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Iranian Desert - Central Hub

Contemptor had timed his shots just right before charging at Ironhide as the main bulk of the plasma blasts hit home on Ironhide's torso. It was apparent to the trophy hunter how his opponent was given his name as the plasma burst hit the autobot square in the chest and singed his armour, it also cracked some of the glass from his alt mode. Contemptor was stumped as to why there wasn't a gaping crated where Ironhide's chestplate should be. Using his onboard diagnostics, Contemptor found that, in the tussel when he was thrown into the wall of the ruined building, the coolant casing was cracked and the plasma cooling gel had leaked out over the conductor coils.

'Ah... that explains it i suppose' Contemptor thought as he charged forwards, swinging the axe up ready to strike down the Autobot veteran 'Still, it's a let down..I won't allow it...' Contemptor's thoughts turned into an open shout as he saw Ironhide stumble forwards, Skywarp firing at the rear.

Contemptor took his chance and swung down hard, the blade of his axe sparking into life as le let loose a cry of proclimation

"Glory for the Decepticons!"

There was a biting sensation and the feeling of contact as Contempors good optic glowed with malice as his axe cut down through Ironhide's shoulder. There was a tearing of metal as the main socket on Ironhide's shoulder was torn off from Contemptor's axe swipe. The large decepticon smiled in satisfaction as he towered over Ironhide, but his satisfaction was short lived.

In swinging his axe down, Contemptor had overextended his reach, leaving his already damaged knee exposed. He snapped his head to the left to glare angrily at Ironhide, not knowing his folly and his good optic suddenly flared in anger and agony as the veteran autobot's heel stomped his already mangled knee. There was a sweeping motion and Contemptor landed hard with a thud in the sand, his axe sent into the sand as he lost his grip.

Contemptor let out a snarl of disgust as he reached for his Plasma Pistol. But as he did so, there was a chill pain shooting up his left arm. It was a deep needling sensation as the super cooling fluid from Ironhide coated his left arm fully, freezing it down at the molecular level - and deep into Contemptor's skeletal structure.

"You'll pay Ironhide...I'll take your hea..." Contemptor let out a growl of pain as he felt his arm shatter under the impact of Ironhide's foot into his elbow joint as the frozen metal cracked and shattered under the stomp of Ironhide's heel.

"GRaaaaghhh!!!" was the sound from Contemptor's vocalizer as he rolled to the right and up to a kneeling position, a look of utter hate and anger crossing his faceplate as Ironhide turned and broke from combat, running back to his autobot brethren. Contemptor took his hand away from the shattered stump of his elbow and pulled his plasma pistol and proceeded to fire numerous shots - all of which missed their mark due to the range from his position to that of the running Ironhide - whom had been joined by the damaged Hardhead.

All Contemptor could do was spew forth a slew of earth and cybertronian curses at the feeling autobots. It was then that the communication came through from Starscream about aborting the mission and returning to the Ultrax, and as this made Contemptors mood even more violent, the sight of Skywarp taking off caused Contemptor to contact the prankster and curse at him in his audio receptor.

"Fragging Bastard Son of a Glitch!"

It wasn't Skywarp's fault, but as injured as Contemptor was - he knew that leaving any behind was the last thing needed. He opened a channel to the prankster.

"Sorry Skywarp...I hope your friend is ok...I'll collect Hellion and meet you on the Ultrax - possibly the repair bay..."

Contemptor cut the communication and sent a transmission to Starscream

"Acknowledged Commander Starscream...I will retreive Hellion and then be ready for bounce."

Again, he cut the transmission and glared off into the distance, his one good optic glowing in the setting sun.

"Trust me Ironhide...when the time comes, I will take your head as a trophy. By the nine hells i will not stop untill I do!"

Iranian Desert – Central Hub

Ratchet let out a sigh of relief when he heard Warpath let him know that he could hear him. That meant that he was still fully functional, he may ne be in one piece, but he was functioning. The CMO made his way out from his secure location and move toward the rubble where he had seen Warpath last. He hesitated slightly when he saw some movement, but relaxed when he realized it was the tank-former.

“Glad you’re okay, Warpath…”

He trailed off slightly when he noticed that the cannon that once protruded from his chest was now gone. The red mech made little to no optic contact with the medic, causing a wave of concern to wash over the CMO.

“I’ll get you back in one piece as soon as I can.”

Ratchet forced a smile before he laid his hand on Warpath’s shoulder. It was then that Ratchet heard the annoying vocalizations of that Insecticon. Ratchet pulled Warpath out of the line of fire from his stingers only to be surprised by Waspinator’s sudden explosion. Ratchet on-lined and off-lined his optics as he stared at the molten mess left in front of him. Lifting his head he noticed Hardhead battling that crazed berserker femme Seeker.

Ratchet nearly jumped when his comm link came to life with Ironhide’s voice. Scrambling to regain his composure the medic began pulling Warpath along as he responded to the mission commander.

>>”I’m alright. I’ve got Warpath with me, but he’s in bad shape. I can take a look at your injuries as soon as I can find a secure location. Meet me at these coordinates.”<<

He had scanned the area and found one that was nowhere near any of the ‘Cons making it possibly the best location to evaluate his patients.

Somewhere at the Bottom of the Persian Gulf

Thrust began finally stir from the shock emergency lock up his systems had went through after breaching the ocean surface roughly at mach 5 and hitting the bottom of the gulf in the relatively shallow waters where he had wounded up to.

His diagnostic subroutines were giving rather disheartening status updates thorough his frame. His form was badly mangled and the damage he had gone through in response to his wing being obliterated by a blast by Hardhead was preventing him from transforming. His communications equipment were also malfunctioning. So badly in fact that he never received the transmission from Skywarp.

Unable to move or contact the other Decepticons, Thrust activated his emergency beacon, hoping that the others would take notice of it eventually. Still, he knew far too well that he would not be the first casualty of a battle to be left behind to rust away. Having lost his sense of time anyhow, Thrust fell to energy saving mode, only keeping the emergency beacon on sporadically.

Central Hub - Why are seekers so stubborn?

>"...This is Contemptor...I am in the process of retreiving Hellion. I have sustained some...minor damage."< Contemptor looked down at the shattered remnant of his left arm as he spoke into his tranceiver, and he grimaced as he absently touched his upper arm strut. He was deffinatly sour over the previous encounter.

Contemptor had sent his transmission to Vindicator on the Ultrax. He didn't know that the Siege Commander was aboard the Ultrax, so it came as a surprise when the baritone vocals rattled around his cranial unit that his only close friend was in orbit watching what was happening in the desert. His surprise was even more lengthened when the growled reply jolted him into action.

Contemptor turned and made his way towards Hellion - her energon signal was faint, but showing that she was still functioning. Contemptor wondered if she had gone into stasis lock, but it would not be foolish to expect the battle with the Autobot Hardhead to be an easy task.

Contemptor tried again to contact the femme as he approached at a purposeful stride.

>"Hellion...Hellion this is Contemptor do you acknowledge?.....Hellion respond!"<

If anyone would have questioned Contemptor in his feelings, the faint tremor in his vocalizer when he contacted the berzerker would have gave away his usual calm and cold exterior.

'Dammit seeker.. answer me!' Contemptor snarled under his breath as the form of Hellion came into view in the distance.



>"This is Siege Commander Vindicator to all Decepticons in the Iranian Desert. Co-ordinates are being broadcast for assembly for safe Bounce Extraction back to the Ultrax...Leave no 'con behind!"<

Above the Combat Zone

Starscream was banking around after he had dropped his cluster bombs when the transmission came in from the Ultrax, but not from Soundwave as he had expected, but from Vindicator. He barely recalled so-called siege commander's name on the roster for the Decepticons he had under his command, but if this unknown was taking charge on the Ultrax that meant Soundwave was no longer on the ship. And with Shockwave now in the system the Commander knew exactly where he was, and this only confirmed what Starscream had already suspected. The Seeker noted the locations for Hellion and Contemptor and broadcasted the coordinates to the Ultrax so they could be bounced up to the ships.

>>Vindicator, Starscream. Most of the ground team are with the energon they have secured, I have also marked the locations for the other members of the team not in the zone. You should be able to bounce us all back to the Ultrax, and do so ASAP. We have a number of wounded that need immediate attention.<<

After he cut the transmission Starscream flew low to the ground and transformed back into his robot form and waited to be bounced back up to the ship.

Iranian Desert – Central Hub


As the sounds of battle continued around him, Warpath was in another world. With his turret cannon now in several pieces scattered amongst the rubble, the normally loud and upbeat warrior was almost completely dispondent. Though Ratchet assured the crimson warrior that he would be back in one piece, it did little to raise Warpath's spirits.

"Yeah, sure doc." Warpath mumbled, still looking away from Ratchet, who did all he could to physically pull the tankbot despite Warpath's unwillingness.

You'll put me back into one piece, but it won't be the same will it? I've seen and heard enough. Everyone said my cannon was always getting in the way and knocking things over, or blocking things. You're just gonna fix me up and leave me without a new one, probably stick me with some flimsy gun. Maybe it did get in the way sometimes, but it was MY cannon, and it's who I am!

Warpath then overheard the Autobot CMO contact Ironhide. It sounded like they were going to regroup, something that Warpath now dreaded.

No, I can't let them see me like this!

Iranian Desert - Several Miles from the Central Hub

Skywarp leveled off and descended towards the sand dunes below, one of which partial concealed the train car containing the bulk of the energon they had procured during the mission. Transforming in midair, ‘Warp ignited his foot thrusters and used them to blow away most of the sand that covered the large container. Once that had been completed, the teleporter landed on top of the box car and removed the camouflaged netting that covered the rest just as he received Thrust’s emergency beacon indicating that he had crashed. Apparently, it would just be Ramjet to provide any form of assistance, but even the power-hungry conehead was still no where to be seen. “Figures. I can’t count on anyone for help around here,” the prankster muttered to himself as a frown became etched across his faceplate.

Astroseconds later, Skywarp received a message from Vindicator on board the Ultrax. Without assistance from his fellow Seekers, the teleporter would be unable to reach any designated bounce extraction point. Teleporting was not an option, either, due to the large size of the train car and the highly volatile contents therein. No, 'Warp would not risk destroying not only himself but the energon stockpile they had worked so hard to gather from the pipeline. Vindicator would simply have to bounce him and the cubes from their current location, leaving the box car behind. The black and purple seeker opened a secured comm line back up the the Ultrax:

>>”Vindicator, this is Skywarp. I am unable to reach any bounce extraction point. You will have to bounce me and the energon cubes I have here from my present coordinates.”<<

Iranian Desert: Skies above the Dunes

Slingshot weaved back into the rapidly expanding clouds of smoke and rock. He cut back his engines to the minutest amount in order to allow his snap half S turn to bring him back into the dust and billowing debris. Two bursts of laser fire slammed across his aileron tearing off a large chunk and causing him to spin down towards the deck.

He cried out in pain as his systems desperately tried to compensate for the damage. "Damn fragging standard model." The Aerialbot sniper flipped himself over and dove deep into the dust cover, rocks pelting his form but causing little damage in compared to the smoke trail his wing was emitting. Ramjet would pay for that.

Angling his sensors back to trace the source of the laser fire, Slingshot pulled back on his damaged ailerons and leveled himself off. He knew he could not last too long before he required servicing or at least was forced to the ground. Loading several chains of mortars into his cannons. Without a clear target except for projected course corrections and angles for Ramjet's possible escape routes, Slingshot fired. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"

Iranian Desert - Central Hub

Hellion continued to crawl through the sand as she saw the various Transformers running around in the distance. She couldn’t make out who was who, but she knew that there were Autobots out there, and she needed to kill them. The seeker continued to drag herself forward with her good arm, clawing at the ground to drag herself a few more feet.

Then the signals came in calling for a retreat and an end to the battle. “Nooooo” came out of her vocalizer as a rough whisper. She said it again , louder this time, then a scream. “NOOOOOO!” She slammed her fist on the ground in frustration as another battle had ended with her enemies surviving.

The berserker finally began coming down from her rage as she received a signal from Contemptor. With most of her fuel having been spilled or burnt out of her, she had only enough energy left to turn on her locator beacon before falling into stasis lock.

*

Ironhide simply nodded at Hardhead as he jogged past him. He didn’t really like someone else trying to play the bodyguard act on him but he didn’t have the time to argue now. They needed to get everyone back together and regroup, get wounds patched up and ready for the next round of fighting.

He stopped in his tracks when he heard the sound of jet engines roaring. He turned around to see Skywarp rocketing away. Contemptor was rolling around on the ground and didn’t look to be attacking anyone soon. It looked like the battle was over and the Cons were getting out while the getting was good. Ironhide grunted. It wasn’t exactly a victory but he felt they had at least given as good as they got.

>>"Affirmative on that Ratchet, I'll get everyone else to meet us over there."<<

>>”Autobots, meet up at the provided coordinates. Looks like the fight is over so we need to get together, gather the wounded and head home.”<<

Ironhide pressed his remaining hand against the stump on his shoulder. He was leaking out some fluids despite doing his best to cut off the flow to his shoulder internally. He could keep going for a while longer though, it just stung like the pit. He glaced at his severed arm tucked under his good arm. It looked like a pretty clean cut, hopefully a quick fix. He walked over towards Ratchet and waited for the others to join him.

*

Iranian Desert - Several Miles from the Central Hub

Slipstream transformed and landed in front of Skywarp. She had been circling high overhead, the other seeker had slipped down below her and landed. She grunted a bit as she landed, the shrapnel from the near miss fired by Warpath still stinging. The damage wasn’t as bad as she let on though. She just wanted to make sure that her sudden withdrawal from battle was completely justified. She wasn’t about to go above and beyond the call of duty on some phony distraction mission.

“Commander Skywarp, I’m glad to see you intact. I assume you have already requested a bounce back to the ship?”

OoC:I thought of this with Ramjet and Waspinator. Dunno if I am allowed to do this, but Waspinator's destruction needed a little more humor. But don't worry, it won't last long.

Central Hub

Ramjet was flying with fierceness, then he heard a horrid scream. He knew who it was; it was that idiot Waspinator.

>>You okay my buzzing friend?<< Ramjet asked through a comm link with Waspinator.

>>Not aga-zzrrrrrk-aain...<< Waspinator responded, then nothing but static.

If Ramjet were in the position to, he would have facepalmed at the message. But unfortunately, he wasn't and he was needed elsewhere.

He kicked in the airbrakes and narrowly missed a string of mortars from the annoying pest Slingshot. His anger built up slowly, it was urking him that he couldn't finish the battle and Starscream ordering the retreat made him even more angry.

The camel's back was about to break. Soon.

"Hey, I gotta go! This isn't over!" Ramjet called out to Slingshot as he turned back and kicked in his afterburners.

He flew over to near Waspinator's last known location, it was near a damaged Warpath and Ratchet. He flew dawn low and transformed in the front of what was left of a supply bunker, and walked in. He rummaged around the crates and found a net that was covering some of the crates to hold them to a wooden base. He yanked it off and tied the tops together, but leaving one end open to put the form of Waspinator in.

He slung the net over his shoulder and jogged over to what was left of Waspinator, then picked up an arm of the lowly Insecticon and put it into the netting as fast as he could. He did the same with some of the other body parts, then shoved the torso into the netting.

He accidentally clunked Waspinator's head and it sprung to life, somehow.

"What? Whatzz going on?? Why can't Wazzpinator zzee!?" Waspinator said as Ramjet slung the netting over his shoulder.

"How are you still online? You should be deactivated." Ramjet stated as he began to jog through the battle and toward Skywarp.

"Truzzt Wazzpinator, Wazzpinator go through more than thizz." He said, voice bouncing as the net was flinging on his back, for it wasn't tied down too much.

Waspinator was losing a lot of Energon, he would have to make this quick.

He slid behind a building and rested his back against the wall, he would need a recharge later.

>>Skywarp, I've got Waspinator here with me, I'm coming as fast as I can on foot.<< Ramjet said as he put his weight on the wall.

Waspinator's protests were too muffled to hear.