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Road 54

After what seemed like forever, Wildrider finally made the turn on to highway 54 and started to speed up, ready to catch up with the others and not give Motormaster any extra reasons to dent his face the next time they were near each other. But the local pig on their tail wasn't helping him any.

When the Cassetticons told him to roll down his windows so that they could take care of the situation, the Stunticon terrorist didn't even think twice. Slamming his gearshaft in to reverse, the black Ferrari began angling backwards down the road, his doors on either slide flinging themselves open.

From what little he knew of human law enforcement protocol, he was about to be involved in some sort of standard traffic stop, which would mean the official would park some safe distance behind him.

He wasn't going to give him that chance.

"Knock yerselves out, heheheh."

Road 54

Drag Strip's reply did contain a substantial point. Really, who did care? As long as Wildrider didn't bring those minature morons or his psychotic impulses anywhere near him, no complications should arise. Save for the twin set of problems that were established ahead of Dead End, existing in the forms of Breakdown and Drag Strip.

If luck ever decided to intervene, now was the perfect moment to do it. It would help him endure the reckless antics of the other Stunticons, and the awful locations he continued to get bounced to. But he knew better than to entertain thoughts of such a mystical nature.

He manoeuvred past many of the blazing wrecks decorating the highway, the collective results of his team-mates' efforts. As best he could, anyway. It was exceedingly difficult attempting to travel in a straight line when the road resembled a sort of grotesque looking obstacle course. It was astounding their “hidden” presence had yet to be unveiled.

Preoccupied with the task of avoiding a hazardous collision with one of the numerous wrecks, Dead End forgot to respond to Breakdown and Drag Strip. Not that he believed they were upset with the absence of his response. They were enjoying themselves far too much to be concerned about a useless transmission.

Unlike a certain crimson Stunticon...

Frontier Refinery - El Dorado, Kansas

Entering the town of El Dorado, Motormaster rolled past Kansas Oil Museum before turning from the Eastern Central Avenue to Southern Main Street. He would have preferred to slip by the central El Dorado to get to the refinery given the mission parameters but this was the point of the most direct access to his target from the direction the Stunticons had approached the city. Ignoring the continuous chatter of his underlings on their shared radio frequency, Motormaster smashed through the traffic on Southern Main Street that allowed him an access to Western Kansas Avenue and finally the Southwest Traffic Way that would allow him direct access to the Frontier Refinery that was waiting further down along the road.

>>"The refinery is straight ahead boys! Now listen up!"<< Motormaster radioed his team slowing down enough to allow Octane to catch him and pulling to the side of the road enough to let the smaller Stunticons to get past him.

>>"The refinery will be a ticking time bomb if we enter into a firefight with the Autobots when they arrive so here's what we are going to do. We are taking the fleshling crew of the refinery as hostages. We will round the meatbags into one location, squeeze information regarding the refinery out of them. This will allow us to use our surroundings against the Autobots later. While Octane will start refining their most suitable resources into synthetic energon, you are going to prepare for the inevitable Autobot interruption of our little operation."<< He further detailed his orders. >>"Now! Spread out secure the refinery grounds!"<<

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

Breakdown was relishing in the carnage he had accomplished when he heard Motormaster’s voice boom over the comm link the entire Stunticon team shared. Had the paranoid mech been in his robot mode he would have cringed. As it was their venerable leader was holding off pummeling them all in an attempt to complete this mission, and to take on much more worthy opponents in the form of Autobots. Good, better them than me.

Wanting to draw as little attention to him for as long as possible, Breakdown fell in line behind Octane. With Motormaster leading the way the traffic clogging the roads was soon dispersed, paving an unobstructed path to their final destination.

Once they arrived, Breakdown quickly moved in to position at the north end of the facility. In the back of his processor he wished that Autobots would get here so he could focus on ripping them apart instead of who might be watching him right now.

Frontier Refinery - El Dorado, Kansas

Drag Strip sped onward into the town of El Dorado, picking off as many stray meatbags in the roadway as he could. Finally, the Stunticons had reached their destination, leaving chaos and bloodshed in their wake. The mayhem wasn’t even over yet as Motormaster continued to plow through all of the cars and trucks that filled the streets in front of the Decepticon convoy. Their target was now dead ahead - the Frontier Oil Refinery. This is where they would not only obtain more fuel, but also draw the Autobots into a carefully laid diversion that would hopefully allow the Constructicons to build their new Earth base without being discovered. This is where the real fun started, not to mention a more exciting endeavor than merely crushing helpless humans. Autobots were much more of a challenge then the flesh creatures.

The yellow racer sped by Octane without so much as a thought before then passing Motormaster with a great deal of caution as the Stunticon Commander pulled over some to allow his minions to get by him. The belligerent leader then began bellowing more orders over their shared comm line, laying out the specific plan of attack. Apparently, they were going to take the flesh sacks hostage and force information out of them that can then be used against the Autobots. Drag Strip couldn’t help but think that Darkride would be perfect for this situation as the interrogator loved to torment both mechs and organics. The torturer wasn’t here, of course, but that meant nothing as they were all fully capable of dishing out pain and suffering as was already evidenced but their destructive path through the countryside.

Once Motormaster had finished barking his orders to the team, Drag Strip did as instructed and began to help secure the refinery. As Breakdown headed for the north end of the complex, the yellow Dodge Viper sped off to the southern side where he encountered a number of human workers who had just finished the overnight shift and were about to head home. “You meat bags aren’t going anywhere!” Drag shouted as he blocked their path to the parking lot. Revving his engines, the yellow Stunticon drove towards them fast, forcing the workers to quickly flee back to the refinery. “Ha ha! That’s right you pathetic fleshlings! Get back over there! Nobody leaves until we have what we came for and even then no one gets out alive! Ha ha!”

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

Weaving through the copious amounts of shattered remnants of cars, trucks and whatever other vehicles that had met their demise at the violent inclinations of the other Stunticons, Dead End entered the town of El Dorado, keeping pace with the rest of his team. Although keeping pace was perhaps an ambiguous term rather than a clear one. In between creating a safe distance between himself and the rest of the Stunticons and eluding possible injury—superficial or otherwise—thanks to those brutes, he was surprised he wasn't stuck at their original bouncing location.

But at least the destruction proved to be a useful guide. Much more agreeable than the raucous tone of his leader, if only for a moment or two.

With Motormaster bellowing new instructions and Breakdown and Drag Strip scattering in different directions to carry out them, Dead End supposed he should play his part by securing the western side of the facility. If barely. The place was massive; he could not envision achieving such a task. And then there were the humans. No doubt this facility accommodated for an unimaginable number of the filthy cretins.

Dead End sighed. What a drag.

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

Motormaster watched as his underlings spread across the refinery grounds and disappeared from his immediate sight. Wildrider and his two passengers however were still noticeably missing. Given how his Stunticons knew the price of displeasing their malicious commander. They would all pay for their inability to follow his orders to the extend Motormaster expected from them. However, he was going to pull this mission of with or without the resident lunatic of his team.

>>"Octane, get to work! Find the most energy rich fuel source for conversion! Maximum compression into synthetic energon!"<< Motormaster roared into his communicator, getting immediate movement from Octane as a reaction to his orders.

Slagging overgrow bully. I will show you one day Motormaster. That I promise. Octane swore as the large tanker truck began conducting a survey regarding the contents of the numerous cylinder or spherical shaped tanks around the refinery grounds. He knew full well that even weakened Motormaster could probably tear him into scrap metal so any chance of revenge had to wait for a perfect opportunity. Opportunity he did not see coming anytime soon. But at least one could always hope for it. The truth was that Octane was terrified of the large Stunticon. A being so much like Octane himself but with the power to back up his atrocities. And that was why Octane hated Motormaster so much. The Stunticon was all he wanted to be, not a cowardly opportunist who got his kicks from keeping fuel from the starving but almost an invincible terror, feared by both allies and enemies alike.

Few minutes later, Octane had conducted his survey and had parked himself next to a large tank filled with diesel oil. After all, they did want the refined end products, not the unrefined crude oil. And for that purpose, diesel suited their needs slightly better than the nearby gasoline tanks or the propane gas stored in the spherical containers elsewhere on the refinery grounds. >>"I have conducted my survey. Beginning fuel extraction. Word of warning - the spherical tanks contain pressurized gasses like propane. Try not to shoot at them unless there's an Autobot standing next to them."<<

>>"Good."<< Motormaster replied back to the fuel transport and began driving towards the signal Octane was sending. While doing so, the Stunticon leader sent out another transmission, to a duo of Decepticons whom had been absent from the battle of Mount St. Helens by being conveniently assigned elsewhere during it by Soundwave. A duo, that the Decepticon communications officer had decided to send to reinforce the Stunticons at the Frontier refining. A duo of hooligans known as the Battlechargers - Runabout and Runamuck. >>"Runabout. What the slag is holding back the two of you?! When I give an order, I expect them to be obeyed. You are already due for a lesson in pain, you'd better make sure I don't get any angrier."<<

With that said, Motormaster activated his transformation sequence and only moments later the large black and grey Decepticon was standing tall next to Octane in his tanker truck form. "Stunticons! I am initiating phase four! Transform and stop playing around! I want enough fleshlings rounded up to circle Octane with to shield of living meat!"

"And don't think I forgot you Earthlings." Motormaster snickered as he turned his gaze down towards several worker of the refinery that were standing near him, their mouths wide open of shock due to the events transpired before their very eyes. "Move it! I will not ask twice!"

Road 54

Rumble and Frenzy let out a pair of war cries as the doors popped open. With one hand hanging on to the door frame they twisted around and began firing back at the police car. Unfortunately neither of them were particularly accurate in the best of circumstances, and leaning out of a car driving backwards was as far from ideal as you could get. Their shots slammed into the road, flinging up rock and melted asphalt as the police cruiser tried to evade.

Finally after a good half a dozen shots from each of them one of the blasts slammed directly into the car’s hood, easily slicing through it and the machinery inside. Flames and debris erupted from the front of the car as it spun out of control before crashing into a nearby electrical pole.

The two cassetticons pulled themselves back into Wildrider gleefully. “Didja see that shot Rumble? I totally blew the slag outta that guy!”

“Yer shot?! That was my shot ya little short circuit!”

“You need to get yer optics checked bro, that was all me.”

“The Pit it was!”

The two diminutive Decepticons proceeded to slap, punch and kick each other as best they could while still sitting inside of the Stunticon driving to their true mission objective.

OOC: this is gonna be fun
OOC EDIT: just got Runamuck approved yarr.....

Road 58 - Overdriven Insanity Part 1

Runabout cackled like an insane psychotic as the bus he ploughed through was ripped in half as he moved onto smashing the next hapless car, forcing it off the road and into one of the stone pillars of the bridge above. He was enjoying himself immensely with the carnage he was causing. That and there was the small matter of the beef he had with that damned trophy hunter who was still on the Ultrax. Wreaking the traffic was his way of figuring out a battle plan if the situation ever arose.

The roaring transmission removed his happy mood. Dammit he had forgotten that Motormaster was playing watchdog on this mission.

>>"Runabout. What the slag is holding back the two of you?! When I give an order, I expect them to be obeyed. You are already due for a lesson in pain, you'd better make sure I don't get any angrier."<<

'aw slaggit....ruin my fun whydoncha!' Runabout grumbled under his breath before replying to the bullying stunticon

++Yeah yeah Motor-yap...we're heading over and will be with you stunti-show-offs in a moment...its not like yer hard to find!++

Runabout's sarcastic remark was emphasised with more of the wreaked cars that littered the road. However the Battlechargers had brought their own share of mayhem to the table. Phoenix Arizona Police had issued a warrant for the arrest of the drivers of two Ford Mustang's, and this warrant was already passed through to other states.

The black and whites were following in their own high speed cars, but Runabout was not going to let them slow him down.

he was already concerned that Contemptor had wanted to tear his head off, and the last thing he needed was a beating from diesel-breath.

There was a shout from one of the pursuing Police Chargers, and Runabout pulled a sharp one-eighty and threw it into reverse as he let loose with some fire from his guns, hammering the chasing police and demolishing their vehicles.

"That's how its done!" he howled in amusement as the front charger exploded and flipped over, causing the additional cars to scatter and crash into already wreaked cars and other vehicles that littered the highway.

He pulled another one-eighty and thundered off, charging ahead in Battlecharger mode, his overdriven engine howling as he ripped along, crashing through the already ruined vehicles that bore the signs of the Stunticons already apparent trail of destruction. Runabout just added to it in a more artistic fashion. One human had managed to move his vehicle back onto the road, and Runabout saw another opportunity to leave his stamp on the road to the refinery.

"You loose meatbag!" Runabout cackled as he tore the car in half, one of his ramplates ripping the human's seat out with him attached before the serrated metal of the halved car sliced deep and deadly.

Some of the blood had managed to splatter onto Runabout.

"tch disgusting..."

Runabout feel sullied and foul for having the fleshling's life-force touch him. But the end was finally here as he thundered into the oil refinery, his form reverting back to that of the Ford Mustang Boss.

Three humans came running his way, waving their arms frantically as the hammered on the wind shield of the Mustang.

'Huh? They think I'm here to help?...heh heh.. oh this is gonna be a hoot!'

"Please!!!! Please help us!" cried one of the humans

"Oh I'll help you alright..." Runabout growled as he began to transform to reveal his true self. The humans froze in fear as Runabout reached down and plucked them up from the ground in one hand.

"C'mere ya meatballs!... I'll help you alright...right back to my friends who can really use with your help!"

Making his way into the main area of the Refinery, Runabout spied the freshly transformed Motormaster standing over Octane and he was already barking out orders. "Stunticons! I am initiating phase four! Transform and stop playing around! I want enough fleshlings rounded up to circle Octane with to shield of living meat!"

Runabout looked down and noticed the group of stunned humans at the feet of the Decepticon Terrorist.

"And don't think I forgot you Earthlings." Motormaster snickered as he turned his gaze down towards several workers of the refinery that were standing near him, their mouths wide open of shock due to the events transpired before their very eyes. "Move it! I will not ask twice!"

Gleefully, Runabout held the humans in his grip and approached Motormaster. He knew the Stunticon Leader would be in a pissy mood because he was late to the party - in fact, when was he never in that type of mood? Runabout deposited the humans in an ungainly heap.

"Motormaster... I found these three trying to make a split out the main gate. They came running from that main building there...could be the processing facility for this place...want it checked out?"

He commed Runamuck to see what was taking his twin so long.

++Runamuck ya lout, whats taking ya so long to get here? Double M is gonna beat us purple and black if ya don't hurry your aft up!++



Route 56 - Overdriven Insanity Part 2

Runamuck thundered down behind his rampaging brother. There was a slew of black and whites on their tail. It just wouldn't be fun if they had turbocharged ahead of the earthlings. Where was the fun in that? Really? Still, being in Battlecharge mode, it gave them more of an edge as they smashed and hammered their way through the slew of traffic, cars tossed left and right like a child throwing its toys out of the box.

Runamuck was quiet since they left Phoenix. His merry little rampage on his way into the city had trumped what Runabout had already done on the desert highway, and smugly he had one-upped his brother. Runamuck was, as the humans say it, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

He had listened to the incoming transmission from the Stunticon's resident bully and leader, and had thought of dignifying the growling anger filled transmission with an answer - but Runabout had already beaten him to it.

'Better him than me...I've had a beating from Motormaster before..I don't want another one anytime soon....'

++Yeah don't worry Double M...we just have a few loose ends to tidy up here and we'll be with you in a few nanoclicks!++

Runamuck watched as Runabout pulled a one-eighty and opened fire upon the pursuing Police Chargers, and not one to be outdone, Runamuck carved through some electrical, and telephone pillars, the splintering chunks of wood littering the roadway, and amidst the broken shards of glass from ruined cars, it made the humans tyres very succeptible to going...

"Ah there we go!" Runamuck exclaimed as one Police Charger spun out as its tyres blew from the large splinters of wood and the broken glass. The car came off the roand and slammed straight on into a concrete bridge support, whilst some of the others dodged the falling wooden pillars.

Another Police Charger wasn't so lucky, as one of the pillars cam crashing down on the hood of the car and was forcibly thrust in through the wind shield of the car.

'Thats two down to me....' Runamuck grinned as he joined his sibling in pulling a one-eighty and opened fire with his weaponry taking out another Charger shortly after one already went up in flames from Runabout's less than graceful shooting, and, watching as the remaining Chargers scattered into already wreaked and lifeless vehicles, Runamuck pulled another one-eighty and hit the gas - opening up his turbo charged functions as he thundered up the battered highway.

He was only seconds behind Runabout, when, out of the corner of his optic, just in front of him was a recovered, speeding Bugatti Veyron. It was a gleaming smart looking car, and Runamuck - giddy like a protoform in a sweetshop - just had to play with it! Its driver, stricken with panic at what had been happening on the road, had initially slid off the road and came to a stop. But now recovered from the initial road rampage, he was desperately trying to escape the next wave of rampaging metal coming thundering up behind him. Only this time, this wave of thundering metal was playing for keeps!

Runamuck thundered up, the top of his turbo-charged engine visible through the top of his Battlecharger mode, the menacing rambars and ramplates grinning as he bashed and banged the rear of the expensive luxury car.

The human driver thought it was too much, and in a sheer fit of absolute total panic, misjudged the exit ramp and shot straight into the dividing wall - obliterating himself and the expensive supercar in a ball of fire and shredded metal and concrete.

Runamuck came rumbling up to the burning heap and transformed into robot mode. As he did so he looked wistfully at the broken and early ended chase, his optics narrowing at what might have been something to remember this mudball for...still...

a communication came through from Runabout - and he sounded nervous.

++Runamuck ya lout, whats taking ya so long to get here? Double M is gonna beat us purple and black if ya don't hurry your aft up!++

++Correction Runabout...its you that's gonna get beaten purple and black... you're there... I'm not!++

Runamuck could almost pick up the groaning whine from his sibling as he transformed into his alternate mode and gunned his engine hard and fast before switching to Battlecharge mode and engaged his turbo-charger.

He took off down the highway towards the Refinery, leaving a burnout on the tortured asphalt, the smoke dissipating like a ghost as a soft breeze fanned the small flames of the ruined cars.

Sometimes it was a hard life being a Battlecharger, Runamuck thought to himself as he closed the gap between where his chase abruptly ended, and the entrance to the refinery, and as he arrived there, he caught a glimpse of the back of Motormaster standing and growling orders. He was quite aware that the terrorist had managed to do something to the human workforce that was in the refinery..now where was... ah there he was!

Runamuck spied his erstwhile twin, gleefully holding a few of the planets resident meatbags in his hand before depositing them on the ground along with the other terrified workers, and - with any luck - it looked like Double M's temper hadn't broke yet! But then again, Runamuck and Runabout both knew that it didn't really take all that much to set Motormaster off.

And so, driving into the compound, Runamuck resumed his robot mode once more approaching Runabout from the left and standing to the side of his sibling. He noticed that there was a streak of bright red against Runabout's forearm, and he couldn't resist the jibe.

"You been hugging humans again Runabout?" Runamuck said as he suppressed a snigger of enjoyment at tormenting his brother.

"Sorry we're late Double M..those humans and their black and whites can be a pit of a nuisance..its been like that ever since Runabout slagged one of their own outside of Phoenix City..." He conveniently glossed over his own little rampage through the city.

"So.. we're here...where do we start?"

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

Breakdown had come to a stop at the north end of the facility. The white and blue paint adoring his alt mode was encrusted with the blood and fleshy bits from the police officers he had previously taken care of. The scout revved his engine before taking on his robot form.

At the same time a small group of humans poured out of the side door. The men stood in awe of the giant that just moments ago was a sleek Lamborghini. Their eyes were wide, their mouths slack-jawed. Feeling the eyes of the meat sacks on him, Breakdown turned his gaze upon them hoping he could scare them off.

Why won’t they stop looking at me? Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Breakdown finally snapped; he let out a primal scream before he lifted his leg and quickly brought it down on two of the unfortunate men.

“Quit lookin’ at me!”

The two humans’ bodies were crushed beneath the weight of the goliath’s foot sending blood and other fluids out from the sides. The remaining humans drew back screaming, but they were still unable to avoid the splatter from their former comrades.

Breakdown ground his dental plates as he charged his concussion rifle and pointed the barrel at the cowering mass of flesh before him. His finger hovered over the trigger as he addressed the soon to be vaporized victims.

“You’re nothing but a disgusting bipedal plague! It’s gonna be an honor eradicating your species.”

His sneer turned to a much more elated expression as he began to squeeze the trigger; however, he stopped and quickly placed his left forefinger on the side of his audio as he listened to Motormaster’s baritone voice come over his comm line.

Breakdown’s face twisted into an annoyed grimace.

“All right meat bags, you just earned yourselves a stay of execution. You all best be thankful. Now move it!”

The white mech ushered the group around the facility toward Octane’s location. He had to admit, using the fleshies as a shield was a great idea. Wonder if it was the Boss’ or Screamer’s…or maybe it was Soundwave.

>>Starscream to all teams. Check in with a status report on your current assignments.<<

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

When Motormaster bellowed more orders Drag Strip obeyed and immediately converted to his robot mode as more of the filthy fleshlings attempted to run around him to the parking area. He had successfully scared the first group of humans into fleeing back towards the refinery, but additional meatsacks had quickly emerged from another one of the buildings and were not so easily swayed by his advancing vehicle form. It mattered not, however, as the yellow Stunticon now stood tall before them at an impressive twenty-six feet.

“You flesh bags still think you can get away from me?” Drag Strip bellowed as he kicked two of the escaping humans with his right foot, sending their broken and limp bodies flying into a pile of storage crates nearby. The rest of the workers stopped in their tracks realizing that their attacker was much more than a mere Dodge Viper. “As I said you’re not going anywhere!” Drag pulled out his gravito-gun and pointed it down towards the group of fleshlings directly in front of him. In order to prove his point even further, he fired a single warning shot into at an empty oil barrel. The gravitational forces generated by the weapon crushed it like a tin can. “Now move it before I do the same thing to the whole lot of you!”

The frightened humans raised their hands into the air as a sign of surrender. The former racer then motioned for them to move towards the location where Motormaster and Octane were waiting. The hostages obeyed, too afraid of being crushed into a bloody pulp by the alien robot’s gun. One human, however, was braver than the rest and made a break for it. The worker didn’t get too far as Drag Strip fired his gravito-gun at him, hitting the fleeing meatsack directly in the back. The human stopped and let out a horrible scream of pain and agony as his body was pulled in all directions by invisible forces. The man was quickly ripped apart in a gory display of flesh, blood and bone fragments. The yellow Stunticon then set his sights back on the remaining group of humans. “Keep going or you’ll all end up just like your friend!”

The sickened and grieving hostages continued onward with Drag Strip close behind them. He then received Starcream's message over his comm line, but gave no response as he did not want to supersede his belligerent commander's authority. Soon, they arrived at the diesel tank where Motormaster, Octane and the Battlechargers were standing with more captive humans. Breakdown was approaching from the north end of the facility with even more meat bags as the yellow racer moved his own fleshlings into position around the assembled mechs before giving the Stunticon leader a respectful salute. “I managed to gather up these nine workers, Commander. There was another one, but he tried to escape so I blasted him. I can go get some more if you like.”

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

Runabout turned when he heard the beeping in his audio transceiver of the incoming message from Starscream and tapped the accept button and began to broadcast to Starscream about the status of the mission so far. He had just started replying to Starscream's comm when one of the humans - somehow being insane or thinking he was braver than most made a break for it.

"...we have rendezvous with the Stunticons at the Frontier Refinery in Kansas. We're currently playing petro-rabbit herder with these...HEY GET BACK HERE YA BAG OF LIQUID!...ARGH! FRAGGIT!!" Runabout let loose a stream of cybertronian curses as he thundered after the fleeing human, as the man's headstart, coupled with the base terror of the giant robots, propelled himself as if his life depended on it - and in this case it did.

And as Runabout chased the hapless human, he tripped over the edging of a building extension, destroying the portion of the building and tumbling face first into the dirt of the refinery. He hadn't realised that he had left the comm-link open to Starscream as he fell.

His hand however came down upon the human and crushed him, the gout of blood showered up, coating Runabout's hand with the remains of the man

There was a shout in his audio receptor...

"...RUNABOUT YOU CLENCHHEAD!..."



Runamuck, also in the refinery as Starscream's transmission came through, and shortly after Runabout had answered, followed suit - but turned away from his twin to answer the communication from Starscream, and so was oblivious to the idiocy of Runabout until he had made off after the human.

"...RUNABOUT KEEP A HOLD OF THAT MEAT-SACK!..." his shout came a little too late as Runabout tumbled through the building extension and crashed into the ground. "..Urgh..." Runamuck groaned as he effectively smacked his hand over his face - facepalming the humans called it - before he turned and approached his ground kissing twin.

Runamuck watched with a grimace as the human was squashed under Runabout's falling hand

"..ugh...disgusting things..." Runamuck grumbled before yelling in Runabout's audio receptor

"RUNABOUT YOU CLENCHHEAD!..." Runamuck fumed before grumbling under his breath "...why do i have to play nursemaid for him..."

Again, like Runabout, Runamuck had left his comm-link open.

"...oh slaggit..." Runamuck said as he killed the comm-link as he helped pick up Runabout.



Runabout, a bit groggy from the fall, started to realise that Runamuck was helping him up from the ground. Even he - as impetuous as he was - knew that he had fragged up big time. Motormaster was certainly going to beat him six ways from Kaon for this frag-up!

He looked down at the wreckage that he had caused. He smiled, pleased at breaking something. Bringing his hands up, he gave a grimace of disgust as he spied the remains of the squashed human.

"Oh great....I'll need a hosedown..."



Runamuck shook his head slowly as Runabout mentioned getting a hosedown.

"You'll need more than a hosedown after Motormaster finishes with you for your crazy frag-up!" Runamuck accented his point by smacking his twin 'upside the head' for his inert stupidity "Come on... we'll need to find some more of these resident meatbags to make up for that!"

'Motormaster is going to give us a beating...tch I'd rather face down that cold-killer Contemptor...' Runamuck was ranting all the way back to Motormaster...oh this afternoon was going to be more difficult...

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

Everything had been transpiring just the way Dead End preferred it to: with him exerting as much energy as a mech rusting away in the scrapyard. He felt foolish enough attaining the impossible by securing his side of the facility so he concluded his alternate form was better off remaining stationary, consequently waiting until the humans came to him. Should that happen, of course. Dead End wasn't anticipating company and he certainly hoped his brief period of solitude continued to exist.

He did wonder what Motormaster's reaction would be should he instruct his team to converge onto his location. No doubt they would all arrive with a little group of hostages, weapons gazing at the back of their heads as they shuffled forward and wide grins flourishing on their face-plates. But not Dead End; he'd turn up with nothing but himself.

On second thought, that was a situation he wanted to avoid creating.

As if on cue, a trio of humans appeared from around the corner of one of the buildings, their chatter plentiful and fully audible. They seemed to be oblivious to the crimson Porsche parked in such an unusual area. That was to cease, much to Dead End's displeasure. Orders were orders, unfortunately, and the acquirement of the humans was a necessary component in their plan.

Transforming to robot mode Dead End produced his rifle, not quite sure if its presence would accelerate the process of their capture or not. It should, but with their shock and astonishment concentrated on a giant talking robot standing before them he could only venture a series of guesses. What luck. He supposed he had to adopt a more aggressive persona, something the humans would immediately respond and comply to.

Dead End shook his cranial unit as if attempting to repel the outrageous notions clinging to his thoughts. He approached the humans, pointing his rifle at them. It drifted from side to side, alternating between targets, threatening to unleash death on those who exhibited disobedience. Or even a disagreeable expression.

Well, that was the impression he was aiming to construct—although from their perspective he must have come across as a lunatic unable to choose who to blow away first. Really, all Dead End needed was a repulsive cackle and an unsettling tendency to mumble frequently to himself and his sideshow act would be complete.

“You three there!” Dead End permitted his movements to assume some form of hostility, even though he knew he couldn't have looked any more ridiculous. “Stop! You will proceed to follow me now, otherwise I shall take one of your lives.” He paused. “All of them in the most grisly fashion, even!”

This was too much. He was incredibly glad his team-mates were not around to witness the spectacle entirely composed of absurdity. The sheer embarrassment would have caused his systems to fail.

Dead End loomed over the trio, regarding each one of the humans for a moment. “So if you please...”

Road 54

Wildrider couldn't help but laugh maniacally as the two Casseticons' weapons discharged. It felt like old times and new times and everything inbetween. It was what being a Decepticon was all about. If he didn't occasionally get to release his frustrations like this, he would have had a neural net short-circuit vorns ago.

Still laughing, Wildrider closed his doors once the two were back inside and slammed his gears back in to overdrive.

"And that little piggy went wee wee wee....up in flames."

He didn't like Protectobots back on Cybertron. He certainly had no love loss for their squishy counterparts here on Earth, either.

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

Wildrider kept the pedal to the metal now that they were no longer being followed by the local authorities. Looking at the carnage back there would probably scare off any others from attempting to follow them anyway.

Pulling in to the large facility, Wildrider's mouth would have dropped open, had he been in his standard mode. Man...they were gonna eat good today. Plus, he could get Soundwave's little crazies out on their own, now. He had to admit, they were probably the funnest and craziest Decepticons stationed on this mudball, but their bickering and fighting was putting dents in places the Stunticon Terrorist didn't think anyone would be able to reach.

"Alright! Royal Rumble over! Get the hell out!" Wildrider said, his doors flinging themselves open again.

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

For a short moment Motormaster's anger turned into disbelief. First Runabout had managed to mock him in his transmission back to him. Which was certainly something that deserved a punishment of its own, to add the fact of the Battlechargers being late did nothing to help the duo either. Nevertheless, he had ignored Runabout's presence for a moment, waiting for Runamuck to arrive so he could punish both Battlechargers at the same time. After all, despite his craving to beat the duo into a whining and begging mess of scrap metal and leaking hydraulics - the fact was that he needed all the able bodies to fight the Autobots once they would arrive. But as Runamuck arrived, so did Drag Strip and Breakdown with their prisoners - conveniently buying more time for the duo of lunatics. But what happened next left Motormaster absolutely stupefied for a moment.

For before the Stunticon commander managed to reply to Starscream's transmission, the two Battlechargers screwed up in a major way. First they managed to step on Motormaster's toes so to speak by actually replying back to Starscream like they were in charge of the mission themselves. But as if that was not enough, they managed to make fools of themselves in front of the humans grouped around Octane who was still in his tanker mode. Perhaps it was due to the absurd situation, perhaps it was because of fear but some of the organics actually couldn't seem to avoid laughing at incompetence of the Battlechargers despite the grave danger they were in.

Motormaster on the other hand was not amused. Grabbing hold of the heads of both Runabout and Runamuck, the powerful Stunticon lifted the smaller Decepticons into the air while painfully squeezing their craniums while causing tremendous stress to their neck joints. His optics burning malevolently in the still dark refinery area, Motormaster turned both of the Battlechargers to face him.

"Shut up! Both of you!" He roared, his grip tightening around the heads of his victims. "You are already due to a lesson in pain but it has to wait. Take this as a warning. I have a mission to fulfill. And for that I'd prefer you two staying functional."

"However..." Motormaster hissed as he brought the duo closer to his own face. "If you go beyond your role again, I won't hesitate to tear you apart."

With his threat given, Motormaster threw both Runabout and Runamuck at a nearby wall while his a twisted grin formed on his face. "With this misunderstanding cleared... Everyone! Go fetch more meatbags and prepare for a battle! The Autobots will be here in any minute!"

Having barked out his latest orders to his troops, Motormaster contacted Starscream. >>"Mission going as planned Starscream. We are waiting for the Autobots to show up any minute now."<<

Frontier Refinery - El Dorado, Kansas

Drag Strip hurried away from where Motormaster and the others were gathered in order to round up some more hapless fleshlings as per his commander’s latest orders. Thankfully, the Stunticon leader’s wrath had been mainly relegated to the pair of idiotic Battlechargers and Drag planned on keeping it that way. Better them than me.

Approaching a small, single story structure, the yellow mech grabbed a hold of the roof and yanked it off, tossing it a considerable distance away where it landed on and crushed a group of escaping humans. Down inside the building, itself, were at least six more oil workers all huddled together in fear of their much larger aggressors. Drag Strip pointed his weapon at his previously hidden quarry and smiled. “You meatbags thought you could hide from me? Ha ha! I don’t think so. Now, move it or die a most horrible death!”

The former racer watched as the half dozen flesh sacks exited the roofless structure and walked towards the location where the other hostages were being herded. Drag Strip was pleased that he had thus far been able to acquire more humans for the “flesh shield” than any of the other team members. Between these six and the nine prior ones, he had gathered a rather impressive fifteen bloodbags total. It was just one more example of how he was the best at whatever he did. Sure, Drag had his minor setbacks from time to time, but he ultimately made up for them when it mattered most.

ooc: Cry - you sadist!! lol hope this dynamic is working and im doing the battlechargers as correctly as i can

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas: A world o' Hurt!

After the whole scenario of picking his twin from the ground, Runamuck was almost certain that he was going to be thrown into a forced stasis lock, for what happened next was something that Runamuck wished he had never been on the receiving end of ever again. There was a searing pain that shot through his cranial unit, his sub systems going haywire as warnings and cautions flashed up on his HUD as the massive paw of Motormaster clenched around his head. Instantly his own hands shot to the massive paw of the Stunticon Leader, a frantic but feeble attempt to try and release the brute force of their unit commander.

Gritting his dental plate's together behind his faceplate, Runamuck's mind went frantic.

'ohslag...ohslag...ohslag...'

It felt like his neck was going to give way.

"Shut up! Both of you!" He roared, his grip tightening around the heads of his victims. "You are already due to a lesson in pain but it has to wait. Take this as a warning. I have a mission to fulfill. And for that I'd prefer you two staying functional."

"However..." Motormaster hissed as he brought the duo closer to his own face. "If you go beyond your role again, I won't hesitate to tear you apart."

There was a slight sound of stressing metal as Runamuck felt his brain-casing start to bend under the brutal force of Motormaster's grip. He could feel something pop and it felt as if his neural core was beginning to spark randomly as Runamuck's optics started to flicker. It was as if he was fading out of conciousness.

He could barely register the next few words from Motormaster, but they sounded like a hissing threat "...I won't hesitate to tear you apart..."

There was the briefest sensation of flying and then a hard bang as Runamuck hit the reinforced wall of the human building stopped his trajectory. Some of the wall came loose and rattle down around him, clattering off his shoulders and legs.

Runamuck groaned as he sluggishly pulled himself up and into a sitting position, his hand rubbing his head, feeling his systems slowly counter the sharp shock from Motormaster's errant abuse.

'Primus be damned...' Runamuck growled to himself '...why do I have to suffer everytime that idiotic brother of mine has to screw up completely...I should throw Runabout a beating of my own...'

Slowly picking himself up from the rubble of the wall, Runamuck swung a kick at the prone form of Runabout.

"I ought to bust your head off the drive engines of the Ultrax....I suffer every-time you screw up Runabout!"

There came more angry growling from Motormaster about retrieving more humans to form a meat-shield to surround Octane and protect him from any Autobots that arrive to spoil the party, and not risking another roasting from the Stunticon leader, Runamuck shook his head slowly and made off to one of the main processing buildings of the refinery. The one advantage of the human refinery was that the noise from the processing building masked some of the carnage that had already gone down in the shipment part of the facility. This allowed the Battlecharger, punched through the roof and tore the metal apart to reveal scattering humans.

Pulling out his rifle, Runamuck fired off a warning shot that caused the humans to freeze in their tracks. There were fifteen of them, all told, and they all looked up in shock and in fear at the giant white robot - their minds stunned into numbness at the thing that should not be standing before them. Runamuck was far from impressed, and the recent run-in with Motormaster had put him in a foul mood.

"Alright you miserable meat-bags..." Runamuck growled "...Your assistant is required, and you are all NOT in a position to negotiate!" Runamuck swiped through the wall and caused it to crumble, creating a very large door. "Now... as my day isn't going so well...you are taking part in today's main event..." Runamuck indicated by sweeping his gun towards the centre of the refinery. "...move it... and you are NOT going to enjoy this!"

Runamuck herded his charges back towards Motormaster and Octane. Hopefully the collection of fifteen workers would absolve a beating at the hands of Motormaster again.

----------- -----------

Runabout couldn't tell if he was coming or going. First it was tripping over a building and crushing a human under his hand, the next minute he was being vice'd by Motormaster's massive hand. He felt as if his head were going to explode, but under the dim-wittery of his previous actions, there was not much that he could do when it came to the retribution enacted by Motormaster.

Runabout was sailing through the air, and the next thing he knew, he was flat on his back, small cyber-birds flying around his head.

"...wo-ow... pretty colours..." Runabout said, drunkenly.

He then sat up sharply as a deft kick in the side from Runamuck shot him back to reality.

"The name in the pit did you do that for?" Runabout spluttered as Runamuck stormed off grumbling to himself.

Runabout, rubbed the back of his head, and slowly dragged himself to his feet. He could feel Motormaster's icy stare bore a hole through him, as he watched Drag Strip merrily wander off to grab some more humans for the ever growing flesh shield around Octane. Runabout thought about it for a moment, but a group of running humans proved to be too easy a catch.

Switching to vehicle mode, Runabout drove round and blocked off the escape route of the fleshbags. One of them began pounding on the red-tinted window, frantically trying to get the door to open.

"Damn.. any more pounding on my door, you're gonna dent it!" Runabout began hoarsely "You know, you fleshbags are nothing but greasy and disgusting..." The humans recoiled in terror as Runabout returned to his robot mode, his cannon pointed directly at the group of humans. One of them tried to make a run for it, and was rewarded with death as Runabout's foot came rushing down, crushing the man under foot.

Runabout made the point of dragging his foot over the ground, wiping off the remains of the human into the ground.

"You useless bags of mucus will do as I say...I ain't in the mood to be playing around!..." He gestured with his hand, indicating to his foot that the same fate would await them should they not comply with the rather simple demand.

'I dunno why Runamuck is always being down on me all the time....its not like I intentionally frag things up...well not all the time....' Runabout said when he was escorting the humans back towards Motormaster and the hard at work Octane.

Frontier Refinery - El Dorado, Kansas

Rumble and Frenzy piled out of Wildrider, dropping their disguises as they did so. “This is it?” Rumble asked as he looked around. Frenzy joined him, a frown on his face. “Man, we need to ditch this stupid infiltration slag. This place looks as boring as the pit. We were havin’ more fun blowin’ up cars on the highway.”

Rumble nodded in agreement before walking over to Motormaster. “So we gonna torch this place to make sure the Bots come here? Maybe cause a quake maybe?” Rumble asked with a smile. Frenzy snickered, “I can cause more damage with my powers then you can by shaking the Earth.”

“You’re full of slag you lil’ punk!”

“You can kiss my aft Rumble! You get out more but that’s just cause they don’t want to use the big gun as often!” Frenzy smirked.

“I’ll show you who’s more powerful ya glitch!” Rumble’s arms transformed into pile drivers as he prepared to generate an earthquake.

(OOC: Okay, so I lied. I'm going to try to NPC Dead End instead of dropping him. That counts for something, right?)

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

With considerable effort, Dead End managed to direct the humans to Motormaster's location. The distance wasn't as substantial as he originally believed but that particular didn't accumulate any additional pleasantries regarding his task. They had to move and he was the one appointed the role of fulfilling that. Of course, his fellow Stunticons were placed in similar positions, but Dead End was not concerned with their progress.

They appeared to be extracting far too much enjoyment from the mission for his liking. And understanding. It was as if their memory banks chose to neglect the last battle they fought against the Autobots. Which might not have been a bad idea, really. Who truly did desire to recall it in its entirety?

Nudging his lot in the back with his rifle, Dead End added his contribution to the ever-increasing mass of flesh creatures. He peered at the humans, his gaze locking on to each of their visages for a moment. Terror possessed their features, movements and voices. Most returned his gaze but uttered not a single word, nor animated their forms beyond a couple of jittering actions.

It was then where Rumble and Frenzy arrived with Wildrider, the two Cassetticons bickering about who could create more destruction. How wonderful. With their temperaments and meagre levels of intelligence, an exhibition of power was their only alternative to resolving their little squabble. Dead End often wondered how such stupidity assisted in their survival over the course of the war so far. It was maddening.

Dead End waved an actuator in a dreary manner, attempting to mollify Rumble's foul disposition. “I wouldn't do that if I were you. Unless you plan to bury us alive so we can begin to agonisingly starve to death—well then, please do go on. If not, I would recommend that you stop.” He paused. “Otherwise Motormaster will stop you personally.”

If that did not cause Rumble to reconsider, then Dead End didn't know what would.

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

After Frenzy and Rumble had clambored out of his seats, Wildrider transformed and walked over to some of the other Stunticons. He was particularly entertained by the meat shield that Octane had apparently "built" around himself. That was good thinkin'. Speaking of meat...Wildrider's olfactory sensors were picking up particularly unpleasant aromas in the air.

"Ugh, smells like oil. And those quadrapedal, milk-producing things. And what comes out of them. All mixed together. Can't believe sentient life would actually live on this flat patch of smelly nothing. It's worse than Stanix, and Stanix smelled worse than the back end of Motor..."

Wildrider looked around and caught himself.

"...er, uh, 'Ultra Magnus'. The back end of Ultra Magnus. Yeah."

Abandoned Parking Lot outside of El Dorado, Kansas

Hot Spot materialized in the middle of the lot with the rest of the Autobots. After recovering from some disorientation he barked out, “Autobots, transform and roll out!” Changing into his fire truck mode, the Protectobot led the way towards the refinery and the awaiting Decepticons.

*

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

Rumble stopped and looked up at Dead End as he spoke to him. A sneer formed on his face. “Who asked you ya gloomy glitch! Ya think you’re better ‘an me or somethin’?”

“Yeah!” Frenzy joined in, walking over to stand next to Rumble. “We do what we wanna do, not what you tell us!”

“Well, we do what Soundwave wants us to do, but other then that!”

Abandoned Parking Lot outside of El Dorado, Kansas

Groove shook his head, trying to regain his bearings from the bounce quicker. There was hardly any life in the parking lot where they materialized, which made the scout wonder. He had little time for deep thought, though, as Hot Spot gave the order to roll out. Groove quickly transformed into his police motorcycle mode, his body shrinking down to the appropriate size. Just as soon as he was in his alternate mode he activated his holomatter avatar, and a young police trooper appeared already sitting in the seat, holding the handlebars. The trooper went through the motions of starting up his cycle, and Groove drove off following, then catching up to the Protectobot commander.

-----------------

Saferoute stumbled as she materialized with the rest of the Autobots. She had never been one of the more coordinated 'bots, and the dizzying feeling of the bounce made her fall to her knees.

Wish there was another way to get down to a planet quickly.

She had little time to be embarassed by her clumsiness as she heard the order from Hot Spot. She seemed to fall chest first to the ground as she transformed, landing on all four tires in her bus mode. A middle aged, red-haired woman suddenly appeared in the drivers seat. The driver flipped a switch on the dashboard, and a sign above the windshield that originally read "School Bus" changed to "EVACUATION". The emergency exit door in the back opened, as the bus slowly started to drive off behind the other Autobots.

"Jump right in, Steeljaw!", Saferoute called to the lion-bot, "Those poor humans are in danger, and we can't waste any time!"

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

As Octane worked on with turning diesel fuel into synthetic energon, Motormaster had put all of his sensors on alert. He did not want to get surprised this time. And as long he had the humans, he had a decisive upper hand against the soft sparked Autobots who likely weren't too far away at this point. The amount of destruction his team had caused on their way to the Frontier refinery had ensured that. However, keeping his own people in line sometimes felt like a task destined to fail. His Stunticons had learnt. Through pain and fear they had been molded into an extension of Motormaster's indomitable will. Motormaster knew they hated him. And quite frankly, he didn't give a frag. Hate fueled their rage. Fear kept them in line. And the Autobots? They would serve as the outlet for the rage burning within the sparks of his Stunticons.

But the others - they did not know their place yet. The Battlechargers had been reminded of their place. Whether or not it had been enough to sow the seeds of indoctrination in their sparks was yet to be seen. Runamuck was at least following his instincts of self-preservation. Runabout too, at least after the damned clown had managed to gather his thoughts. Yet, as if his demonstration on the Battlechargers had not been enough, Rumble and Frenzy had to go head to head with each other once again.

"Do not make me waste my energy by flattening you into metal paste only mere kliks before the real showdown against the slagging Autoscraps!" Motormaster boomed with his thundering voice with the hollow, doom-laden tone of an echo from a bottomless well. While the two minions of Soundwave's acted as tough as those ten times their size, even they had to know of Motormaster's reputation. And without Megatron backing up Soundwave, there was nothing holding Motormaster back. No, Soundwave would not save them were they to disobey the malicious leader of the Stunticons.

"We will challenge those damned goody-two-shoes by using their own weakness against them! Frenzy here is able to kill these meatbags faster than Dragstrip on syk so with him standing there with the humans gives us a tactical advantage and a chance of truly messing up with heads of the Autobots!" The towering Stunticon boomed before turning his gaze down on Rumble. "And you! You will save your earthquake for later! You will get to destroy this site, but not yet! You are our ace against the Autobots if luck is on their side today. You are the one who will turn this town into an inferno by my command!"

A devilish smile formed on Motormaster's hard facial features as he drew his atom-smasher rifle out and turned his gaze towards the direction where his optical sensors registered a distant flash from a bounce beam penetrating the darkened skies. "But not before I have had my fun."

Abandoned Parking Lot Outside of El Dorado, Kansas

After that tell-tale bright beam of light disappeared back into the sky the forms of the Autobots remained behind. Amongst them were Axle and Hex, guardian and ward respectively. The young mech steadied him-self quickly without looking as though it was too obvious. He peered past Axle once more at the new comer who had tried, in vain, to apologize directly to him. If I wind up with an opportunity, at some point, I’ll get that apology on my own terms. Hex flashed Sprints an evil smirk before he took off at a run, transforming into his Chrysler ME 412 mode and quickly catching up with Hot Spot.

Axle had kept his position between Hex and Sprints in an attempt to alleviate the tensions between the two mechs. The field medic was more than satisfied with Sprints’ apology and once his slight unsteadiness had worn off, Axle placed a hand on the ‘Bots’ shoulder and gave him an accepting smile; unawares that Hex had flashed the newcomer a smile all his own.

Axle was not at all surprised by Hex’s immediate departure, Axle casually turned and transformed to his International 4300 Lo-Profile flatbed truck mode and headed off after Hex and Hot Spot. His gut already told him that he’d be patching Hex up as soon as he caught up with the impetuous youngster.