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A/N This is frustrating. While I have no intention of abandoning this fic, this serious lack of reviews on the part of the readers is bringing my motivation way down. Maybe I should post this fic on some Transformers FanFiction sites, I might get a better response. Everybody please review: it only takes a few seconds off of your day.
Chapter 16: Help from the Prince
Harry and Ron fell through the ceiling and landed with a thud on the floor of a vast metallic chamber, managing to avoid getting hurt with a well timed cushioning charm. It was mostly dark inside though they could still make out the forms of various vats and ten feet tall containers. The containers had bubbling liquid inside of them as well as some kind of object though they couldn't make it out in the dim light.
"Ugh, what is this place," said Ron as they stood up.
"You know what, I think we've actually made it into the Decepticons' hideout," said Harry. "That's what they're constructing. I wonder if... HIDE!"
Harry pulled Ron behind one of the vats as Rumble and Ravage leapt into the chamber from the hole in the ceiling. "Come out, come out wherever you are," said Rumble. He and Ravage started looking around the vats for them.
Harry whispered "Disillusionment Charm." Ron nodded and with a quick incantation and the sensation of cold eggs being cracked on their heads, Harry and Ron were camouflaged amidst their surroundings.
"What I would give to have your Invisibility Cloak with us now," whispered Ron.
"Well not me," Harry whispered back. "I don't like hiding like this but we're going to have to do it if we're going figure out a way to really hurt them beyond the blasting hex."
* * *
"Grrr, stinkin' Autobots!" growled Blitzwing as he stood back up. The first thing he noticed was Grimlock and Shockwave battling it out. "Well here's to being sneaky. EEEAAAYAAAHH!!!" Blitzwing brandished his scimitar and leapt toward Grimlock.
"What?" Grimlock spun around to see the Decepticon triple-changer bearing down on him. He blocked Blitzwing's sword strike with his own sword. Blitzwing started slashing at Grimlock in a furious rage while Grimlock, caught by surprise, just barely managed to defend himself, the two swords clashing repeatedly with the cackling sparks of Energon.
"See that he is occupied," Shockwave ordered Blitzwing. He turned his attention to the brawling Rodimus and Soundwave. Shockwave promptly shot Rodimus in the chest, blasting him back about a hundred feet. "The wizards have entered my laboratory where my experiments are being conducted. Soundwave, take care of them," he ordered as Rodimus struggled to get back up.
Soundwave made his way over to the hole where the wizards and his minions had fallen through. It was a bit too small for Soundwave himself so his chest compartment opened. "Laserbeak, Buzzsaw eject. Operation Wizard Hunt." The black electric guitar popped out of Soundwave's chest followed by an orange electric bass guitar. The electric guitar transformed into the vulture robot Laserbeak while the orange bass guitar transformed into a nearly identical looking vulture robot, Buzzsaw. The two mechanical vultures squawked and flew straight into the hole.
* * *
"What are these vats anyway?" asked Ron after they had somehow managed to lose Rumble and Ravage. "There seems to be something inside of them but... Lumos."
"Ron! No!" hissed Harry as Ron's wand lighted up. As soon as Ron saw what was inside the vat he barely managed to suppress a scream of horror.
It was a human corpse floating in the liquid in the vat. The corpse had been mutilated to the point where it was nearly unrecognizable as a human but they could still make out the faint trace of Voldemort's Dark Mark on the arm of the corpse. The quick illumination of the light had also revealed that all of the vats contained human corpses floating within them, a good many of them with traces of the Dark Mark on their arms.
Ron was so shaken up he couldn't say anything for a while. Harry grabbed his wand arm and whispered, "Nox," extinguishing the wand. Fearing that Ravage and Rumble had seen the light, he hurriedly led Ron away.
"W-what was that," whispered Ron once he had recovered his voice.
"They've been conducting experiments on their Death Eater prisoners," Harry whispered gravely. "And not just Death Eaters: I'm willing to bet that all of these vats contain experimented wizards and witches inside of them."
"But... why?"
"My guess is that they're trying to figure out a way for the Decepticons to wield magic," hissed Harry. "Damn them! I'm not going to let that happen any longer if I can help it!"
"Problem with that is you can't help it," whispered Ron. "Aside from Reducto, nothing works on them."
"Perhaps I have someone who may be of assistance," said a familiar voice from Harry's cloak pocket. Startled, Harry pulled out Dumbledore's Chocolate Frog Card.
"Whoa! A talking Dumbledore card," said Ron. "Where'd you get that?"
"Never mind that," said Harry. "Albus, are you serious? Who'd you got?"
"Ah, just one moment," said Dumbledore. He exited the frame of the portrait though his voice could be heard saying, "Now, now no need to be shy. They need your help." A moment later, Dumbledore reappeared in the frame bringing with him...
"Severus Snape!" exclaimed both Harry and Ron.
Severus Snape's portrait cocked an eyebrow and said, "So surprised to see me, Potter?"
"When did you become a Chocolate Frog Card?" asked Ron.
"I'm not," snapped Snape. "My portrait was initially located at Malfoy Manor. When the manor and my original portrait were destroyed I made my escape and somehow got stuck in these accursed cards. And I can't get out of them unless someone makes a new portrait for me or restores the original one."
"O... K... So are you going to help us?" asked Harry.
Snape glared at Harry. "And why should I provide my assistance to the son of James Potter?" Dumbledore shook his head wearily.
"Because I'm also Lily Evans's son."
"Good point," said Snape. "During my time in this Chocolate Frog Card I have had the chance to observe the Cybertronians and to listen to their conversations. Through that, I theorized that there may possibly two, that is two types of spells that may be used offensively against them."
"Two?" said Harry and Ron.
"The first one is a variation of Incendio," said Snape. "It appears that the Cybertronians seem to be adverse to extreme temperatures whether hot or cold. Of course Incendio on its own would not be able generate the level of heat necessary to harm a Cybertronian. However, if the spell was highly compacted into a small burst and fired in rapid continuation, there is a possibility that it might..."
"Harry!" exclaimed Ron. It was just at that moment that Laserbeak and Buzzsaw had located them. The two mechanical vultures started firing their lasers at them and Ron barely managed to pull Harry away.
Harry however was now prepared. Pointing his wand at the Laserbeak and Buzzsaw he yelled, "Adstringo Incendio!" Compact fireballs of high heat burst from his wand in rapid succession like a machine gun. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw were blasted by the fireballs and they both fell to the ground severely damaged.
"YES!" exclaimed Harry.
* * *
Back on the surface the Autobots and Decepticons were still struggling against each other. Ironhide and Bumblebee were still peppering Devastator with shots while the combined robot vainly tried to smash them. Rodimus was now taking on both Shockwave and Soundwave and was barely managing to hold his own. Blitzwing and Grimlock were still engaged in their sword fight. Though Blitzwing had initially caught Grimlock off guard, Grimlock had quickly taken control of the duel with his superior strength. As the two Energon blades clashed, Grimlock shoved Blitzwing and the Decepticon fell to the ground.
Letting out an angry roar Blitzwing transformed into his tank mode. "Take that Bozo!" he yelled as he fired his main heavy-caliber gun. Grimlock however deflected the blast with a sweep of his left arm, the projectile flying upward and hitting the cliff instead. He then, grabbed hold of the tank gun, and to Blitzwing's horror, lifted the tank up high above over his head by the gun.
"Me Grimlock no bozo! ME KING!!!" he yelled. With a downward swing, Grimlock smashed the tank onto the ground. The ground gave way below the tank and Blitzwing disappeared down another hole into Shockwave's lab.
* * *
"Ah ha! Got ya wizards!" yelled Rumble as he charged at Harry and Ron. Harry dove to side to avoid the charge. While still in mid dive he pointed his wand at Rumble and yelled, "Adstringo Incendio!"
Rumble hollered as he was pelted by the continuous high heat fireballs continuously. "Aw scrap," he muttered as he fell into stasis lock.
"I can do this! I can do this!" muttered Ron as he dashed back and forth trying to escape from Ravage. With careful timing he spun around, pointed his wand and yelled, "Adstringo Incendio!" Ravage yelped as the fireballs burned through his metal skin. He fell to the ground occasionally letting out a small whimper.
"All right, Harry!" declared Ron as he pumped his fist. A second later his merry making abruptly ended as a M1 Abrams Tank came down crashing through the ceiling. "Uh-oh."
Blitzwing transformed back into his robot form and stood up. "That scrapmetal dinosaur! I ought to... aaaah, wizards." He brandished his scimitar and started making his way toward Harry and Ron.
"Fine time for us to shut off the disillusionment charm," said Ron. He and Harry pointed their wands at Blitzwing and shouted, "Adstringo Incendio!"
"What?" exclaimed Blitzwing as the fireballs painfully shot through his armor. He started swinging his sword back and forth and deflecting the fireballs. When the first round of fireballs had ended, Blitzwing pulled out his firearm and fired it toward Harry and Ron.
The two wizards dove opposite ways to avoid the blast. Harry pulled out the Chocolate Frog Card and yelled, "What's the other spell?"
Snape raised an eyebrow at him. "Potter, I would suggest the use of a better attitude in future dealings..."
"Severus," said Dumbledore's voice from off screen. Snape rolled his eyes.
"The second spell is one I myself developed," said Snape. "However, there is no need for me to teach it to you as if I recall, it is a spell you are already familiar with." At Harry's blank stare Snape said, "Potter, it's used for enemies."
Harry's eyes widened. "You're kidding me," he said incredulously. Snape merely looked smug.
Ron was meanwhile desperately firing fireballs at Blitzwing while the Decepticon was making his way toward him, blocking the fireballs with his sword. "Harry!" Ron cried desperately.
"Yo Blitzwing!" yelled Harry. Blitzwing turned to his side to see Harry charging straight for him.
Blitzwing smirked as he raised his scimitar sword. "Foolish fleshling. You rush head on into your death only to..."
"Sectasempra!"
Just as Harry leapt passed Blitzwing yelling the word and swinging his wand in a slashing motion, Blitzwing's sword was sliced in two at the blade. The Decepticon was shocked to say the least. "You fool! How did you..."
It was just as Blitzwing was turning around that it happened: the top portion of his body literally slid off the bottom portion of his body, diagonally from his left shoulder to his right hip. The last thing Blitzwing ever realized was that somehow he had been slashed in two.
"Whoa! That was bloody wicked," exclaimed Ron. He examined the two pieces of Blitzwing's corpse, lying in a pool of oil.
"We're going to have to get out of here," said Harry. "We can't storm this whole base on our own. We're going to have to side-along the Autobots."
"Side-al... are you nuts?"
"You got any better ideas?" snapped Harry. When Ron didn't say anything he said, "OK, let's go. Oh but before that," Harry turned to the Chocolate Frog Card and grinned. "Severus, thanks."
Snape's portrait was a little startled by that. "Y-you're welcome."
* * *
On the surface the Autobots weren't faring too well. Bumblebee and Ironhide were growing rather weary facing Devastator and it was definitely showing. "Any good ideas?" asked Ironhide as he blasted away.
"None," said Bumblebee.
Soundwave meanwhile had managed to grab hold of Rodimus and with a giant swing slammed him into Grimlock. The two Autobots collapsed to the ground.
"Finish them now," said Shockwave. The Decepticons moved in for the kill when...
"Adstringo Incendio!" A series of well placed fireballs suddenly blew Devastator apart back into the Constructicons. Harry appeared right by Ironhide and Bumblebee while Ron appeared by Rodimus and Grimlock. "We're getting out of here now!" declared Harry. Seconds later, both Wizards had Apparated away, taking the Autobots with them leaving the Decepticons confused.
Perhaps it was rather unfortunate that Harry was so hasty to leave as only a few minutes later, the other Decepticons returned, with a carriage from the Hogwarts Express.
A/N Oh, this was the most ridiculously difficult chapter I've had to write so far. Hopefully my bout with writer's block is over and I'll be able to start churning chapters out on a regular basis. Anyway, I hope the plot isn't getting bogged down with too many mundane details. Hopefully things will continue to fall into place.