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Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas


Saferoute wasn't quick enough to react when Motormaster fired on the humans. Within astroseconds their four bodies were thrown into the air and fell back to the ground violently. Two of them flew right over her by several meters, but she could here the sickening splatter of their bodies on the hard pavement. The other two landed mere feet in front of her, right before her optics. Anyone watching could see the pained expression on her avatar's face as humans bodies turned into blood and gore, jagged broken bones cutting through what had once been living flesh. Probably the worst part was the blood that managed to spray all the way to her windshield.

"Primus no.... no no no no no no......", she muttered to herself repeatedly.

Even though Motormaster had fired on them, Saferoute felt entirely responsible. The Stunticon leader had warned them not to get any closer, that it would only add to the number of casualties. She should have known better with so many optics looking around. She looked out to the large crowd of humans, who now seemed even more scared then before. As much as it pained her to see the deaths of four humans, she wouldn't be responsible for the death of one hundred. She would get them out of there safely, she would just have to find another way.

It was then that she finally noticed Runabout aiming his weapon at her. Not wanting to risk anymore harm to the humans, she backed up slowly away from them. Though she wanted to transform or activate her weapons in her bus mode, she didn't dare. She didn't want to give any excuses for the Decepticons to hurt anyone else. At this point she would just wait and watch, hoping whatever Axle had planned would work out.

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

Hot Spot sighed in frustration as most of the rest of his team raced past him. There wasn’t much he could do to stop them as his orders for them to wait up were ignored. He increased his speed but he was already moving at about as fast as he could. He wasn’t really built for outright speed, but more for strength and toughness. When he finally pulled up next to the rest of his team and transformed Axle was already in the thick of things.

Frowning, the Protectobot leader took in the situation. He could see Octane surrounded by humans, maybe even with a couple inside of him. He could just make out Frenzy mingling among them, probably ready to start killing them when things got ugly. Motormaster had arranged a heck of a set up. He shouldn’t have expected anything less from the leader of the most thuggish groups among the Decepticons. Still, there had to be a way to beat it.

>>”Ramhorn, Steeljaw, get in as close as you can without being detected and await my order to move in. Head straight for the hostages and take out Frenzy. He should be distracted momentarily by Groove.”<<

>>”Groove, once things hit the fan I want you to move in and try to blind Frenzy with your gun. Hopefully you can do that quickly enough that he won’t be able to kill any humans. Be ready to move once things go bad, as I imagine they will here shortly.”<<

>>”Saferoute, Groove is going to try and blind Frenzy once things go down. You will charge right for the hostages and meet up with Steeljaw and Ramhorn who will hopefully have things secured. Get the humans out of here as fast as you can and get back. The rest of us will not be able to hold off that many cons for long.”<<

Hot Spot let out a sigh after giving those orders. There was one more signal he had to send. He hated doing it but he knew it would be necessary.

>>”Prowl, this is Hot Spot. The Stunticons were ready for us and have taken numerous human hostages. Axle has moved ahead of me and is offering himself to Motormaster in exchange. I suspect he will be rejected violently. We will need the repair bay ready for casualties and may possibly require some assistance as half my team will be busy trying to evacuate the humans. We are up against the Stunticons, Runabout, Runamuck, what appears to be a fully loaded Octane and Rumble and Frenzy.”<<

*

Frenzy grumbled a little about being put on guard duty, but at least he’d be able to waste some humans in short order. Surely the Bots were stupid enough to just stand there and let them get away, would they? Who cared about a few fleshies anyway?

Rumble let out a sign and fidgeted with his rifle. While he didn’t care about the humans he was annoyed that they were using them to AVOID a fight. What the slag was the point of coming down here anyway if they weren’t even going to fight? He would have been better off setting in Soundwave’s chest compartment.

Frontier Refinery - El Dorado, Kansas

Drag Strip’s internal pumps increased their speed as Hex glared back at the yellow Stunticon with the same look of insanity the young mech had previously displayed. The former racer maintained his position, refusing to look away as it could be construed as a sign of fear. He would show no unease towards his enemy and instead kept his anger high to distill any lingering anxiety that remained. Drag glared back at Hex, his concentration only breaking when he received a pair of transmissions from both Runamuck and Breakdown.

>>”Don’t underestimate them, Runamuck, especially the crazy hair-trigger. Leave that one to me.”<<

>>”Yes, Breakdown, that’s him. Hex is all mine. Only this time it will be the Autobrat that will find himself offline.”<<

Transmission from Prowl:

>>”I hear you, Hot Spot. The medical bay will be ready and waiting for any of your team’s wounded. As for reinforcements, I will send two more ‘Bots to assist you in short order. Keep me apprised of any further developments when you are able.”<<

Frontier Refinery - El Dorado, Kansas

"Oh please," Motormaster smirked at Axle's comments as he observed the reactions the Autobots gave after he had executed four humans after the Autobots had dared to move despite his threats. He was bit disappointed given the lack of properly horrified responses from the Autobots but he had to settle for what he got. "Hundred sentient organics makes easily a better bargaining tool than one Autobot."

"And come to think of it." The massive Stunticon added with a predatory smile growing on his face. "One hundred meatsacks and one Autobot makes the situation even more favorable for me."

Before he had even finished his last statement, Motormaster's digits tore into Axle's right shoulder, crushing the motors that provided movement for the Autobot's right arm. This was followed by a crushing kick to Axle's left knee joint that both rendered the knees useless and swept the Autobot into the ground. Almost as soon as Axle hit the ground, Motormaster smashed his foot against the Autobot's still functioning knee joint, leaving it as useless as the other.

With his rifle pointed now against Axle's face, Motormaster addressed the other Autobots again. "Octane flees! And you will not try to stop him or this Autobot ceases to function before your eyes! As will the fleshlings!"

As a response to Motormaster's latest threat, Octane's engine roared into life as the large tanker semi began slowly moving away from both the Autobots and the Decepticons with several humans still inside him as hostages while the brunt of the hostages were now gathered rather tightly around Frenzy.

>>"Prepare to fire on the Autobots if they make a move at us. Protect Octane, we need the energon."<< Motormaster transmitted new commands to the other Decepticons before rising his voice again, this time to greet Hot Spot who had finally arrived to the scene. "Hotspot! I am glad you finally showed up! Given all the trouble I went through for your gift, this just wouldn't have been the same without you!"

El Dorado Oil Refinery

Runamuck winced as Motormaster tore through the autobot medic's shoulder. His wince became a grimace followed through to a maddening cackle of glee as his commander crippled the autobot medic. It sometimes paid to be in Motormaster's company. He had also noted the comments from Drag Stip about the Autobot Hex, and realised that it was personal between the two of them.

He radioed back to the yellow racer quickly before anything else kicked off.

>>"Yeah I hear ya Dragster...If Blades shows up, I have an old score to settle with that Protecto-brat..."<<

Runamuck stepped to the side as Octane's engines revved up to their full potential, as instructed, ready to make good on leaving. Motormaster sent out a private radio to the whole team.

>>"Prepare to fire on the Autobots if they make a move at us. Protect Octane, we need the energon."<<

>>"Rodger that Big M"<< Runamuck said as he moved to shadow Octane in moving the liquid oil for transmogrification into Energon.

Runabout, however, was more preoccupied with shooing off that blasted Autobus, keeping the femme bot away from the captured humans. His hud began to flash up as he picked up two additional energy signatures. How had he not spotted them before as the Bus arrived? Oh he was so going to get his aft bleached later.

He turned his head slowly, as if to track the two cassette bots. They must have come in along with the busbot! The larger energy signature masking the two smaller ones was what they had tried to do, even sneak in and steal out their carefully crafted human sheild! Not this time Runabout thought as he sent out a burst transmission.

>>"Theres Autobot Cassettes here somewhere in the refinery...they snuck in with this bus-bot. They tried to use them as a distraction so that they could steal out the humans..."<<

"Nice try auto-bus...your not gettin these humans, and you'll end up like your medic friend over there, a pile of useless scrap!"

Frontier Refinery - El Dorado, Kansas

Groove could tell now that there would be no peaceful resolution to the current situation. Motormaster had made his intentions perfectly clear first when he shot and killed those defenseless humans, and now as he enjoyed tearing Axle apart with little effort.

It was difficult for the scout to focus at the task at hand as he contemplated all the lives threatened by their seemingly ceaseless war. The fact that the Autobot medic was being punished by the Stunticon leader for attempting something Groove most likely would have attmepted had he arrived earlier, made it all the more disheartening. It was enough to make him want to leave in absolute disgust, wanting nothing to do with any further loss of life in a conflict he absolutely despised. But he didn't leave, for as much as he hated the war he felt trapped by, he wouldn't leave without doing what he could to prevent any further loss of life.

Axle knew the risks, he can be repaired. The humans can't so easily be healed from a battle here.

Groove assessed his order from Hot Spot, looking over the crowd of humans surrounding Frenzy. The Decepticon cassette was taller than the humans gathered, but not by much, mostly just his head sticking up above them. That made the task of blinding him a little less risky since he wasn't large enough to accidentally crush dozens of humans with uncoordinated steps. But that also made the initial shot itself a challenge. Groove was a good shot, but not a great one. He would have to hope the humans would either get down low or manage to get away from Frenzy for a clear shot, and even then he would still have to aim high to avoid accidentally shooting one of them. All in all it wasn't a situation the pacifist felt comfortable with, but at this point there was little choice in the matter.

After what seemed like cycles of deep thought, Groove took a glance over at Axle again, then remembered Hex was not too far from the scout. He had no way of telling what was going on in the young mech's mind, but he knew that there was a bond between him and the medic that was now at the mercy of Motormaster.

"Just stay calm and don't do anything rash, Hex", Groove whispered again, "Axle knew what he was getting into, and right now we have to play things smart if we want to get him and everyone else out of here alive."
------------------

The beating that Axle had very little effect on Saferoute's emotions. Under other circumstances she would probably have felt disgusted or angered by Motormaster's actions. But right now there were humans in harm's way. All the other Autobots were either helping her bring them to safety, or they were on their own.

We can easily be fixed from most damage. They would be killed from the slightest laser fire,, had typically been her way of thinking throughout the years about virtually every organic creature she had come upon and cared about, and it certainly still rang true to her now.

She then heard Runabout speak to her. She wasn't sure what he meant by "Nice Try", as she hadn't tried anything since she backed away from the humans. But she didn't take his threat too kindly.

"Listen to me, you rotten piece of slag!" she replied to the Battlecharger, "Those humans will be going back to their homes and loved ones, even if I am turned into a useless pile of scrap!"

Frontier Refinery - El Dorado, Kansas

Stand-offs were great. For Wildrider, one of the few things better than a standoff with some idealistic Autobots was when one side or another gave in and it broke down in to a full-on melee. The Stunticon Terrorist hadn't really paid attention to the fleshbags' presence before. Now, though, they were earning their keep as bargaining chips.

His optics flickering with manic glee, his gaze shifting between Motormaster and the various incoming Autobots, Wildrider had watched the impromptu negotiation waiting to see who would slip. Whose itchy trigger finger would get the better of them? Had it not been for Motormaster's looming presence, it would have just as easily been Wildrider himself.

Wildrider's joints tightened just a little when Motormaster gave the call to back off and give Octane the needed coverage. Really? Really?! That was it?!?

As Motormaster barked out his latest taunt toward the Protectobot commander, Wildrider--scowl firmly etched on his metallic face--readied his weapon and began backing away from the Autobots.

"Aww, the whole 'Protecto' part ain't such a good function now, is it? 'Stunts' are funner, heheh."

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

As Hex gaze intensified on the form of Drag Strip he kept his audios in tune to everything Axle and Motormaster were discussing. The young mech couldn’t help but snort when he heard his guardian offer himself up as a hostage in order to free the humans. It was then that Hex opened up a private comm link he and Axle established centuries ago.

>>”Axle, don’t waste your breath. These are not the kind of mechs you can make deals with. Just get out of there and forget about the meat sacs.”<<

Axle’s attention was solely focused on Motormaster. He had no desire to make and sudden moves that would come across as aggressive, and when he received Hex’s comm the field medic replied with a sternly.

>>”I am not going to let these humans suffer if I can help it.”<<

Hex let out a law groan when he got Axle’s comeback. He then turned his gaze on his longtime friend, a disappointed look etched on his youthful face. He was about to counter when he heard, both over the comm link and through the unnatural quiet air, a deafening scream of pain. Hex clutched the sides of his head in the brief time he left the link open and doubled over slightly. Once the comm line had been severed he straightened back up and cast his gaze back at Axle.

Motormaster had begun to address Axle who in turn opened his mouth to counter when the murderous semi dug his digits deep into the medic’s shoulder and crushed the inner workings. Axle let out a pain filled scream, his legs nearly buckled from under him, but before he lowered himself too far down another surge of pain shot through him.

Motormaster had followed up his first vicious attack with a swift devastating kick to his left knee. The internals of the joint cracked, wires, fuel lines and energon lines were severed. Axle dropped to the ground his optics flickering from the overwhelming flood of sensor readings.

The medic’s groans and whimpers began to die down when the Stunticon upped his ante by crushing his right knee under his foot. The agony nearly caused the medic to slip into stasis, but he willed himself to remain online. He on lined his optics only to focus in on the barrel of Motormaster’s rifle set directly in front of his face.

A small pool of energon and fuel began to form under Axle’s body as the renewed standoff began.

Hex’s jaw had dropped open as he witnessed the torture Axle was being subjected to. For a moment he wanted nothing more than to be anywhere else, to be anyone else. The scene before him brought back the memories of his own torture at the hands of another twisted ‘Con. Hex grit his teeth, his hands balled into tight fists, his youthful appearance darkened under his murderous glare.

Hex moved to stalk away from his team and toward the gathered Decepticons. Revenge was the only thought running through his processor.

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

Hot Spot glared down at the sight before him. Motormaster had human hostages and now Axle as well. The Stunticon leader was now taking some pleasure in torturing the Autobot medic, just as he had feared. He heard the Decepticon’s demands, but he had little doubt that this would end peacefully. Motormaster’s sadistic nature would eventually get over that greed for energon. He just had to hope that the humans were safely out of harm’s way by the time that happened.

“Autobots, Stand down! All of you, stand down immediately!” He repeated the message over his communicator to make sure all of them heard. He wasn’t going to let any false move or mistake cost additional human lives. Of course Hex would be the first to ignore any orders. The Protectobot leader grabbed him by the shoulder as he tried to move forward and yanked him back hard, pulling him well behind him.

“You go down there now Hex and the first thing that happens is Axle gets his spark chamber ripped out!” he whispered angrily to the smaller Autobot. “For once think before you leap. Motormaster is cruel and sadistic and if he sees how hurting Axle affects you he will only make it worse for him.”

He turned back to look at Motormaster. “Alright Motormaster, Octane is free to go, all of you are free to go. Just leave the humans and our comrade and we won’t fire so much as a shot at you. You can go back to base with a full tank of energon and without a scratch.” Hot Spot knew it would be a hard loss for the Autobots, but he also doubted the Stunticon would go through with it. He had the upper hand here and wasn’t going to let it slip away. He just had to hope that he would make a mistake at some point that could be exploited.

*

Frenzy stood impatiently among the crowd of humans. He hated how they were almost as big as him. He should just off a few to take the edge off, but he knew there would be some harsh punishment for that. Instead he began tapping his toe, occasionally glance over at Rumble who stood near Motormaster, looking amused by the Stunticon’s actions. Next time he was not going to get stuck on guard duty.

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

A triumphant, yet malicious smile grew on Motormaster's face as he observed the reactions of the Autobots. While no Autobot was able to hide their disgust towards the Stunticon commander's actions, two Autobots in particular caught his attention. Hot Spot was naturally in the center of his scope. He was the only Autobot that had any chance of stopping Motormaster among the group sent to stop them. And of course, he had just addressed the Protectobot leader, whose response he was waiting for. The other Autobot was far smaller. A young looking bot with obvious sports car alternative mode. The bot was steaming, barely containing himself. There was evident hatred fueling this mech, not just disgust. And everytime when Motormaster hurt Axle, the bot flinched. When the sadistic Decepticon had began his work with Axle, the bot had even clutched the sides of his head briefly like he had shared a link with the Stunticon's victim. Indeed, Hex's reaction only encouraged Motormaster to continue. Instead of pointing his rifle at Axle's face, Motormaster was not pressing the tip of the weapon against's the Autobot hard enough for Axle's head starting to sink into the soil. Then, finally - Hot Spot spoke.

Signaling Octane to keep on moving away from the refinery, Motormaster took his rifle away from Axle's face and knelt down over the Autobot, not even once letting his optics away from Hot Spot. For at least 2 full minutes, Motormaster just stared back at the Protectobot leader in chilling silence. That was until sounds from jet turbines broke the silence. Octane had assumed his KC-135R Stratotanker alt. form and was now accelerating for a take off over a mile away from their current position. As Octane's escape with the fuel load became reality, a wide smirk appeared on the Stunticon leader's face as he finally responded to Hot Spot.

"You have become soft Hot Spot! This is it?! No feeble vows about stopping me for good?!" Motormaster chuckled, his knee now resting against Axle's torso. "You are just letting us go? I expected more from the hero of Ainoa-2."

Without a warning, Motormaster smashed his fingers through the armor of Axle's midsection so that he gained a good hold of the Autobot's equivalent of spine. With his hand plunged inside the Autobot medic, Motormaster straightened to his full height, now effectively wearing Axle as a living shield.

"You had to know I couldn't resist the temptation." Motormaster smirked and aimed his atom-smasher rifle at Hot Spot. Placing Axle's limp form between him and the Autobots, Motormaster fired his rifle at the Protectobot leader and roared out a command to the Decepticon regiment he had under his command, "Decepticons! Attack! Destroy the Autobots!"

Frontier Refinery - El Dorado, Kansas


As soon as she heard Motormaster's order to attack, Saferoute knew all bets were off. She had to hurry as quickly as she could or the humans were as good as slagged in the middle of a fire fight. The sign above her bus-mode's windshield swung open, revealing a loaded missile launcher.

"Get in my way and you're gonna be a useless pile of scrap!" she shouted as she fired her missile at Runabout, then started driving toward the hostages.

For a split second Groove was going to go to Axle, until he saw Saferoute already going into action. With lives on the line, he didn't have time to contemplate his distaste for battle. If the hostages were going to get out alive, he needed to do his duty. The scout pulled out his photon pistol and ran as fast as he could towards the hostages.

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!", he shouted to the gathered humans, then fired at Frenzy, aiming high toward the cassette-con's head.

Primus forgive me.

Frontier Refinery - El Dorado, Kansas

Drag Strip’s stare down with Hex was only broken as Motormaster began his vicious assault on the Autobot field medic. When Axle let loose an energon curdling scream it was music to Drag’s audio receptors, but it clearly affected Hex in a much different manner as the young mech covered both sides of his head with his hands. The yellow Stunticon displayed a wide grin across his faceplate as he imagined for a moment torturing the silver Autobot in much the same way as Motormaster was currently doing to Axle. It would be a fitting form of revenge after what Hex had done to the champion racer back at the Battle of Mount St. Helens.

Once Axle had been rendered broken and useless, Drag Strip returned his attention back to Hex, who had regained his composure and begun moving away from the rest of the Autobots and towards the gathered Decepticons near where Octane had once been. With the energon filled triplechanger out of harm’s way and now airborne over a mile from the refinery, Motormaster decided it was time to finally have some sadistic fun with their pathetic adversaries. First, the Stunticon Commander scorned Hot Spot for being weak in his offer to let the Decepticons simply walk away. Then, while using Axle as a living shield, he finally gave the order to attack and the former racer knew exactly who he would set his sights on first. Time to play, little 'Bot!

“Where are you going, Hex?! Trying to sneak away?!” Drag Strip shouted at the silver Autobot, who still appeared to be quite upset by what had just happened to Axle. Hex had that insane look in his optics that was eerily similar to the one he displayed when he tried to rip Drag’s spark chamber open. The yellow Stunticon ignored those dreadful memories as best he could and simply smiled, raising his gravito-gun to bare. Taking aim, the former racer charged forward and fired several shots directly at Hex, hoping the enhanced gravitational fields generated by his weapon would either tear the crazy mech apart or crush him into oblivion.

Frontier Refinery - El Dorado, Kansas

Wildrider's trigger-digit had almost slipped before Motormaster had given the go-ahead. Wildrider was at least momentarily glad it hadn't, before his erratic line of thinking went in about a half-dozen other directions.

"Decepticons! Attack! Destroy the Autobots!" Motormaster had yelled.

Then there it was. The go-ahead.

Energy discharges had begun erupting from Wildrider's weapon even before Motormaster had finished saying the word "destroy". If anything bred loyalty in Wildrider's twisted spark more than the threat of abuse, it was his commander's understanding--and appreciation--of the Stunticon's need to inflict pain on others. In this case, Wildrider aimed for the first Protectobot he could find. Any Protectobot would do. Bleeding spark pansies.

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

Hot Spot tensed as Motormaster spouted off at him. He wasn’t insulted by the thug’s words, but he knew what they were leading to. As he had known all along this wasn’t a fight that was going to be avoided. Axle’s sacrifice had been in vain, as he feared it would. He just hoped the Autobot medic would survive long enough to learn from the experience.

“Autobots, go! Follow the plan!” he yelled out as Motormaster finally started the battle. He tried to avoid the shot from Motormaster, but he was far from being agile. The blast struck him in the shoulder and he let out a grunt of pain. With the Stunticon using Axle as a shield he couldn’t fire back at him. He would just have to resort to other tactics to get to him. At the very least he needed to occupy his attention so the others could carry out their jobs.

The Protectobot leader began jogging towards Motormaster. “Look at this, the famous ‘King of the Roads’ hiding behind a wounded Autobot medic like a protoform. What’s wrong Motormaster, that beating I gave you last time turn you into a strutless coward? You don’t dare face me without something to hide and cower behind?” As he spoke he transformed, racing right for the Stunticon leader. If this didn’t get Motormaster to do something he was out of ideas.

*

Frenzy watched with glee as Motormaster finally called for the battle to start. He had been getting worried that they would just head back to the ship without firing a shot. He should have known better with Motormaster leading them. Now the only question was whether he would start offing humans or attacking Autobots first.

His attention was drawn to where Saferoute was attacking one of the Battlechargers, he could never tell them apart. He raised his rifle to join the battle when some sort of flash caught his attention. The small Decepticon turned to see what it was only to catch a blast from Groove’s gun in the face.

“ARGH! What the slag was that scrap! I can’t slaggin’ see!” He began firing his guns wildly and randomly much to the terror of the humans around him.

Meanwhile Rumble eagerly opened up with his own rifles on the charging Autobots, a smile on his face.

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

Breakdown gave a nod at Drag Strip’s answer concerning Hex and whether he was the ‘Bot that had been able to take the racer down. Of course Drag was none too happy to have to be reminded of the whole ordeal; although it did put a slight smile on the paranoid mech’s face. His smile soon faded when Motormaster went back to work torturing the Autobot medic, that act sent a heavy shiver down the white and blue mech’s spinal structure. Breakdown, along with the others under Motormaster, have witnessed firsthand what their commander is capable of, and that’s usually when he’s had a good day.

Another heavy shiver.

At the sound of Motormaster’s booming baritone orders, Breakdown stiffened but quickly recovered, after all he did not want to invoke his commander’s wrath otherwise he’d end up like the medic. Breakdown lifted his concussion rifle and let out a half-hearted war cry before he set his optics on Groove who had quickly fired on Frenzy.

****

Axle let out a low anguished moan from the ground as he stared back up at Motormaster. He tried to move, but with both of his knees destroyed and his one arm mangled beyond working condition, he made no leeway. He stopped his attempts when the Stunticon began to press the tip of his weapon against his head. Axle grunted in pain as his head began to sink slowly into the ground. The field medic offlined his optics as the pain began to intensify; suddenly the pressure on his head lightened and then completely disappeared. Axle furrowed his brow in confusion; however the feeling lifted and was replaced by another when he felt an intense pressure on his torso. He quickly onlined his optics and saw Motormaster’s knee pressing heavily on his lower body. The pain was intense causing the medic to toss his head to one side letting out a strangled cry.

He tried to speak, to let Hot Spot know that it was alright to move forward now, but the only thing that escaped his vocalizer was another grunt. When speaking out loud failed, Axle tried to open a comm link with Hex, but he was greeted by nothing but static. With nothing more he could do, Axle simply let go. If these were to be his final moments then he certainly would not give Motormaster the satisfaction of hearing him cry in pain. He was about to initiate stasis lock but stopped suddenly when an intense burning sensation began to grow from his midsection and radiated to his spinal structure.

His internal fans kicked in in a vain attempt to cool his core temperature, the bright blue light from his optics dimmed to a deep midnight blue, his body convulsed as he was lifted from the ground, but no sound escaped his lips to satisfy the sadistic commander.

Axle slowly lifted his head and stared at Motormaster, he completed the protocols and quietly slipped into stasis.

****

Hex stopped abruptly when he felt a hand grip his shoulder and yank him back. He was surprised when the mech turned out to be Hot Spot himself. Hex opened his mouth to protest but was cut off by Hot Spot’s concern for Axle. It was the only thing keeping the youngling from charging ahead and trying to rip through Motormaster’s chest with his bare hands.

Hex looked back at his guardian who, by now was having his head shoved into the soil with the barrel of the Stunticon’s weapon. He gritted his teeth trying desperately to keep his cool and not antagonize the situation. When he saw Motormaster removed the muzzle of his gun from Axle’s head he visibly relaxed, but witnessing the hulking Decepticon literally kneel on Axle’s midsection brought Hex to brink of shoving past Hot Spot and lunging for the ‘Con.

He held fast curling his hands into tight balls nearly stressing the relays in his hands. He was hoping the ordeal was over, but with Motormaster rearing his arm back caused Hex's spark to skip a beat and his intakes to hitch.

“NO!”

The young mech lunged forward, his hand extended, trying desperately to reach the only mech that had ever done anything for him. He never made it as Motormaster plunged his large, greedy hands deep into the medic’s midsection and lifting him up to use as a shield. The almost sky blue color of the youngling’s optics turned to a deep violet. His core nearly burned with fury as Axle’s body finally went slack.

“You demented bastard! I’ll kill you!”

The silver mech took one step forward when he heard his name. Slowly Hex looked to the yellow racer who was now attempting to goad him into a fight. It worked. Hex flashed Drag Strip a toothy smile, his optics nearly burning through the former racer’s chest.

“You." His vocalizer dripped with hatred as he stared Drag Strip down. "I never got what I wanted from you the last time.”

At the same time Drag Strip charged forward Hex did as well. The young mech ploughed on with the same determination even as the obsessed Stunticon fired on him. Knowing full well of the power behind Drag Strip’s weapon, Hex quickly dove to his left using his momentum to curl into a somersault and finally coming to rent on one knee his crossbow already drawn and loaded. The mech’s weapon of choice was loaded with several bolts alternating between explosive tipped and poison tipped.

Hex fired off three of the projectiles two of which were out fitted with explosives and last dipped in a armor eating corrosive.

“Mark my word, loser, you’re not going back to your hell hole with your spark still in its chamber!”

Frontier Refinery - El Dorado, Kansas

Drag Strip cursed when he saw his blasts miss their mark as Hex dove out of the way just in time. It was an unfortunate setback, but not an entirely unexpected one. The yellow mech knew that this insane ‘Bot wouldn’t go down so easily. Even at a smaller size, his mentally disturbed adversary would be a tough one to ultimately terminate, but it was a challenge that Drag was more than up for.

“And you never will get what you want, Hex!” Drag Strip spat back as he quickly prepared for the forthcoming counterattack. Hex’s somersault ended with the young Autobot on one knee, shooting off three arrows at the former racer. With his gravito-gun already drawn, Drag returned fire and this time aimed for the incoming arrows. Two of the projectiles were caught within the intense gravitational fields generated by his weapon and thus torn to shreds in a pair of fiery explosions. However, the third arrow avoided the blasts and proceeded onward, forcing the yellow Stunticon to duck for cover.

As he hit the ground faceplate first, Drag Strip felt the arrow narrowly graze the back of his left shoulder before continuing on into a pile of rubble behind him. At first the former champion thought he had avoided any kind of real damage, but then he felt an intense burning pain radiate across his shoulder plating from where the projectile had managed to scrape the surface. “What the slag?!” Drag exclaimed as he felt the burning sensation increase. He quickly realized that the arrowhead had some kind of corrosive substance on it which was now eating into the armor of his shoulder. It was only a small amount of acidic material, but it was enough to sting like an angry cyber-wasp.

Ignoring Hex's latest comment about his spark chamber, Drag Strip grabbed a hold of an escaping human that was running past him and used the clothed fleshling as a make-shift rag to wipe away the remaining corrosive from his shoulder. The damage left behind was minimal, but annoyingly painful nevertheless. Once he was done, the yellow Stunticon pushed himself up and stared back at his crazy opponent. “Hey, Hex! Catch this you fraggin’ spawn of a glitch!” Drag shouted before flinging the still breathing human through the air directly at the silver mech. The former racer then transformed into his Dodge Viper alt mode and deployed his plasma energy blaster from underneath the hood. Driving at a parallel course, Drag Strip took aim and fired off several explosive balls of energy at the kneeling Hex, hoping that the incoming flesh sack would divert the young Autobot's attention just enough to prevent him from dodging out of the way this time.

Steeljaw and Ramhorn had both been waiting patiently (the later by some miracle of nature) for Groove's signal. It took literally all of Ramhorn's processing power to resist assaulting Rumble right away. Motormaster's order and Groove's shots were all Ramhorn needed to charge. A sadistic grin was plastered on his face as he charged.

"Ramhorn, stick with the plan, take out Rumble!" Steeljaw roared. "I'm going to suppress Frenzy!"

"With pleasure" Ramhorn responded. Turning off just a bit, Ramhorn's smaller legs got to work, and he got to full charging speed only a few feet before Rumble.

"Hey, RUMBLE!" Ramhorn bellowed. "Don't crumble!" He finished mockingly, right before he rammed into the cassette.

Steeljaw navigated his way towards Frenzy carefully- while he was blinded, yes, he was still firing off his rifle. Steeljaw sprinted gracefully towards Frenzy, and not long was in pouncing distance of the cassette. With a roar, he launched himself at Frenzy, aiming to chomp down on whatever piece of him he could get his jaws on.

"Surprise, oil stain." Steeljaw growled.

Frontier Refinery- El Dorado, Kansas

Sprints had been gritting his jaw and clenching his fists the entire time building up to Motormaster's attack. He nearly cried out when Axle was crushed, and it was at that moment that he surreptitiously deployed the machine-guns stored in his forearms and began activating the heating system that would make the bullets so hot they could penetrate all but the thickest armor. Even if Octane were allowed to escape and neither Motormaster nor Hot Spot really wanted a fight, which he doubted, Sprints knew the attack on Axle wouldn't go without retaliation of some sort...

...And had his suspicions confirmed when Hex began striding forward with death in his optics. Sprints prepared to fire then, but was interrupted when Hot Spot stepped forward and dragged the younger 'Bot back. For a moment Sprints thought that this meeting might end without conflict.

Then Motormaster shouted his command to attack, and all hell broke loose in seconds.

Sprints dropped into a fighter's stance instantly, ready to jump, dive, or run in any direction at half a moment's notice. He looked around to see who was attacking who, even as shots began to fly and yells were let out.

Suddenly, he's back on Cybertron, a collapsing world, ravaged by vorns upon vorns of war, and his allies are dying, and he's firing back with a tremendous gun that he's never seen but is familiar...

Sprints shook his head quickly. What the frag...? No time to think, just act. Quickly sizing up the situation again, Sprints ran full speed toward Wildrider, dodging and weaving as he went, having some close calls with the 'Con's blasts, but remaining more or less unharmed. He began firing with one of his guns, the left one, his off hand, even before truly in range, hoping the suppressing fire would make Wildrider stop firing for a moment while Sprints finished closing in.

Oil Refinery - Breakdown in Communications

Runabout was standing waving his Beam Rifle in the direction of the AutoBus as the large tanker form of Octane engaged his engine and slowly made his way out of the refinery, taking four humans with him as hostage along with the unrefined Energon source as his engines filled the air as the triplechanger took to the skies. The sudden standstill caused by Motormaster taking Axle hostage made the game a little bit more interesting than just herding humans.

There was the sound of bending and screeching metal coming from Motormaster's position, and looking over his shoulder Runabout saw what had happened. He felt a chill shudder go through his spark chamber as he realised Motormaster was wearing Axle like a shield - almost like an extention of his own arm.

'Heh...The Autobot's wouldn't dare fire with one of their own so easily in harms way' Runabout thought to himself. He was shaken from his musings by the Autobus as it spoke to him. It was only when the Autobot's voice registered that she was serious about what was going to happen.

"Yeah right auto-scrap...You ain't doing nothin here!" Runabout snarled at Saferoute.

However, a short distance away from Runabout and the Autobot bus, Runamuck stood facing the throng of Autobots at the front. The most of the protectobots were there - but he noticed a distinct lack of Blades, one Protectobot he had a serious issue with, and one that wasn't present now as it was going down.

Runamuck held his cannon at the ready, and facing down Hotspot, Groove, Hex and another Autobot called Sprints, Runamuck looked calm on the outside but in actuallity he was ready for combat.

'Just one of ya...oh by primus just one of ya punks twitch so I can blast ya!' Runamuck thought to himself.

It was no sooner than the thought had shot through his central processor that the deep lead laden voice of Motormaster rung throughthe air as shots were fired from their leader's rifle and the order was given!

"Lets bust em up!" Runamuck shouted as he started to charge forwards, his friction rifle discharging leathal gouts of energy towards Sprints, instantly switching from robot-mode to vehicle-mode to charge-mode as he thundered towards the new autobot. Runabout however had to dive to the side as Saferout discharged a missile in his direction.

The black battlecharger rolled on his shoulder, taking out another three humans that broke in a panic and tried to run. A malicious smile ran under his mouthplate as the missile crumped into an abandoned building, its explosion acting as an exclamation to the brawl that had just broken out.

Runabout wiped the human remains from his shoulder and shoulted at Saferoute.

"Hah! Even an autobot causes humans to die! Nice... I like your style!" Runabout darted forwards, thundering at her from a crouching sprint, intent on tackling the bus and throwing her to the ground as he transformed into his Mustang mode before switching to battlecharge-mode, the overdriven engine growling loudly before becoming a large whine as the decepticon cackled like a madman.

Frontier Refinery- El Dorado, Kansas

These Autobots must've felt festive. He was feeling as good as a proto on recharge cycle. There were so many options that it was hard to pick. If it had a red Autobot insignia, it was fair game. If it had a purple Decepticon symbol, well, Wildrider wasn't intentionally trying to hit any of them, but if one should so happen to cross his path....

Lining up a nice shot at Groove, Wildrider felt the sting of a glancing shot against his lower torso causing him to stagger backwards and center his focus on where this newest attack was coming for him. Several stray blasts whizzed past him, striking and obliterating nearby flora or sailing off in to the atmosphere even as Wildrider attempted to line up a new shot at his target.

His target Sprints, though, had been moving pretty slaggin' fast and was now almost all over him. Instinctually, his digit depressed the firing mechanism again, even as his optics widened noticeably and another errant blast collided with the outer plating of his left rotater.

Frontier Refinery- El Dorado, Kansas


Her missile launched, Saferoute didn't bother paying attention to whether she had hit Runabout. He bus mode slowly building up speed, her only concern was the humans, several hundred yards away. It appeared that the cassettes that were guarding them had been subdued, but that brought on other problems. With Frenzy firing blindly in all directions, and no one truly guarding them, many of the hostages had started to scatter. Already a few of them had been caught by either laser fire or crushed to death by Decepticons who didn't bother to watch where they were stepping. Too many had died already, and the longer it took Saferoute to reach them, the greater the death toll would be.

"ATTENTION HOSTAGES!", the transport announced on her loud speaker, "PLEASE REMAIN CALM! AN EVACUATION BUS IS ON IT'S WAY TO TAKE YOU TO SAFETY! PLEASE DO NOT PANIC!"

It was then that the transport heard an explosion, followed by what sounded like a building collapsing. It was then that her audios picked up the Battlecharger shouting to her. His allegations about causing humans to die only made her engine start to run hot.

Now even more focused on reaching the hostages, she didn't see Runabout heading towards her. Caught by surprise, the Battlecharger managed to crash into her, sending her bus mode onto it's side.

"AARGH, SLAG!"

A little scratched, but immobilized in her alternate mode, she reluctantly deactiveated her avatar and transformed to her robot mode. Already burning with anger, her fuel started to boil as she notice some of the human's blood on the Battlecharger's shoulder.

"You murdering slagger.", she growled as she pulled out her laser rifle, keeping it aimed at the battlecharger's head.

As much as she wanted him dead to avenge the humans he had killed, she had to keep her rage in check. There were still many humans that could be saved, and every second put them in greater danger. She didn't have time to fight with him, but she needed him out of her way.

Trying to keep her rifle still aimed at him, Saferoute kicked as hard as she could at Runabout.


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

With Frenzy blinded, and the Autobot cassettes ready to keep the small Decepticon occupied, Groove started running in a different direction.

Have to keep moving. Give them something else to shoot at, away from the humans.

Already Groove could feel his disgust for the situation. The Autobots had held back, Axle had offered and risked his life for the hostages to be released. But it had all been for naught due to Motormaster's sick and twisted desire for pain and suffering.

Once again Groove's deep thoughts were brought to an end, as a few laser shots narrowly missed him. The scout turned and sawBreakdown, his rifle aimed at Groove. Judging by his body language, it seemed that the Stunticon scout didn't care much for his current predicament.

Breakdown's never liked following Motormaster's orders, like the other Stunticons. He's more tightly wound than the others, but maybe I can use that to talk to him.

Groove transformed into his motorcycle mode, and headed for the Stunticon at top speed, dodging and weaving some stray laser fire. When he got close enough to talk to Breakdown, he transformed to his robot mode. Calmly he lifted his hands into the air, indicating that he wasn't armed and had no intention to fire. Slowly he walked closer to the paranoied Stunticon

"Please don't shoot, I don't want to hurt you.", Groove said, hoping to gain Breakdown's trust, "I know you must hate having Motormaster constantly watching you, brutally punishing you for his own amusement. Would you care to talk?"

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

The human that had been flung was nothing more than an obstacle obstructing the young mech from the one thing that he wanted. It did not faze Hex that the human was being used to distract him, instead of faltering the youngling simply batted the organic projectile sending the man hurtling toward the wall of a nearby building where he bounced off and landed in a heap, body broken and twisted and very much dead.

The young mech had kept his optics trained on Drag Strip. The desire, no, the blood lust, that started to well up within Hex seemed almost addictive. The thought of straddling the Stunticon, the enregon trickling between his fingers as he gripped severed wires and tubes, the look etched on the former racer’s face as he stared up, and the satisfaction that would flood his circuits as he set his optics on Drag Strip’s spark. The thought nearly made him shiver in anticipation, but he squelched it back down. No, not yet. Soon. Soon.

Hex stopped his advance when Drag Strip decided to convert to his vehicle mode. The Stunticon soon deployed his plasma energy blaster and stared off a few shots at the young mech. Hex quickly secured his crossbow and performed a series of back handsprings making his way out of the range of the explosions. Once out of the range of fire, Hex quickly grabbed his crossbow and fired off a series of arrows, these coated with a catalyst that, once it comes into contact with the corrosive already on the Stunticon’s frame, would seep into seems and cracks of his armor seeking out the corrosive. If the two chemicals combined they would start to dissolve Drag Strip from the inside out much faster than the initial corrosive.

****

Breakdown had been dead set on killing the pacifist when he stopped and watched as Groove drove up and quickly reverted back to his robot mode, his hands up submissively. What the slag is this idiot doing? He can’t think he can convert me like some kind of slagging neutral. The white and blue Stunticon kept his gun trained on the Protectobot scout as he listened to what Groove had to say.

I don’t believe this. He is trying to convert me! Okay, I’ll play along.

The sneer on Breakdown’s face slowly faded as he lowered his weapon to his side. With his head turned and his optics lowered he took in a heavy cycle of air and expelled it slowly through his vents.

“You…you’re right. I..I can’t take it anymore. I don’t care what the others think….I…I want out.”

He looked up at Groove, his optics dim, his expression pained.

“I…I’m ready to talk.”

That’s it. Take the bait. Heh, you’re such a gullible glitch.

Frontier Refinery Firefight- El Dorado, Kansas

Sprints was still dodging and weaving, jumping, sidestepping, sliding, doing whatever he could to avoid being hit. He knew that Wildrider's blasts would be lethal if they caught him, since his armor was less than perfect. He only hoped the 'Con didn't know the same.

Still, Sprints was so intent on avoiding Wildrider's beams that he almost completely failed to notice another attack incoming until he was clipped on the shoulder. He spun in midair as he jumped once more and saw Runamuck, charging him. Sprints raised his arm to fire on the new threat-- and almost fell to the ground as pain leaped through his shoulder like acid. Dropping the arm and locking his jaw, he deployed his missile launcher and fired, barely locking on to the Battlecharger before releasing what he hoped would be Runamuck's doom.

Turning back to Wildrider, Sprints lived up to his name as he dashed forward, but he had to throw himself to the ground and roll as the 'Con fired his weapon again. Coming up more ready to end the fight than ever-- the shot had grazed his other shoulder and he now had two threats to deal with-- Sprints jumped and brought both fists forward at Wildrider's face, machine guns pumping out ultrahot bullets and ultrahard fist plating closing in fast.

Even though he thought this should end it for now, Sprints yelled, "Two on one? Seems like you guys are underestimating me!" He hoped the taunt would perhaps get the 'Cons angry enough to make a mistake, barely registering that another Autobot might hear it and help him, as some of the other 'Bots might have.

Frontier Refinery – El Dorado, Kansas

Wildrider caught both fists to the face, sending him careening in to the ground. He could feel the white-hot sting of energy bursts colliding with his plating as well, but the double-punch had knocked his sensors so screwy that he couldn't immediately identify where the damage was.

As he reached out to return the blow, the jarring pain prevented him from even getting his actuator above shoulder level.

"Aghhhh!" Wildrider cried out, stumbling backwards even as he clumsily got to his feet again. This Autobot sure seemed to think he was something special.

"You grindy little aft stain! You're not nothin'!"

Wildrider threw his weapon down and lunged at Sprints.

Frontier Refinery- El Dorado, Kansas

Sprints grinned as his target fell to the earth, reeling from the 'Bot's double-fisted punch. He stopped firing as Wildrider dropped, thinking he'd laid low this threat for the time being. Two fists to the cranial and at least a half dozen bullets. No way he's getting up from...

As Sprints turned to confront the no-doubt approaching Runamuck, he didn't even have time to finish his thought when he heard his victim cry out and fall. Then he heard Wildrider say, "You grindy little aft stain! You're not nothin'!"

Sprints felt a sudden rush of anger. He hadn't fit in, not as long as he could remember, probably due to the fact that he couldn't remember very far back. He'd been kicked around, and now this fragging piece of slag didn't know when to die.

Sprints spun, intending to resume full-force the assault on Wildrider, but had barely turned halfway when the 'Con barreled into him. He lost his balance and they both fell, Sprints half-pinned under the bigger Wildrider. His arms were free, though-- he'd been quick enough to ensure that-- and he quickly placed his hands on either side of the 'Con's face and pushed with all his might.

"Get-- off-- me-- you-- slagging-- frag!" Sprints intoned murderously as he attempted to bend Wildrider's head back, shove his fist into the 'Con's neck, and fire a kill-shot.