Transforming-Solarflare
Chosen by SilverFlame. Featuring Laserbeak.

Smoke poured down her throat, clogging her ventilators. Flare's Energon pump seized; she could feel her systems slowly start to overheat with the lack of air regulation. He was going to smother her into termination!

She struggled upright, crying soundlessly as her busted right leg squealed and buckled under her. Damn you, Condor! she thought angrily up at the sky, wherever that stupid bird was. Each motion brought more smoke into her "lungs", the slower her actions became. Was this going to be IT?

Laser fire thudded into the clouded ground at her feet, threw her off balance yet again. She hit the ground with a loud crunch. Oh, damn, there goes my chestplate, she thought morosely. A bullet grazed her cheek, drew a thin bead of coolant down her sharp-planed face, trickled into her neck guard. Coughing, Solarflare reached for her pistol, cortex sluggish from lack of ventilation. She felt uncomfortably warm, overheated warm.

Half-crawling, half dragging her ruined body across the rocky ground, she made her way to the edge of the smoke-cloud. Freedom. Inky blackness rolled from her mouth as if she were in the final stages of an exorcism. Clean, fresh air filled her, cooled her hot frame. With clear golden optics, she spotted him -- Laserbeak, her bane. As she watched, the Condor turned away, perhaps believing her taken care of. And that was a mistake.

Flare crawled further, taking quick stock of her injuries. Nothing a good session with Ratchet wouldn't cure. Still. Laserbeak wheeled, apparently not done with her as she had suspected. The Condor's grey beak opened in a raucous challenge, laser fire spitting from each fuchsia optic.

TRANSFORM! her cortex screamed. Metal scraped on metal, pain flared hard in the front of her mind like a double-Twin sledgehammer. Solarflare ripped into eaglemode, bits and pieces of her armor slothing off her body in protest. She flew to meet the Decepticon, her own optic lasers firing. Laserbeak drew back when he saw her rise, as cowardly as ever. "C'mon!" she shrieked, common sense going out the back door as the battle fervor took her. Away he streaked, further and further away, perhaps to take advantage of a more grounded foe.

Flare laughed, and turned on her inner pinion, back to the Autobots.