands up.
“Megatron wants you - all of you - back at base within the hour,” Astrotrain said, trigger finger twitching when Wildrider noisily untangled himself from Breakdown. Dead End had been near catatonic during the game, but he was at full attention now.
“Oh, shove off!” Wildrider yelled. “If he wants us back so bad, he'd tell us himself!”
“Yeah?” Astrotrain snarled. “You think I'm out here for my health, then? You think I want to spend my downtime flying around Autobot territory looking for some wayward Stunticons and Seekers?”
“I think you've got something lodged in your slide valve,” Drag Strip muttered, flinching when the rifle jerked in Astrotrain's hands.
“And I think you've got less than ahour to get back, otherwise Megatron'll sell your sorry hides to the scrap yard,” Astrotrain said. Thundercracker felt himself tense up, realizing that with the shock starting wear off, the Stunticons were likely going to gang up on Astrotrain. It didn't help that Astrotrain sent a sidelong look at the bunker, well aware that Motormaster was lurking nearby. Even if he could mop the floor with the Stunticons, there was no way he was stupid enough to take on their leader by himself.
The tension broke when a jet roared overhead, and Thundercracker caught a glimpse of Blitzwing banking around to circle them. Just like gestalts, where there was one triple changer, the other wasn't far away. None of the Stunticons seemed interested in taking on both of them.
“We'll be back in a half hour,” Drag Strip announced, and Astrotrain lowered his rifle. He shot Thundercracker and Skywarp a nasty look, and then took to the air, the heat of his engines causing Drag Strip to stumble back.
“You can fly, right?” Skywarp hissed in Thundercracker's audio. When he nodded, Skywarp hauled them both up to their feet. “Then let's go going.”
The game was a total bust, and they were going to get it for failing to bring the Stunticons back themselves. If Astrotrain really had been pulled from his downtime, they were going to have to deal with his ire as well. As they took off, Thundercracker understood why Skywarp was in such a hurry to leave. Motormaster had appeared, standing in the threshold of the bunker and looking damn near homicidal.
The Stunticons probably weren't having another joyride for a long, long time.
Slide valve: a valve for controlling steam admission and exhaust shaped like a rectangular lid [in locomotives].
I also have the image of Motormaster sitting in the quiet bunker, going over reports, when a basketball glances off of his head out of nowhere. He calmly stands up, walks out of sight, and then the screams of terror begin.
Next: The thrilling conclusion! Sometime today D:
part six