The Giant, the Witch, and the Easter Bunny

It was shaping up to be a long week. There'd been no word from Snape or Keily on the state of affairs at Babylon Palace, no reports from home on the state of those still enteched, and no sighting of Nemesis or Delta. Both Prime and Vader had sent out multiple search parties, and I'd joined a few of these myself, but all had come up empty. It was as if the mechs had vanished off the face of the planet. I'd very nearly given up hope that we'd find our friend intact, thinking that she'd either been destroyed or that Nemesis and Galvatron would find a way to bring her over to their side.

Last night I was proven wrong on both counts.

Vader, Prime, Megatron, and General Drache were discussing where to send the latest search party when the door suddenly burst open. I'd never seen so many eyes and optics nearly pop out of people's heads like that -- standing in the doorway, worse for the wear but alive and standing, was a masked green-and-gold Transformer. Every inch of her plating was covered in scratches and dents, something was leaking from her leg, and what looked like claw marks had been carved into her chest, but despite that her optics shone brightly.

"Delta!" Vader exclaimed. "What happened to you?"

"They've got a new ally," she said weakly. "We've got a new ally. And I kicked Mr. Bunny-Ears' butt." And with that she collapsed in a heap.

***

When Ratchet finally allowed us into the medbay to talk to Delta, we learned the full story:

The dark semi truck that had pulled up in front of our house had indeed been Nemesis. Whether he was goading us into a pursuit or trying to spy on us is still unclear, but he obviously wasn't looking for a confrontation, as he fled at the first sign of troops. Delta, wanting a little revenge for her friend's entechment, pursued him, not confident that she could defeat him but at least hoping to knock a few dents in him.

After following Nemesis for the better part of two days, she found herself in a system of caves deep under New Mexico, where the dark Prime and his allies had set up temporary headquarters. There she confronted him... and nearly paid for her bravado with her life when Galvatron laid into her.

Ironically, it was Nemesis' newly-acquired ally that saved her life, stepping in before Megatron's deranged clone could deal the final blow.

"Don't you think she's worth much more to us alive?" she pointed out with a sinister laugh. "We could use more space-worthy soldiers..."

"She's been corrupted by Vader and Optimus," Nemesis pointed out. "It would be more trouble than she's worth to try to turn her to our side..."

Before he could finish that thought, the entire cavern shook... and all heck broke loose as the ceiling caved in. The Resistance's newest ally had shown up.

Some time ago Zacharias' friends among the Asgard had detected unusual activity in Iceland. Now the source of that activity -- the Iron Giant, an alien robot who had spent the last fifty years or so piecing himself back together after a nasty encounter with the US Army -- had arrived on the scene and was doing a rather good job of laying waste to Nemesis' headquarters.

When Delta finally clawed her way out of the rubble, it was to find herself eye-to-eye with Galvatron's minion, Cyclonus... and none too happy about it, either.

"Think you can escape us, little femme?" he sneered.

"Bug off, Bunny-Ears!" she retorted, and pounced on him. The two of them grappled viciously while Nemesis, Galvatron, and the clones of Elita-1 and Steelia tried to fend off the Iron Giant.

In the end, Nemesis, his cronies, and their new ally escaped, no doubt to lick their wounds and rebuild headquarters somewhere else. They did take Cyclonus with them, but not before Delta had given him a nice collection of dents to limp home with. Delta, meanwhile, decided to make her way back to Kentucky to deliver the news to Prime, taking the Giant with her.

"So who's this new ally of theirs?" asked Prime once Delta had completed her story. "You failed to mention her name."

Delta tried to recall. "They said her name once... I think it was... Ephalba."

"Ephalba?" I repeated. "The Wicked Witch of the West?"

Grievous gave a snort. "What, they feel they have to have a green sorceress with a black fashion statement on their side too? No offense meant, Miss," he said quickly when Meleficent gave him a dark look.

"On the plus side, we've got more firepower on our side," I pointed out, looking out the window to the air field where the dragons were quite curiously regarding the Iron Giant, who looked back at the creatures with equal curiosity.

"True," Vader replied. Then he chuckled a little. "Bunny-Ears, Delta?"

"What, doesn't Cyclonus look like a freakin' Easter Bunny?" she retorted. "C'mon, he's lavender and has bunny ears..."

"Speaking of Easter, I need to remind my clone to buy eggs," I remembered. "Brandon's still going to expect an Easter egg hunt this year."

"Despite the war, life goes on," Vader noted. "As it should."

"Well said," Prime replied.