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Fortress Tenebrous - Interrogation Room

River pulled against her restraints again and again as she was forcibly coupled to a rather uncomfortable chair. It wasn't the first time she had been restrained, not the first time she had seen the inside of an interrogation chamber, but the last time was a bit more on her own terms. And these were definitely not her own terms. She pulled again at her restraint and cursed at the futility.

She turned her head slightly to catch Vestra, nearly catatonic, being secured to a chair of her own. She had not made a sound since the incident at the falls, had not moved nor had she even acknowledged the world around her. River could easily understand the trauma that her best friend had endured. To see her twin die in her very arms. River shuddered. Would I be that same way if I had to endure the loss of my beloved like Vestra did her brother?

Her train of thought was broken when the main doors slid open to reveal their interrogator. A Decepticon Female that identified herself as Soul Siren. River had heard bits and pieces of the styles of the various interrogators throughout the Con ranks, Vortex being labeled among the more sadistic. But even with that knowledge, she knew they were all vastly unpredictable. And she had limited intelligence on the woman before her.

"My Name, River Primal. Rank Autobot Tourist." She spoke with a hint of humor. Not entirely ready to be forth coming with the group that had murdered two of her friends in cold oil.

Vestra remained silent, staring off into the infinity... some where near the corner of the room.

Fortress Tenebrous - Interrogation Room

Soul Siren made careful note of the answers or lack thereof that she had received to the first question she had made. River's answer was not a strange one to her. She had encountered Autobots attempting to use humor in the past and that had never made an effective defense for long. Vestra's lack of reply was more interesting. Just be looking at her she could tell that this was not merely she remaining quiet as a form of defiance. Her optics suggested some sort of trauma, probably having to do with the encounter that she had before this. There had been two slain with them but if these two were truly Autobot warriors than a couple deaths should not be enough to cause such a reaction. There had to be something else. She opened a private communication channel to Reflector.

"When you have the opportunity, could you confirm for me the identity of the two corpses that were found along with these two and if they have any sort of relationship with the two I am questioning? I believe there is something there."

She turned her full attention back to the two she was questioning.

"I see that you two do not fully understand the situation you are in. Allow me to educate you. Both of you are being questioned for what information you have on the current Autobot operations here on this planet. Co-operation will be rewarded by a stay in one of our finer prisons where you will have the opportunity to earn your released. Defiance will be punished... severely. Useless answers are an annoyance. Silence, is unacceptable."

With that last word she accessed the systems of Vestra's chair and activated a system which sent a momentary but intense electric surge through her body. It would not be enough to kill but enough to cause intense pain for a moment.

"Now, with that point made. Who are your current leaders on this planet and what is their location?"

Melanossos, Decepticon supply depot

The successful destruction of Ironside by his particle beam cannon had not gone unnoticed by Turmoil but it had not affected him in any manner either. This was war and the Autobot had been an enemy, Ironside was not worth of his pity. Neither there had been any reason to waste his time to gloat a kill like so many of his subordinates would have done. His only regret was that the shot he had fired at Pointblank had missed its intended target. The Autobot enforcer had even managed to return fire before being swarmed by the Sweeps. However, Turmoil's heavy armor plating had effortlessly absorbed the sonic blast. Quite simply, he and Pointblank were in completely different weight classes. Deciding that the Sweeps were enough to deliver the Autobot war veteran his inevitable fate, Turmoil began looking for other targets through the optics of the numerous Insecticon clones circling the battlefield.

Turmoil did not have to look for a new targets for long. He had the Autobots surrounded between the Sweeps and Insecticon clones. With Horri-Bull and Bomb-Burst protecting his flanks, the large Decepticon commander could easily focus on picking apart the Autobots herded into position by the Decepticlones. And of these Autobots, only one resonated with enough energy to be considered a real threat. Pyro.

Whether Pyro realized it or not, Turmoil had little interest in saving the supply depot if it meant he could remove Pyro himself from the equation. Nebulos was nearly an endless source of energon if properly cultivated. After all, what was one meager supply depot worth if he could remove the Autobot presence from the planet before they were able to organize their spread out numbers? And taking care of Pyro was exactly what he set to do.

His first shot at Pyro's position came just short of punching a hole through the relatively young Autobot officer who had been lucky enough to transform into his fire truck mode just as Turmoil's targeting computer had locked on the Autobot's position. Instead of removing Pyro from the battle, the blast reduced what was left of the building Pyro had been hiding behind into rubble. Then again, despite of the miss - Pyro was not making targeting him all that difficult. The Autobot seemed to be practically suicidal, gunning directly towards Turmoil's position - the friction shells fired by the Autobot being deflected harmlessly away by Turmoil's integrity field. Well, harmlessly for Turmoil at least for his surroundings were certainly taking their toil from the Autobot's firepower.

Locking to Pyro's current trajectory, Turmoil's turret aligned itself for a shot. It would take one blast from his cannon and this charade would be over. And as it was, the Autobot showed no intention of even attempting to swerve away from the direct path towards Turmoil's position. Silently thanking Pyro for making the shot so easy, Turmoil's cannon roared again - sending yet another burst of blinding white energy towards his would be victim.

Equatorial Desert

Strafe cursed internally as Lockdown easily evaded his blasts and then returned fire with an EMP pulse, this one much wider and more powerful than the localized one that knocked out his beacon and comm line. The aerial gunner quickly banked to his right in an attempt to avoid the wave, but it was no use. The EMP struck his left wing, knocking out his engines on that side. Unable to remain airborne, Strafe had no option but to try and make an emergency landing.

“I hope the sand is soft enough down there!” The nerve-wrecked Technobot quipped to himself as the desert grew larger and larger in his forward HUD. Strafe tried to level out the best that he could, just making it over a large sand dune before colliding with the ground beneath him. As a result, sand was thrown into the air in a wave-like effect. When he finally came to a halt, the aerial gunner was half buried in the dune, but was otherwise all right.

Quickly transforming back to robot mode, Strafe pulled himself out of the sand and took a look around. He couldn’t see him, but he knew that Lockdown was there just on the other side of the dune. It was only a matter of time before the bounty hunter caught up to him. Frantically searching for somewhere to hide, Strafe instead found one of his light-pulse blasters lying in the sand. What’s this? It must have broken off during my crash landing, the aerial gunner surmised as he picked up his weapon. It appeared to be intact and still functioning, but how effective it would be against an enraged Lockdown was yet to be seen.

Strafe then heard the familiar sound of Afterburner as his comrade burst from the ground a short distance away and began firing on the bounty hunter, whom the flier was still unable to see from his current position. “Afterburner, be careful! Lockdown has an EMP weapon!” Strafe shouted, now running towards his teammate’s location. As he moved from behind the sand dune, his former captor became visible to the aerial gunner.

Oh, man, he doesn’t look happy, Strafe thought as he nervously opened fire on Lockdown with his now hand-held light-pulse blaster. With the damage it had sustained during the crash, the weapon’s power cells were not at full capacity. Hopefully, it would be strong enough to ward off the bounty hunter until back-up arrived in the form of the rest of the Technobots. Otherwise, Afterburner and I are fragged!

Tree Line

The two minds of Doublecross listened as Repugnus told him and Grotusque to move along the tree line towards the cave while the bug-like Monsterbot hung back and covered their tracks. It sounded as if it would be a boring trek for the most part with only the promise of eventual action once they reached their subterranean destination.

“I’ll hold you to that promise, Puggy,” the left head growled as Doublecross moved forward, still dragging the hover cart with his tail. The right head snapped at the other, uttering his own low growl of displeasure. It was also a warning to his polar opposite to behave himself.

Don’t antagonize him.

(Don’t antagonize me! I want some action and I want it yesterday!)

Well, unless you can time travel, that’s not going to happen.

(You know what I mean, dipstick!)

Both of Doublecross’s heads glanced over at the sound of Grotusque commenting that he would utilize his robot mode instead of his creature form as a way to maneuver through the forest more easily. The mechanical dragon’s left head could only shake itself back and forth before giving a response even though the right side would likely disapprove again. “You know, ‘Tusque, you’re not very agile, or pretty, in either mode so it doesn’t really matter which one you use now does it?”

“I’m only kidding,” the right head then chimed in, trying to maintain a sense of camaraderie between the two Monsterbots. “Using you robot mode is actually a good idea. I might even do the same.”

(Oh no we’re not!)

Yes, we will if I deem it necessary.

(You’re forgetting that when we’re in this mode, I have partial control of our body. That means if I don’t want to transform, then we don’t transform.)

Fine, but if we cause too much damage to the forest and Repugnus gets mad...

(I don’t care how mad he gets! He’s lucky I don’t just burn a path from here all the way to the cave.)

Don’t you dare!

The left head chuckled as the mouth opened slightly, teasing that a fireball was about to be unleashed. The right head glared back with an infuriated look as nothing happened. There were no flames, no burning trees, and no pissed off Repugnus.

(Gotcha!)

You’re not funny.

Equatorial Desert

Watching from his open location, Lockdown watched as the EMP blast he sent toward the Technotbot gunner his Strafe in the left wing rendering its engine useless. However, the bounty hunter was unable to relish in his accomplishment when as Afterburner appeared from, seemingly, out of nowhere and quickly opened fire with both missiles and his plasma cannon.

Lockdown hissed in irritation as he deftly dodged the missiles letting them pass by him, but only by inches. The move wasn’t enough to keep him from the plasma cannon entirely. The bounty hunter was hit in his right abdomen, but the reinforced armor he had acquired several vorns ago was able to shrug off the blast, but he was still thrown back several feet.

The black and green mech was able to still land on his feet. However he still needed time for his EMP weapon to fully charge. The ‘Con had decided it would be prudent to lie low for a few moments before he charged forth at the Technobot. He was able to find a dune that was large enough to conceal his form, and as luck would have it the dune turned out to be a sand covered boulder. Heh, go figure.

Peering over the top of his cover, Lockdown spotted the wave of sand where Strafe had crashed. Knowing that the gunner was grounded for good caused the corners of his lips to curl into a cruel smirk. Now all he needed to do was take out the annoying two wheeled gunner.

With his EMP generator now fully charged, Lockdown took aim at Afterburner, and let lose a wide powerful blast that the Technobot was sure to be caught in. At the same time he fired, Lockdown took off from his position and headed directly for Strafe who was now moving toward his comrade. With his weapon drawn, the aerial gunner began firing his light pulse cannon; the same weapon he had used to escape his grasp.Lockdown was able to dodge the feeble pulse beam with a deft forward flip. The bounty hunter let out a grunt followed by a low bellow to both Technobots as he landed on his feet and kept moving forward.

“Don’t bother getting comfortable Strafe! You’re mine, as is your little friend!”

Once he caught these two he would bring them in to his employer in pieces!

OoC: Questionable stuffage decided upon by me and Plaything. Sorry for the delay, things have been terribly bad on my end. Pokemon States for this weekend has been killer with preparations.

Six miles out of Koraja

Nightbeat has been walking for miles on end with little to no rest. He was certain the Inecticons were following him, and frankly, he wasn't sure he was up to a fight. He panted for air as he placed the body of Skyhammer next to a tree and he squatted back down to examine the body a bit more, and see if anything was salvageable.

He looked through the hole gouged in the chest of Skyhammer and looked where the Spark should be. It was there, encased with the protective shell showing Skyhammer was still alive, but in stasis.

"Subject is in Stasis Lock, no doubt by the stab wound that probably caused our victim to be deactivated. Projectile in forehead, still unknown. Checking back to see if any claws or teeth remain on the Vic." Nightbeat said in a hushed voice, he didn't know if the Insecticons knew where he was, and he didn't want to give them his location with the sound of his voice.

Nightbeat rolled the deactivated and mutilated form of Skyhammer onto his back and began to scan the back for any foreign materials. Suddenly, a large metal tooth materialized on his HUD, and the location along with it. He lifted the shoulder-blade and pulled out a piece of a tooth, not a large tooth as the HUD made it to be. Nightbeat grunted and pocketed the Tooth.

Nightbeat grew silent for a moment; he thought he heard something. He heard it again, footsteps! They grew louder until they came to a stop behind him, Nightbeat quickly drew his rifle and spun around to reveal-!

"Hosehead," Nightbeat said, still in his hushed tone, with a sigh of relief, "You should announce yourself if you are sneaking around like that."

"To me, at least." Nightbeat said with a smirk encroaching on his faceplate.

Nightbeat pat Hosehead on the shoulder, but the smile faded when he heard a low buzz in the distance.

Scrap. Nightbeat thought as he turned in the direction of Koraja.

"The Insecticons, they're coming. I should know better than kick their nest," Nightbeat said as he turned back to Hosehead, "Is there shelter nearby?"

*****

Equatorial Desert - Subsurface Lava Tubes

Nosecone choked under the dust the rocks caused, his makeshift cavern was substantial enough to withstand the blast and the rocks. Nosecone was characteristically not surprised. He built it perfectly for the time at hand. Perfect.

But now wasn't the time to marvel at his creation, a tunnel at that, everyone was calling him to hurry up and get to the battle. He turned up to the ceiling and activated his Geo-Mappers. He looked around and found the shape of Lockdown moving and writhing about, obviously in a battle with his counterparts.

If he dug up through the ground beneath Lockdown, all the bounty hunter would do is leap out of the way as he did with the cave in... If he caved the ground in beneath him... That could work.

>>Guys, this is Nosecone, keep Lockdown in this vicinity. I will collapse the ground under his feet. Sending the plans to you now.<< Nosecone radioed the Technobots, and with the message came a diagram that showed the area which will cave in.

And with that, he transformed and drove forward, drilling through the soil and stone, he drilled to where the center of his diagram was. He began to drill in a spiral pattern, but keeping supports in areas of high stress. He looked down with his HUD and found an underwater spring. He couldn't go down much further.

He dug around the chamber farther and farther down. It would not be long until he blew out the supports.

Equatorial Desert - Skies Above

Evading Lightspeed's attack was simple enough given how far away the Autobot had been from Apeface's position. Of course there was plenty of sand dust in the air which made targeting difficult for the Technobot that had just escaped the collapsing tunnels to the surface. And then there was the little trick Apeface had learnt ages ago; by keeping the sun behind him, targeting him was pure pain for his enemy. Sure, staring at the sun did not cause permanent damage to the optical sensors of a Transformer like it did for organics but the flare was still enough to put Lightspeed in serious disadvantage. Although the Autobot's decision to attack a Horrorcon already bordered insanity.

It was Snapdragon however, who took it to himself to deal with Lightspeed. Apeface certainly didn't need the help but he could understand his bloodthirsty comrade going in for a kill the moment he got a chance to do so. Besides, if the signs were telling the truth - they'd soon have more Technobots to put out of their misery. Namely, Nosecone and Scattershot were still missing from the open.

>>"Fine. Have your fun, hehe."<<

Between Snapdragon going for Lightspeed and Lockdown seeming to be busy with Strafe and Afterburner, Apeface decided to wait for more targets to appear. The bountyhunter no doubt wanted both Autobots for himself, and as far as Apeface was concerned - Lockdown could have both grunts if he was able to take them down. The Horrorcon saboteur certainly didn't care.

The Perdition--Bridge

The optics of the Spyglass unit methodically poured over the data that had been recovered from various escape pod crash sites thus far as Soul Siren's request had come through. The information, thus far, was of minimal use. The majority of the Decepticons in the field were trackers, huntsmen and warriors. Not intelligence officers. Reflector was confidant, however, that between he and Soul Siren, they would be able to provide some useful data to the Decepticon intelligence network.

>>"They appear inconsequential...except for one. That other femme. Identification: Trybium. Spark sibling to one of your present captives. The one identified as Vestra."<<

Reflector's three component faces all formed a slight sneer at this revelation. If anything could cripple a Cybertronian, it was the destruction of a sibling unit. Reflector had long hoped to see either Sunstreaker or Sideswipe suffer the same fate, if only to sit back and observe what happened to the other one. This would have to suffice in the interim.

Six miles out of Koraja

Bombshell was still receiving information from his implanted cerebro-shell, but it was static-laden and endlessly frustrating.

Outside Koraja now, various diaclones crept their their way along the ground and through the trees. All possessed a near-singular mindset, to pursue the Autobot. That was the directive that they had been given by their Insecticon masters. They had no real capacity to obey anything else, unless it was the urge to feed.

If these Autobots proved to be more trouble than they were worth, then Bombshell would have little trouble allowing them to exercise that urge, too.

"Wait....wait.....hmmm, how interesting. He speaks to another," Bombshell hissed, mentally slowing the progress of the diaclones under his command. "A guard maybe. A scout. Their base may be nearby. But this close to Koraja? That would be, ehh, foolish."

Equatorial Desert

While firing his plasma cannons Afterburner watched his missiles cover the ground between he and Lockdown as if they were moving in slow motion. He loved to watch them fly, the beauty and precision devices like them needed to be the deadly instruments they were was awe inspiring. They were halfway to Lockdown and he wished his auto-reloader was working faster. The only thing better than what he was seeing was watching the impact with their target. Seeing Decepticons explode was a pleasant hobby for a mech to have. It should be mandatory for all Autobots as far as he was concerned.

In seconds Afterburner’s dreams of seeing another Con fall disappeared when Lockdown sidestepped his missiles. He dodged them! That scraplet! Afterburner was pleased to see his cannon blasts strike home. The Technobot would’ve smiled if his faceplate were showing. He saw Lockdown aiming at him but what did he have to worry about? That Con wouldn’t get a shot off in time. Afterburner activated the triggering mechanism for his plasma cannon as the EMP pulse struck.

Unfortunately for Afterburner, his plasma cannon was in the process of firing when his systems went offline. His front wheel struck a crevice and, without him in control, he pivoted forward in time for his cannons to fire. The concussion from the point blank blast blew Afterburner into the air for a handful of somersaults before landing in a deafening crash a hundred yards from where he took the EMP pulse.

Laying on his side, stuck in his motorcycle mode and with his tires still spinning, he let out a groan. Still conscious, Afterburner tried to access his systems but everything was offline except for his visual circuits which gave him a static filled view of a large rock. After a few seconds the rock visual began to fade. Blast it Scattershot! This is the last time I listen to your scraplet infested… Was it the EMP pulse or stasis lock? Without his systems working Afterburner remained where he fell in silence.

Six Miles Out of Koraja

“Nightbeat?”

Had he finally discovered someone after wandering through town after town, forest after forest? Had his arduous search yielded the result he had aimed for? Was that really an Autobot voice greeting his audio modules? Was this—

“It is you!”

Evidently, his growing collection of questions had been answered simultaneously.

Hosehead trudged through the forest, dodging various trees and overhanging branches decorated with wide green leaves that obscured his vision, sabotaged any opportunity of walking straight no more than twelve paces. It didn't provoke his irritation as successfully as it did once he first trekked through a forest in search of his fellow Autobots, but it was still annoying. He had forgotten all about his difficult surroundings, however, the instant he sighted Nightbeat.

“Do you know how long I've been looking you? Or any of the Technobots? You know, it feels like I've been everywhere, like I've covered half of Nebulos, even. And I've been here! But I couldn't find anyone. Zip! Zilch! Nothing!” Though frustrated and a little stressed, a broad smile pushed passed his negative emotions and formed on his face-plate. “I guess it doesn't matter now. Let's jus—”

"The Insecticons, they're coming. I should know better than kick their nest," Nightbeat said as he turned back to Hosehead, "Is there shelter nearby?"

With an almost blank expression, Hosehead locked his stare on the detective as if somebody had removed his processor and personality component in that very moment. What Insecticons? What nest? He had just discovered his friend in this wooded area and now Insecticons were coming?

“Shelter?” Somehow, he was released from his stupor. “Oh, right! Shelter! Uh, yeah. Follow me, Nightbeat. Not far from where I landed—and sort of not far from here—is a cave. We should be able to hold out there.”

He noticed Skyhammer was lying on the soil, silent. He was devoid of movement. The Autobot's limp body caused anxiety to strike Hosehead, to wash over him like an abrupt downpour. He caught himself before he fixated his gaze on the off-lined Skyhammer.

He threw a glance at Nightbeat. “You look weary. Let me take him.”

Hefting Skyhammer and placing him across his shoulder-plates in the position of a firemech's lift, Hosehead slowly spun on his heel and began to jog. He wasn't especially fast, but if he could reach the edge of the forest, where a clearing virtually led to the cave, he'd be able to employ the superior speed of his alternate mode and drive the remainder of the way to it.