Chapter 4. Holding the Gate

"Brawn! Huffer! Devastator's trying to pound the door in again!" Windcharger yelled over the massive CLANG-CLANG of Devastator's fists on the main gate.

"Can you hold it for a minute?" Huffer looked around and spied a couple of heavy I-beams in the debris and pointed them out to Brawn. "A triangular brace should do it--"

"On it!" Brawn said.

"Yes!" Windcharger activated his magnetic field generators. "A little magnetic reinforcement should help it hold together--"

"Good," Huffer said as Brawn grabbed one of the I-beams by one end and flipped it against the battered door, bracing it. He secured the brace against the floor and door with spot welds from his weapon. He repeated the process with the other I-beam, bracing it against the door and the other I-beam in a triangle.

Huffer examined it with a critical eye. "Yeah, that should hold 'em for a bit--if Springer gets the big gun going again."

"If he's slow, I'll just lean on the door a bit," Brawn said, grinning.

"A better move would be to find some more of those heavy beams," Huffer said. "If we could put a second triangular brace against the ceiling..."

# # #

Prowl tossed the third-to-last crate on top of the stack Ironhide was carrying, then grabbed up the last two.

There. That's all the spare ammo I could find--now let's put it where they can actually get at it without fighting the entire Decepticon force.

There's a storeroom on the floor just below the launcher. Try that one, Prowl.

They vanished with a 'pop' and swirl of displaced air...

Prowl, they've already checked this storeroom. Convincing 'em to look here again on the chance that they might have overlooked a few thousand rounds of ammo might be a bit tricky.

We'll improvise.

Now that's a word I'm not used to hearin' from you!

It's the essence of tactics; no battle is ever the same as any other. And for what we're doing, if the book's been written on it, they didn't issue it to me! We're writing our own doctrine on this one, Ironhide.

Not to mention improvisin' our own tactics, eh, Prowl?

Got that in one.

In the launcher room, Arcee kept her voice low as she passed another round to Springer. "Only five rounds left."

Kup said from across the room at the gun port, "You two can stop with the whispering; I'm not so old that I've gone deaf yet, nor have I forgotten how to count."

Daniel looked up, fearfully. "We're running out of ammo, aren't we?"

Kup nodded. "'Fraid so. Once Megatron figures out we're not shooting anymore--well, it isn't looking too good, kid."

"We won't make a stand here," Hot Rod said. "We make a fighting retreat and pull back to another strong point."

"That only works if we can get those buzzards outside off of us."

Hot Rod nodded. "Springer, you and Arcee keep 'em occupied until the ammo runs out, then follow us. Kup, grab Daniel and let's see if we can find a back way out of here."

As he stepped out of the chamber door, a flash of movement at the corner of his eye, toward the stairs, caught Hot Rod's attention. He drew his weapon and froze, waving the others back.

"Something moved--I'm going to make sure it isn't a Decepticon." Hot Rod stalked forward, toward the stairs. Behind him, Kup already had his gun out. Hot Rod very cautiously peered down the stairwell. Nothing moved. He set one foot on the stairs.

A shadow moved where there should not have been a shadow. Hot Rod jumped down, bypassing the stairs, gun out and firing. His shots briefly illuminated the corridor, hitting nothing but the wall at the far end.

Again nothing--or was it? Hot Rod studied the empty corridor. Something was amiss.

"Kup, get down here, but be ready for trouble."

Kup scrambled down the stairs with surprising agility, carrying Daniel. "What is it, Hot Rod?"

Hot Rod lowered his voice. "When we searched down here, didn't we leave all the doors closed?" He pointed at the one door that was ajar.

"We sure did," Kup said grimly. "I'll cover you." He put a wide-eyed Daniel behind him and aimed his gun at the guilty door.

Hot Rod suddenly dashed for the door and kicked it wide open, gun in hand and ready to fire. Without stopping, he tucked and dove into the room, coming up to one side looking for a target. "What the--?"

"Hot Rod?" Kup asked after a few seconds of silence and no sounds of battle. "Who is it? What is it?"

"About two thousand rounds of ammo," came Hot Rod's voice, sounding a bit dazed.

Kup and Daniel ran down the hall to stare in amazement.

"There is absolutely no way I could have overlooked that much ammo!" Daniel said.

"Me either," Kup said.

Hot Rod picked up a couple of boxes and hefted them. "They're real enough. Grab what you can carry and lets head back."

Kup grumbled as he did so. "I just want to know who put it here. I'll bet there's a hell of a story behind this."


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