Transformers: Steel Reign

[B4UTRUST]

Ice had heard Deathstrike before he saw him. The traitor was anything BUT quiet. A deaf petrorabbit would have heard that pits-damned con coming 10 clicks away.

Hornet began to fall face first as Ice grabbed him and ducked for cover. The panel in his hand slid lose and fell. He grabbed it and wrapped it quickly around the torso of Hornet and prepared himself mentally for this. Gun in one hand, Hornet in the other he stood beside the door out of view. He hefted Hornet up and sent the command to reel in the Mlash. At the same time he threw the teenybot into the open as a distraction.

The Mlash spool picked up the slack and began to reel in the line. Unfortunatly that line was still wrapped around Hornet. Unfortunately, for the Autobot, that was. The spinning of the Mlash around his body began to cut through the tin-plate armor as it unraveled from his body.

He fired a couple shots after Hornet with the data inhibitor. He spared a single glance to where he had hidden Crimson's body. He swore an oath to retrieve her later. With that he transformed into his car form and took off at top speed towards the opposite end of the building, barreling through the doorway and out the other side.

As soon as he was free of the building he made for the nearest opening in the walls.

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke was rolling towards the building when he saw Swiftshot come driving out of it like a bat out of hell. His 105mm cannon swung and his mind calculated the right angle. There was a loud roar and a flash as an energy bolt leaped from the barrel and streaked towards the 'Con disguised as a 'Bot. Stryke's green alt form nearly tipped over but managed to stay right side up.

The warbot weighed the choice between chasing off after him or looking for Crim. He choose the latter, still rolling at top speed for the building. Finally he slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop just outside the whole Deathstrike had dug. He transformed and ran into the building, searching for the fembot.

[Cynical Cat]

Black Ice was quick, Deathstrike would give him that. Deathstrike operating at full speed was anything but subtle. The Decepticon could do speed or stealth, not both. His arm servos were sluggish, preventing him from getting a good shot at the Decepticon. Black Ice was moving from cover to cover, preventing him from getting a good shot.

Hornet was easier to deal with. Monomolecular wire was as sharp as broken glass, which made it dangerous when enough force was applied with it. He turned down the rifle's power and blasted the small Autobot free with a few shots. Another low power blast took care of the inhibitor.

Deathstrike didn't stop to exchange words. He approached Crimson and knelt beside her, placing his gun on the ground. He pulled the inhibitors off her. He picked his weapon back up. "Black Ice is gone," he said, "but the battle is still raging."

[General Havoc]

The monomolecular wire lacerated Hornet's torso horribly, shattering his cockpit window (mounted in his chest in humanoid form, and nearly slicing off his left wing. Had he been operational, he would likely have been screaming in pain. Fortunately he was not.

... yet.

But then Deathstrike arrived and with two shots of his laser blasted first the monofilament and then the inhibitor to ruins. Low powered though the shots may have been, they were being fired at an Autobot whose armored protection was almost wholly theoretical in nature to begin with, and whose armor, what little of it he did have, had already been sliced to confetti by the weighted monofilament blade. The lasers struck the grey mech fluid that was leaking from Hornet's damaged frame, and boiled it instantly, burning shot-glass-sized holes into his torso.

And in that condition, Hornet woke up.

He didn't know where he was at first, save that he was in terrible pain. His left wing was nearly severed, his torso was covered in hairline fractures, some of whom were deep enough to draw mech fluid. His cockpit and sensor cluster were shattered and torn to ribbons, and mech fluid soaked his body and leaked out onto the ground. The pain brought tears of wiper fluid to his optics, and he cried, not sure where he was or what he was doing there, just sure that something had happened, and that he was hurt.

And then it slowly came back. Swiftshot... Crimson...

He could make out someone nearby, but the wiper fluid was clouding his vision, and he couldn't tell who, couldn't tell if it was Swiftshot. Slowly he tried to move, but moving made the pain infinitely worse, and he cried out aloud and collapsed helplessly to the ground in a heap.

[Dark Silver]

With the arrival of Black Ice to take the fembot, Ravage found his prey, his game, spoiled. He had narrowly missed being damaged by the explosion from Deathstrike's missle - and after not hearing from Soundwave, Ravage decided the one who sent the missles would pay. His keen optics saw just as much as he heard Deathstrike, and he dug himself deeper in the shadows.

Ravage shadowed Deathstrike the entire time, as he obtained his weapons in the armory, to when Deathstrike flew off after hearing some transmission. Ravage stalked the traitor again, moving at full speed, his optics picking up the fight between Megatron and Optimus, the two surronded in a circle of Decepticons and brawling.

As Deathstrike entered building B, and opened fire, his attention drawn, Ravage had finally caught up. The exchange of laser fire caused Ravage the step back into shadows.

He would wait, again, the hunt was the greatest thrill to him.





Thundercracker had fallen. With his arm torn from his body by the force of Deathstrike rushing past him during their fight, the Seeker had gone into a form of shock. It was only instinct which caused him not to crash into a smoldering wreck into the ground as he activated his flight systems.

It took more time for his internal repair systems to reroute the damaged servos, to stop the pain shooting through his systems. Now, he wasn't fully operational, he was missing a arm, but he could still fight....still transform. If he did any less, Megatron would have his chassis on a spire of New Kaon.

Thundercracker lept into the air, transforming as he did so, the sleek F-14 had a large section of it's duselage missing, where Thundercracker's arm was gone. But no matter to him, Cybertronian flyers weren't constrained by it. Thundercracker flew over the Autobot base, to meet with Megatron.



The glowing yellow Energy Axe narrowly missed Megatron's helmeted head as he ducked. Megatron goaded Prime into battle, enraging his foe to allow him to make mistakes. Megatron's fist slammed into Prime's right side, causing the Autobot Leader to double over, before a savage uppercut sent him sprawling on his back, the axe retracting back into his wrist, and his hand sliding back out.

Optimus groaned, as Megatron leapt ontop of him, his hands wrapping around Prime's throat, and he began throttling the Autobot. "You forget Prime....I was the Champion of the Cybertronian Pit Fights...they called me the Slagmaker, with very good reason. Once I'm done with you, I will slaughter all of your pathetic Autobots...and drain this planet dry...before I turn it into another Cybertron. Only this time...I will succeed. Earth shall become a mighty Warworld...traveling through space on the thrust of it's Transwarp Drives....and the Decepticons will forge a new interstellar empire...and there's nothing you can do about it..."

Optimus' optic lenses glowed as rage filled him, the blue becoming brillant for a moment, as Prime's fist impacted against the side of Megatron's head. The blow was so sudden, so jarring, Megatron released Prime and fell to the side. Prime rolled at Megatron fell, his fist raining down into the middle of Megatron's chassis.

"NEVER!" Prime shouted, his fist raining down on the Decepticon Commander, "My Spark will cease, the Energon will no longer flow through my circuits, before I let you succeed Megatron!"

Prime's fist slammed into Megatron's faceplate, once, twice, then continuously. Megatron attempted to throw Prime off of him, but find himself unable to get a grip on Optimus, and went to defend his own face.

So intent on taking out his opponent, at having the upper hand, Optimus had forgotten Megatron's minions. During the fight, Frenzy and Rumble had left, taking off to find the Maintenance Bays. It took them only a short time to do what was required, their arms transforming into their signature pile drivers, slamming them repeatedly into the ground. The vibrations and impact of the pile drivers caused the very ground to split open, a massive fissure forming and snaking out, opening up beneath the maintenance building, the metal struts and walls groaning loudly, before it collapsed in upon itself.

By the time they had returned to the scene of the battle, Megatron was on the ground, sparks visible through cracks in his armor, as Optimus continued to strike Megatron's form. Finally, as Megatron groaned in pain on the ground, Prime rose, walking toward his laser rifle. Gridlock kicked the weapon towards Optimus. Prime bent over, bending at his knees to grab his weapon, it was time to finish this.

No sooner had Prime grabbed his rifle, did the laser strike him in the back. Prime stumbled, as three more blast joined the other, smoke pouring from the new wounds in Prime's body. The dark shadow cast over Optimus blocked out the sun, as Wideload looked down on the Autobot.

"Computer," Gridlock spoke into a comm channel, "code Glasnost. Engage."

All around the base, defenses powered down, as Gridlock's command word rerouted power. Within the C&C, Blaster was doing his best to monitor the situation, as a inhibitor ray slid from the wall behind him. The Autobot communications expert barely had time to turn, before the beam impacted his body, sending him into stasis lock.

Just before he fell to the ground, before the Inhibitor threw him into stasis, Blaster managed to get out a wide spectrum message on all channels, "Prime down..." along with the co-ordinates.

[B4UTRUST]

Ice was hauling tailpipe, dodging and jinking out of the way of random fire that still streaked across the battlefield in his attempt to escape. He was almost to the wall when a blast struck his aft quarterpanel. Had he not been going so fast or maunvering so eratically it would have been a much worse hit.

Instead it holed his armor and sent him into a spin. His back tires lost traction as he spun from the force of the blast, careening off the chassis of a downed Cybertronian. He wasn't sure who, he hadn't bothered to check or appologize on his way out. When he managed to gain control again he burned rubber out a hole blew in the perimeter wall. He silently promised that when he found out who had neglected to kill the Autobot hostages he was going to rip off their arms and bludgeon them into stasis lock with them. And Hornet... Internally he growled his annoyance.

Three names were now at the top of his list of Cybertronians to do bad things to. Hornet, Deathstrike and Crimson. Hornet was too much of a wild card, unnoticable, ignorable and agile and that had repeatedly come back bite him in the tailpipe. Deathstrike was a traitor and would have to be put down. He knew too much about Ice to ever make another attempt on this team feasible until then. And Crimson... she would be his new toy. He cursed the teenybot again for that. He had lost his new playmate. He had no intentions of permanently hurting her, that wasn't the fun with this one. Instead he had other plans for her, plans to dissect her, to take her apart to the bare chassis and leave her like that, parts in neat little piles, carefully inventoried and marked for reassembly. He desired to do this for no other reason then he knew that she would be horrified that it had happened. Worse then torturing her, worse then rending her limb from limb, he knew the idea of her being laid bare for all to see, for all to view disturbed her. He would have his fun. In time, it would come.

For now it was time to go into hiding.

[frigidmagi]

"Prime down..."

The report comes as everything across the base shuts down. This is the result of betrayal 95.61% likely. Between Dirge and damage from the battle I am just regaining full sense of the data my sensors are feeding me. My armor and joints are badly damaged, it is no longer advisable to fight in my primary mode. I transform, it is painful and I barely keep a groan or moan from escaping my audio. I am a machine of war, I will not shame myself.

In my alt form I am able to travel at faster speeds and less of my compromised armor is presented to the front. It is still inadvisable to engage in long battle. I do not believe I will have a choice. If Prime is destroyed then the war is over, Autobot morale will not be sufficient to continue the struggle effectively (69% likely). Megatron must be stopped. I begin moving towards Prime's location. I begin broadcasting a sit rep over the secure channel available to me. I aim it towards Grimlock, he and the Dinobots being the most effective Autobot units remaining (98% likely).

"All units, Prime down, I repeat Prime down. Converge and destroy any Decepticon in Prime's area."

I am moving at my best speed, but I am afraid it will be to late.

[Cynical Cat]

"Prime is down." Three words that spelled out utter disaster. There was no higher priority than rescuing Prime.

Deathstrike raced outside, knowing Ravage was waiting somewhere, out there. He fired his thrusters, boosting up into the air and transforming. He was in bad shape, but there was still one move he could execute that could mean the victory between victory and defeat.

Speed would give him some protection from Ravage, but it was Prime that needed saving. His weapons bay opened and he fired every last missile at every Decepticon near Prime, driving them back under a hail of fire and buying other Autobots the time to try to rescue Prime.

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke came running out of the building, trying to get a clear shot for the cannon on his shoulder to begin belching a mix of 105 HEAT rounds and his energy blasts. He didn't expect the human ordinance to do anything except maybe distract the 'Cons.

The warbot knew that if they lost Prime, he might as well join the 'Cons, since there would be little hope of victory. That thought only fueled his determination to save the 'Bot that so many were looking to for the future and for hope.

He realized that running would be too slow so he transformed and quickly accelrated to his top speed, tearing across the frozen tundra. And as he was rolling, he noticed the weapons around the base had stopped firing.

Bad for us.

[LadyTevar]

Deathstrike didn't stop to exchange words. He approached Crimson and knelt beside her, placing his gun on the ground. He pulled the inhibitors off her. He picked his weapon back up. "Black Ice is gone," he said, "but the battle is still raging."

It took .06 cycles for her systems to came back online after the inhibitors were removed. Her gyroscopics were the last to reset themselves, so it took a nearly a full cycle for her to realize she was free, and who was speaking to her. "DeathStryke...? What... happened...?"

A cry, noise of something falling, and her head swam a little as she tried to focus on who else was there. Was that Hornet as well? But the questions had to wait as her comms picked up three deadly words.

"Prime is down."

"No..."

DeathStrike was already moving, running off at his best speed without a word. She had no doubts he was running to aid Prime. Slowly, she managed to get to her feet, staggering a little as she moved to where she'd heard someone fall.

"Hornet...." The damage to the teenybot was shocking. She had to get him out of there, and to somewhere safe... WheelJack. "Easy, Hornet, I'm here... I'll help you. Calm down, engage your repair routines." Internal repair could stop some of it, but she had to get him to WheelJack ....

No, WheelJack would be needed to help Prime. But, if WheelJack was acting like a organic parent ... "Crimson to WheelJack. Hornet is damaged but functional. Focus on Prime. I'll get Hornet to safety."

Now.. if Hornet could just hold it together... she though he might be able to ride.

[Dark Silver]

Ravage watched from the shadows as Deathstrike rushed out of the building, Black Ice pulled away in his car form, and other Autobots left. He guessed they were on the way to assist Optimus Prime...

The Decepticon panther leapt from the shadow he hide in, stealth systems allowing him to pad through the hole, a low growl leaving his vocal actuator. The sound hissed and echoed in the supply building. Yes, she was still there, his original target - and the smell of another's mechfluid. He heard the cries a tenth of a astrosecond later, the cries of pain and sobbing from Hornet, and the comforting words of Crimson...

Ravage's low growl echoed, he was only a few meters southeast Crimson, his dark red optic lenses the only visible portion of the black Decepticon.




"Incoming" Soundwave's modulated, monotone voice called out as his radar picked up the launch of Deathstrike's missles. The Decepticons scattered, Wideload and Gridlock of course, since no one had witnessed their display of treachery, and their power cores readings still gave off Autobot signitures, covered Prime's prone form - like good little Autobots would.

The explosions sent up clouds of rock, dust, and one even caused a geyser of oil and pressure from beneath was released by the missle explosion.

When the explosions cleared, Megatron was getting to his feet, slowly, his armor still damaged from the battle with Optimus Prime, cracks over his chestplate and back appearent, his armor scorched by the heat of the missles. With that attack, Megatron knew a Autobot flyer...or even Deathstrike was in the air above....he didn't want to give up his spies just yet.

His right hand retracted, and the purple energy mace slide forth. Megatron twirled the mace before him, raising it above his head, in preperation to smash it into Wideload.




In the air above, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw had climbed to get away, their own optics locking onto the not so gleaming form of Deathstrike. With a peircing cry, both robotic condors flew to intercept him, their back mounted ruby crystal lasers sending streams of red energy at the traitor. From the southwest, Dirge joined in, no longer producing the sub-sonic fear-creating vibrations with his engines. Twin missles launched from the underwings of the jet, streaking out after Deathstrike, locked onto their target.

[General Havoc]

Hornet lay prostrate on the ground, soaked in his own mech fluid, his optics clenched with pain, small whimpers escaping his speaker every so often whenever he tried to move. He could hear someone moving around near him, and slowly slid his optics open, trying to focus. "C... Crim... son?" he asked weakly, tears of wiper fluid still leaking from his optics. He knew he was hurt, badly. He was too afraid to look at the damage reports flooding his processor to see how badly however. He blinked to clear his optics and looked up at Crimson fearfully, scared of what was happening, of what had happened.

"Crimson?" he asked again nervously, hoping for some sign that everything was going to be all right. He tried to move, but his left wing would not respond at all, nearly severed from his body. His right was still intact, but his torso's servos were completely shredded, and worked only fitfully. Every motion caused the hairline lacerations that were torn deeply in his body to send shocks of pain rippling up him. He wasn't sure what was worse, the pain from the damage, or the fear of how bad the damage actually was.

[LadyTevar]

Ravage's low growl echoed, he was only a few meters southeast Crimson, his dark red optic lenses the only visible portion of the black Decepticon.

The growl from the darkness caused Crimson to stiffen and freeze where she knelt by Hornet. Only her optics moved, seeking out and then finding the red gleams in the darkness.

Illioutkh... he was close. Too close to summon her laser before he'd leap. She subvocalized on the comms to Hornet. "Say nothing. Do not move. Ravage at 7'clock relative to me. Range 3m."

She was looking Ravage in the eyes now, trying to judge when the Casseticon would strike. Her options were all bad ones. She could get a grenade started ... she was pretty sure Hornet's body was hiding her left hand from Ravage. But to set it off she'd have to smash it against something, preferably Ravage himself, and throwing it would just make him dodge.

She'd have to either get him to jump her ... or take the fight to him. Slowly, a ball of energon formed in the palm of her left hand, smaller than the prior, but hopefully enough. If she could grapple the Cassetticon, she could break the grenade against his weaker belly section. The concussive force would damage them both, but she was more armored against the EMP and knew it was coming. She would not have a second chance.

Again, she subvocalized to Hornet. "If you want us to survive this, Open Fire after the explosion." Then, against all logic, Crimson made the leap towards Ravage, clutching the grenade in her left hand.

[General Havoc]

Crimson's tone was not exactly a comfort.

The fear on Hornet's face multiplied as Crimson told him there was still an enemy in the vicinity. Ravage... Hornet didn't know who or what Ravage was, but he heard a low growling sound from somewhere to his right and he was too scared to turn his head in that direction and see what was happening.

Crimson began to summon an energon grenade, and Hornet clenched his optics shut and tried to stay still, tried to stay quiet, tried not to panic, tried to remain calm. He didn't do so well. His frame vibrated and very soft cries emerged from his speaker as shocks of pain continued to roll through him. Crimson had told him to use his Auto-repair systems. Would that he could. Hornet's auto-repair systems were rudimentary at best, a facet of being so small and of such complex construction. He could not fix himself. All he could do was try and do as Crimson had said.

And then Crimson suddenly lunged at Ravage.

There was a howling, crashing series of sounds from Hornet's right, as the two robots smashed into one another. Crimson had told him to fire as soon as she jumped, but what could he fire with? His left wing was dead, his right held merely a gatling laser, weak, underpowered...

...

He couldn't.

Could he?

Merely moving produced such terrible pain as made him want to scream and fall unconscious. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't do it. The pain was too much. He couldn't...

But Crimson was also damaged, he knew that much. What if he didn't fire... what if she couldn't stop Ravage alone? What if...

His processor caught. The fear welling up inside him was too great. He wanted to scream and run, to cower and hide in a corner. He wanted Wheeljack or Optimus or SOMEONE to come and save him... but they weren't coming. It was only him.

He shook and quivered as fresh terrors, fresh apprehension at what doing this would mean washed through him, but already he knew that he would have to do something. His fear of what would happen if he did this terrifying thing he was about to do was exceeded only by his fear of what would happen, both to himself and to Crimson, if he didn't.

And so Hornet suddenly let out a loud, painful cry.... and transformed.

His body screamed out in protest as his lacerated from shifted and twisted, his left wing contorting, buckling, and finally wrenching itself clean off at the shoulder joint. His speaker's cry morphed into a terrible digitized scream of pain, as shrapnel, shrapnel from his own body tore into his vitals. However a moment later, and it was done.

His cockpit shattered, his left wing missing, his fuselage pitted, torn and rent to pieces, his tail cored with laser pockmarks and his undercarriage barely holding him up, Hornet looked like a wreck, fit only for the scrap heap.... but underneath his one remaining wing sat a single missile, untouched, as it had been residing in subspace when Swiftshot attacked him. His last remaining missile, for the other one had been lost along with his left wing. Hornet could not fly, could not drive, could barely move, and was in such terrible pain that by rights he should already have lapsed into stasis lock. The fact that he hadn't was a curiosity...

... but he had one missile left, and he could fire it, as soon as Crimson gave him a shot.

[Cynical Cat]

Deathstrike's armour was in no shape to take even hits from Buzzsaw's or Laserbeak's weapons, let alone a Seeker missile strike. Deathstrike raised his nose and boosted at full power, dropping flares and chaff as well as engaging jamming. He then cut power and transformed, falling like a rock.

The missiles streaked through his previous flight path, rocking him with the force of their detonation. He engaged thrusters at the last moment before hitting the ground, managing to land safely. Gridlock and Wideload were blocking his shot at Megatron, which made his choice of targets easy. He unleashed a hail of laser fire at Buzzsaw and Laserbeak, seeking to shoot them down or drive them off as he sidestepped away from the straffing lines.

[Dark Silver]

Crimson jumped at him, holding a glowing ball of energy.

Ravage was shocked...no Autobot ever just jumped right at him, luckily the shock was momentary, passing far to quickly to be of concern, as he jumped as well.

The two collided in mid-air, Ravage was somewhat limited in his response, seeing as he had no hands, but he did have his claws and teeth. Crimson landed on top of him, and Ravage's hind legs ripped into her body, tearing into her armor and causing energy to crackle from the sounds. He snapped his head forward, powerful jaws sinking his "teeth" into Crimson's shoulder.

When the grenade exploded, Ravage and Crimson where blown away from each other. Ravage flew back, through a pallet of quick-crete, sending the dusty material through the air. Sensors where obscured, even as Ravage lay away from the two Autobots, whimpering as he was curled into a ball - waiting for systems analysis to give him a go ahead.

Crimson, on the other hand, hand smacked herself into a support strut, bending the metal bar with the force of the blow. Her armor, already damaged from her battles, was torn open at the chest, revealing the "under skin" of her body, the skin just over her circuits. Damage reports flowed over her optics, reporting overheating, stress on her armor and hydrolics, and the burning out of her left arm servo-motor.

Unfortunately for Hornet, between his already heavily damaged state, the EMP blast, and the still airborne quick-crete dust, he couldn't gain a lock to fire off his missile.





Buzzsaw and Laserbeak dodged around most of Deathstrike's blasts. The random pattern of fire made it difficult at times, but they managed to make a couple of straffing runs on the traitor before Buzzsaw was hit.

The damaged condor smoked from the hit, and flew in a doward spiral, far away from Deathstrike. Laserbeak, finding himself facing a much stronger and better armed foe, promptly turned thrusters and reversed course - discretion being the better part of valor for Laserbeak. Dirge, on the other hand, decided now would be a perfect time to unleash his own attack run. His engines burning at half thrust, he was still incredibly fast, approaching 475m.p.h. as he swooped down from his place in the skies, his targeting reticle howling in his audio receptors that he had a lock. Laser bolts poured from his fuselage mounted cannons, tearing into the ground and up towards Deathstrike. A scant 25' from the ground, Dirge pulled up, and leveled off, then pulled up again.

The Decepticon flipped in midair, transforming as he did so, and landing a dozen meters from Deathstrike's former position, aside from the hole in his chest, revealing the pulsing glow of damaged circuits, he looked girded for war.


Wideload and Gridlock took their blows as befitting Decepticons, Megatron's fist first striking Gridlock on the face, the energy mace knocking away the weapons, then lifting the massive construction-bot off his feet and back, skidding to a halt ten meters away, laying prone.

Wideload took advantage of Megatron's distraction, several low power shots striking Megatron's stronger armored sections. From a distance, it sounded as if Wideload was pouring full powered bursts into Megatron - even as the tyrant moved on. Given a few minutes of the futile lasering, Wideload tossed the gun aside, and bum rushed Megatron.

Even damaged, Megatron grabbed Wideload by the fist as he swung, twisted the Cossak-bot's arm, the sound of armor and joints rending echoing even above the sounds of the localized fighting, and tossed Wideload bodily over his shoulder. The energy mace made a quick move, and it seemed as it Wideload's head was impacted, making the Autobot stay down.

Megatron strode forward, towards the prone body of Optimus Prime, looking down at his long hated foe, kicking him in what amounted to the stomach. Optimus lifted into the air and turned over with the force of the blow, landing roughly on his back.

"Me....mega...tron.." Prime groaned, reaching futilely for his laser rifle. Megatron's energy mace dispersed, the emitter sliding back into his wrist as he hand extended again.

"Now Prime...don't worry. I'll make this as painless as possi..."

Twin laser bursts knocked into Megatron's chest, sending the Emperor of Destruction flying back, skidding into the dirt. Jetfire stood a hundred meters away, holding his laser carbine in one hand, the other hanging feebly at his side. His armor was cracked, and his flight helmet was shattered, the four ion cannons pointed backward, even as half his face was visible beneath the normally blank helm.

Jetfire strode forward, slowly, obviously in great pain, lifting his weapon again as Soundwave's minions, Rumble and Frenzy, appeared. The duo jumped onto Jetfire, one taking the front, the other the back. Their fists was small, but they were incredibly strong, and began pummeling Jetfire's already damaged form. Jetfire dropped the carbine, grabbing first the red colored Frenzy, ripping the Decepticon from his body, and bringing it's form, back first, onto his knee.

Frenzy screamed in pain, his optics nearly bulging as Jetfire applied pressure, despite Rumble on his back, punching into his head. He continued pressing down on the struggling Frenzy, till the sound of rending metal and servo's filled the air. Jetfire tossed the upper half of the twitching Frenzy away, letting it land with a hard thud. before the light faded from his optics, going into Stasis Lock.

"You know Rumble.." Jetfire said, as he held Frenzy's legs like a club, "You'd think you'd know by now..I'm never weaponless, even without my carbine!"

Rumble looked at Jetfire, stopping in mid punch, as the quad ion cannons adjusted position slightly, focusing on Frenzy's head. The little Decepticon brely had time to register what was happening and start jumping away, before Jetfire had placed four bolts of charged ions into his body.

Rumble crashed to the ground, his body twitching as energy surged through his form, armor eaten away where it hit.

"Noooooo!" Soundwave's normally cool voice dripped with Malice as he bombarded Jetfire with weapon fire. Lasers struck the Autobot scientist, as mini-missiles exploded around him. Soundwave closed the distance, even as he continued firing, till he was within melee distance. Bursts of incredibly compressed soundwaves hit Jetfire from the front, distracting the hulking Autobot, just enough for Soundwave to dropkick him in the head. Jetfire's helm finished shattering, as he flew back from the blow, Soundwave once again poured fire into Jetfire's already damaged body. Grief, rage...emotions Soundwave only rarely ever showed...and only when he lost the upper hand...or when something of his had been damaged.



Leaving the other Dinobots to tend to the wounded, and make sure the Predacons and Stunticons didn't get back up, Grimlock had taken to the air in robot mode to assist the fallen Prime. In the distance, falling behind him every second, was Ironhide and Rachet, Wheeljack was left to tend to Breachload, then Hornet, then to look for more injured Autobots.

Grimlock's keen optics located Megatron, just before Jetfire's carbine bored holes into his chest. From his vantage point, Grimlock could see more of the battlefield, he saw Frenzy and Rumble attack, and Soundwave waiting in the wings. He was sure Jetfire could handle the puny cassettes and their master - as much as he disliked Jetfire even after all these years, he didn't doubt the Scientist's ability as a warrior. He saw to, Deathstrike begining to tangle with Dirge - another he was sure would be a even match. No...that only left Megatron.

Grimlock watched as Megatron rose to his feet, making a move to regain his fusion cannon. Grimlock dived to the ground, drawing his energo-sword and his own rifle. He fired three times, all three times perfect shots, throwing the cannon, with each, further and further from Megatron's reach. it took him only a minute more, as he landed inbetween the Decepticon commander and the weapon, Grimlock's sword pointed squarely at Megatron's spark-chamber.

"Grimlock....my old friend.." Megatron said smoothily, never skipping a beat.

"Not old friend,' Grimlock said, never once moving his imposing form, the sword held level, as if daring Megatron to try anything.

"So you still travel with the Autobots...I thought surely you would have come to see the light Grimlock...like you did back on Cybertron...or did you forget so soon?"

"Me Grimlock not forget. Me still fight - but fight for more important than conquest. Prove who stronger. Grimlock fight for Grimlock honor!"

Grimlock's energo-sword left a wake of energy in it's path as it sliced at Megatron's head. The Decepticon ducked the blade, spearing himself into Grimlock's stomach, both hands grabbing the dinobot's wrists and forcing the dangerous weapons away.

[Cynical Cat]

Buzzsaw and Laserbeak had left their mark on Deathstrike. Smoke poured from rents in his armour. His transformation cog had taken a hit, trapping him in humanoid form. His missile racks were junk, a whole bank of power supply capacitors had been slagged, several actuators knocked offline, and his radar array was turned to scrap.

Then Dirge made his attack run. Deathstrike ponderously dodged to the side, but he wasn't quite fast enoug. A stray shot hit him in the right leg, causing him to limp and offlining the thruster. He was, he knew, a few moments from the end. With his armour shredded, his flying abilities offline, and his ground mobility hindered Deathstrike was a big, slow target where every hit counted.

Dirge landed less than fifteen meters away to complete the kill. A foolish mistake, coming in so close to Deathstrike but not close enough to grapple. At this range, he wouldn't miss. Deathstrike fired a rapid fire burst at the armour breach in Dirge's chest.

[General Havoc]

Ravage was blasted back, and an EMP washed over Hornet, completely throwing his targetting systems into disarray. He did not however hesitate. As Crimson was tossed back out of range of what the blast would be, Hornet activated the warhead on his final missile, and blindfired it into the dark corner that Ravage had vanished into. No sooner had it detonated, casting shelves and stacks of building materials about like matches, than Hornet opened fire with his gatling laser, spewing green bolts of energy into the dark. Crates exploded, sacks of concrete vaporized, as the bolts churned back and forth like a pressure hose, shooting into darkness. Hundreds and thousands of rounds Hornet fired, so terrified of Ravage springing back out of the darkness that he couldn't stop, shooting until his laser threatened to overheat, having pelted the entire corner of the warehouse into a smashed, burning ruin.

[LadyTevar]

Well ... that wasn't ... the brightest ... of ideas...

**DAMAGE REPORT
*Left Arm Inoperable. Shoulder Actuator Crushed. Circuitry Offline, possible EMP damage. Armor 21%
*Torso Damage: Front Armor 5%. Internal Systems 70%. Internal Circuitry Vulnerable.
Back Armor 60% Spinal Supports 80%.
*Hip/Pelvis Armor Damaged 77% Internal Circuitry 90%
*Leg Armor 49% Leg Actuator 74%
*Feet Armor 93% Foot Actuator 89%

"yeah, yeah... I know... I'm damaged..." Crimson whispered to herself, trying to focus her eyes again. "Where's Rav...."

The explosion and massive amounts of laser fire answered that little question for her, as Hornet was throwing everything the teenybot had left towards one particular corner. The light show was impressive, giving Crimson time to stagger to her feet and call her pistol out of subspace. Although, if Ravage was feeling anywhere as bad as she was, he hopefully slunk away.

"Hornet." She had to take another try, raising her modulation. "HORNET. Stand Down!"

[General Havoc]

Hornet only heard Crimson when she yelled at him, and even then, only a second or two later did he finally muster the courage to stop firing. His gatling laser fell silent, and slowly Hornet transformed back into humanoid form, a process acompanied by groans of metal and screaching sounds of gears grinding. When finally he was in humanoid form once more, Hornet collapsed, totally spent on the ground on his face, his left wing laying severed next to him, his body covered in mech fluid, some of which he spat out of his mouth. He shook nervously and whimpered in pain, barely able to lift his head. All he could do was hope that nothing came out of the dark after him.

"C... C.... Crim... son?" he said weakly, unable even to locate her in the debris-splattered room.

But of course something did.

The door to the ruined warehouse burst open as something practically tore it off its hinges. Hornet merely cringed at the sound, and cringing made him hurt again, and he cried out. But what entered was no Decepticon.

"Hornet?!"

Wheeljack burst into the room with his shouldercannon raised, looking through the choked air for any sign of his diminuative experiment. "Hornet? Crimson? Is anyone in here?!"

But Hornet, whether or not he could hear Wheeljack, could not reply, for his speaker had failed, and slowly his head fell down onto the ground, and his optics began to dim as he hovered on the edge of stasis lock.

[LadyTevar]

"WheelJack!" Crimson shouted, her laser pistol lowering. "Ravage is somewhere over in the wreckage. Hornet...." She limped over into the light, over to Hornet's form looking down sadly. "Stasis lock...." she finished sadly, awkwardly kneeling down to carefully gather the pieces of the teenybot together, having no idea how badly damaged she herself looked.

"I'm sorry, WheelJack ... I remember Shiftshot hitting me with something, then Deathstrike is here and Hornet's wounded... then Ravage attacked." Her voice was mournful. "Poor little 'bot....."

[General Havoc]

"Primus..." swore Wheeljack as he entered, glancing over to see if Ravage was still active, but he could detect no sign of the Decepticon. He had a more important matter at hand. He rushed over to the two damaged Autobot, kneeling down quickly.

Hornet was not actually in stasis lock. He hovered instead nebulously between the two. Wheeljack didn't hesitate but immediately shot a burst of what sounded like white noise static out of his speaker. Hornet gave a soft sigh and fell instantly still as his stasis lock routines kicked in. Wheeljack then turned on Crimson, whose damage looked scarcely any better than Hornet's.

"Steady Crimson," he said, wishing Ratchet were here but realizing Ratchet was probably needed with Prime. He pulled out a scanner to determine if she was about to crash into stasis lock on him, and found she wasn't that far off. Her frame had absorbed terrible punishment, and her frontal armor was simply missing.

"Can you move?"

[LadyTevar]

"Steady Crimson," he said, wishing Ratchet were here but realizing Ratchet was probably needed with Prime. He pulled out a scanner to determine if she was about to crash into stasis lock on him, and found she wasn't that far off. Her frame had absorbed terrible punishment, and her frontal armor was simply missing.

"Can you move?"

"Except for my arm, I'm functional," Crimson answered truthfully, going by her automatic damage report. Then she looked down at her torso. "Illioutkh...... Stryke's gonna be mad... he told me not to scratch my paint. But it's just the armor... the circuitry's fine," she babbled, unaware that she was even babbling.

Her unsteadiness was a combination of the EMP blast, the damage to her circuitry, and some remains of the inhibitor's effects. Her Energon Reserves were nearly gone, as each grenade had been taken from her own energy, nibbling it away a quarter at a time. She knew the price of the grenades, but used them anyway.

[General Havoc]

Wheeljack noticed that Crimson was speaking a bit incoherantly, but incoherance could have many causes for one so badly damaged. He recalled however that Crimson actually used her own energon stocks as weapons. That was something that could be fixed immediately.

Wheeljack extended a siphon tube from his arm and plugged it into Crimson's fuel port as he pulled out a microwelder to fix any obvious leaks in her frame. She needed to move, as Wheeljack couldn't carry her and Hornet together. The welds would be crude, but they would hold for the moment. He had to work fast however. Both Hornet and Crimson needed serious repairs.

"Can you function in vehicle form?" he asked, finally putting away the microwelder and the siphon hose. He hadn't filled Crimson's tank fully, but the boost should help somewhat, and the welds would stop her from running out. on the way.

He scooped Hornet up, minus one limb and assorted other parts that Crimson held. "Do you need me to tow you? We need to get both of you to a stasis chamber immediately."

[LadyTevar]

The energon took her up to mid-point, and it cleared her head a little. She did pause to consider her condition before answering. "Yes, I can transform .. but I'd not be breaking any speed records." Humor, black as it was, helped in any situation.

"The first problem is I have no real cargo space once I transform," she added. "The second problem is if we even have CR chambers anymore. Swiftshot should have been in one. They may all have been damaged." It was a good assumption, since she had seen Gridlock taking Swiftshot away to the chambers herself. "I think we may need to retreat, WheelJack."