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Air Raid after facing a few technical errors and problems with some security details, has finally reached the yellow sea. As the Bot flew towards the area, he sent a transmission to his fellow Autobots.

>> It's Air Raid...sorry for being late, security and tech stuff, you know what I'm talking about <<

The Aerialbot checked his surroundings, to find what seemed an odd situation. As both sides gathered, none them was firing each other, also witnessing First Aid leaving with an heavily injured Blades.

Air Raid suspicious and unsure, flew to his partner Slingshot.

"What did i miss, Slingshot?" The Aerialbot asked.

Transmission from Skywarp to Thundercracker:

>>”Thundercracker, this is Skywarp on board the Thanatos up in orbit around this miserable mudball. Starscream has been taken prisoner by Shockwave and is facing a hearing with the Decepticon Justice Division to determine his fate. Believe it or not, Shockwave has named me the interim Seeker Commander. I’m not kidding, and he wants me to organize the squadrons on top of that. I need your help in gathering every seeker together down planet side and inform me of their current activities so I can then present a report to ol’ one optic. Let them know what’s going on up here and try to keep their laughter at my leadership status to a minimum if you can. Contact me as soon as you have what I need. Thanks, buddy. I owe you one for this.”<<

Treeline

Onslaught looked at the carnage of the their little skirmish with the polished, cold indifference of any hardened battle commander. Casualties of any kind were necessary. Vital to the eventual win. The trick was ensuring the other side incurred more than you did.

Even now, Onslaught assessed the resources he currently had on the field in case Ultra Magnus or one of his subordinates decided that their temporary truce was not to their satisfaction and the fighting resumed again.

The City Commander's greeting to the Combaticon Commander was brief. Onslaught's reply was equally so.

"Magnus," he said simply as he closed the distance between himself and the formidable Autobot. But not so close that he would be within range of Ultra Magnus' well-known diffusion techniques. He would let the Autobots dictate the tenor of this meeting for the time being, as they were the side that had to possess more information regarding what had just happened out there. The Fallen had arisen from one of their ranks, after all, not one of the Decepticons. That alone surprised Onslaught considerably.

Despite allowing some margin of deference to Magnus' style, he did not want this conclave to devolve in to some sort of campfire story.

"I don't see how rehearing the old tales will do us any good, Magnus," Onslaught began, his line of sight finding Kup. He had no qualms with the elder Autobot soldier. He was a soldier through and through. He respected that. But his penchant for doddering oft in to tales of "way back when" were nearly as notorious as Grimlock's tantrums or Prowl's supposed direct uplink to Shockwave's personality, all of which had worked their way in to various stories Decepticons told one another in barracks across the galaxy.

"For the sake of argument, we're all agreeing that was the Fallen. That would explain the change in Hot Rod that Shockwave had briefly mentioned back on Cybertron. What it doesn't explain is how it happened...and how you all did not see it before now."

Underneath Onslaught's faceplate, he couldn't help but grin somewhat at the reality this presented. Could the Fallen have chosen a more antithetical avatar for his personality, given what was known of him in the ancient legends?

"Does Hot Rod carry himself as one of the legendary progenitors of our race when he's not on the battlefield?" Onslaught said, barely letting a chuckle escape his vocal processors. His optics settled on the City Commander once again. "Truthfully, I'm surprised that he did not choose you. He could have remained hidden for an eternity."

Treeline

Streetwise had found where Blades had touched down. From there, it wasn't difficult to track his aggressive comrade to where the rest of the Protectobots were gathered. A smile touched the interceptor's face when he saw Blades - who seemed as slagged off as pit - with a mangled arm and Groove mostly unscathed. He was glad to see them functional.

However, the interceptor's smile soon faded when he noted the other denizens gathered about. Ceasefire or not, being in such close proximity to the Decepticons made Streetwise uncomfortable. Streetwise moved over to where Hotspot stood, taking in the Autobot casualties with a grimace. So many critically injured...

Slag...

Streetwise had faith in First Aid's skills to get most of them online, but it looked really bad. The interceptor finally had reached his commander and turned to face him.

"Hotspot, what's the situation? Why was there a ceasefire? And where's Hot Rod and his group?"

Skies Above

Slingshot banked hard right as the firing solution painted his six on his advanced sensors. He had underestimated Ramjet's tactics and quite frankly those of the seekers present. At least he knew he was spared the undignified pain of being sent to the scrapheap for that mistake, primarily because of the temporary truce between the two waring factions. Still he had to give Thundercracker his due.

Begrudgingly he sent a quick and sarcastic laced text communication to the light blue seeker. <At least you shown improvement Thundercracker. Maybe you'll be a threat next time theres a live fire excerise.>

He drove his afterburner down towards sea level and entered into a tight spiral before transforming into robot form in mid air, his rifle loaded in his right hand and aimed up at an awkward angle towards the charging Decepticon flier. He didn't pull the trigger, he didn't have to. The message was clear to his foe. Next time they'd scrap it up good, and the Sharpshooter never missed twice. The Aerialbot transformed back into fighter form and shot towards Ultra Magnus and the gathering conclave of Autobots and Decepticons.

As he passed Thundercracker and the flowing signals of Dirge and Ramjet, all more than likely converging on the same location he was headed, a familiar signal finally materialized on his scanners. It was the ever crazy and thrill seeking Autobot Wingmech, Air Raid. Slingshot was surprised that Ratchet let that suicidal maniac out of the iso chambers. Still it was at least nice to have some air support, even if all of the fighting had concluded even before Slingshot had managed to even get warmed up.

"You missed everything Air Raid. Course like always, better late than never I suppose. Just like our Fearless leader, course at least you had the pistons to crawl out from the CR Chamber, so I'll give ya a point up on that." Slingshot transmitted his response to the new wingman as the two pulled into a loose formation. At least now the Seekers would have to think a few more micro seconds before violating a ceasefire order from a superior.

Tree Line

Vortex transformed and landed behind a pair of short artillery blown trees. His foot crunched under the shattered splinters of timber and branches with burnt leaves and twigs, adding to a small rise of ash and dust as he stepped forward. His optical visor kept his emotional struggles hidden from view as he advanced towards Onslaught and Ultra Magnus. His mind was still racing with what he had bore witness to, Autobots and Decepticons working together under the spell of a crazed lord of creation.

The Interrogator scratched at a wound that had been carved out of one of his rotors, a result from one of Hard Head's improved and over powered retaliation salvos. His optics leveled on the old timer of the Autobot cause, Kup, and his master Ultra Magnus. "Of course having first hand accounts of the rise and fall of The Fallen, you know a witness to those events, could never hurt in the over all analysis of how to best proceed."

Magnus for his part stood firm. Onslaught's question had been pointed to a deficiency that would have to be addressed after this discussion. The facts were he had yet to even speak with Hot Rod/Rodimus since arriving in system. The failure to provide an accurate examination of Rodimus had not been investigated properly as of yet, and he knew that would be yet another piece of discussions he would have to have with his inherited senior staff.

After a few moments of thought, an eternity for Vortex's tastes, Magnus began his calculated response to Onslaught's accusatiory question. "It is difficult to say what has happened since the arrival of his unit on Cybertron until this moment. The signs were there, however, none could have predicted the depths or the lengths of the corruption that had infected Hot Rod. And to be honest, I am not entirely convinced that the corruption of the Fallen is complete for any of the party involved."

Slingshot transformed and landed behind Ultra Magnus and Kup. His optics were transfixed on the Combaticons as they gathered their strength. The flier was ready for a true dance, but a quick glance from the battlefield commander, he kept his mouth quiet.

"That is a valid question. Why was Hot Rod, a flamboyant and head strong Autobot, be selected to bear the burden of a disgraced all powerful being?" Vortex quipped as he rubbed at his chin. There was no real answer to that question that could be known without examining evidence of Hot Rod's rather unique model structure or perhaps there was something more.

Magnus shook his head. He ignored the remark that had been designed as a baiting insult and instead focused at the confrontation at hand. "A fair question that we will have to investigate, I would suspect perhaps because Hot Rod's initial personality was so drastically diverging from that of this corrupted deity that it assumed that he would be the best cloak in order build a coalition. But beyond that I am concerned about the four who alligned themselves with the Fallen. What are their connections to the Fallen, beyond being manipulated on some subconcious level? And what do they have in common with one another?"

On Shore – Near the Tree Line

From his considerable vantage point First Aid was still able to watch, and listen, to everything that was transpiring between his own superiors…namely Ultra Magnus, and that of the gathering Decepticons. To his great relief the stragglers on the opposing side had actually stayed their attacks to see just how the ceasefire would play out.

In the mean time the Protectobot doctor performed a once over on his teammate and deemed that Blades’ injuries were not life threatening and could therefore wait before being worked on. “You’re injuries can wait. Just hold tight while I initiate an emergency medical evac.” Blades offered nothing more than a curt nod and low growl while his optics bore deep into the form of Dirge who was still poised just behind his comrades, a broad smug smirk still plastered on his faceplate.

First Aid let out a low sigh as he watched his over aggressive brother stare death at the ‘Con flier. He quietly stepped back to Warpath’s stable form and ran one last scan and followed it up with one of Ricochet's prone form. Once he was sure both mechs were able to be bounced First Aid offered Saferoute a slight nod. The femme was injured but not as extensive as the two patients he was currently looking after. The doctor then opened a link with the Guardian’s emergency medical frequency and sent a request for an evacuation and a team of medical drones to help transport his patients. As soon as he received the acknowledgement that his message was received First Aid made his way…tentatively to the gathered group now discussing just how all of this could have come about.

It was Ultra Magnus’ last few queries that caught the doctor’s audios and this First Aid took a careful step forward so that he was standing directly beside the interim Autobot Commander. “Sir? I’m not entirely certain that the four had a choice in following him.” He paused for a moment as he took a quick look around the group and then back to Magnus. “I can’t speak for the two Decepticons that the Fallen has taken an interest in, but Hardhead is a…well, he's a serious warrior...plain and simple. He’d make the perfect field Commander for whatever the Fallen has planned.”

With another quick look around and a heavy sigh First Aid reset his attention first on Hot Spot and then back to Magnus. “As for Hex…well, you might wanna talk with Axle. Hex is his ward after all. If anyone would know about him Axle would.” First Aid cast a gaze over his shoulder when the sound of the materializing drones caught in his audios. He flashed the gathering a quick nod. “I’ll get the wounded back to the ship and keep you informed on their conditions.”

His peace said, First Aid turned back to the tree line and made his way to Blades who he quickly helped to his feet. Both Protectobot brothers then fell in step behind the drones that were transporting Warpath, Ricochet and Saferoute. Moments later the entire group was swallowed up in several pillars of bright light that quickly vanished…the Autbots with it.

Tree Line

Thundercracker managed to pretty much ignore Slingshot's attempt of getting under his steel skin just because Slingshot himself had failed to stay aware of the ever changing battlefield. The blue seeker was confident of his flying and dogfighting skills being superior to any Aerialbot. And Slingshot was not even the best Aerialbot flyer out there. Heck, Slingshot would have turned into one out of control fireball of an Aerialbot with a painful crash landing as his only certain destiny were it not for the timely intervention by Onslaught and Ultra Magnus.

Slingshot though was really just a minor inconvenience before what they were now facing. The Fallen? That was one name out of the Cybertronian legends he was not expecting to run into. Ever. While no one could accuse Thundercracker of being a coward, he had to admit the realization of why a cease fire was called had sent a shiver going through his spinal column. This was one of those moment he really hoped Megatron was here. The leader and founder of the Decepticons would know what to do. The Slagmaker wouldn't let even one of the legendary Thirteen to dominate him.

>>”Thundercracker, this is Skywarp on board the Thanatos up in orbit around this miserable mudball. Starscream has been taken prisoner by Shockwave and is facing a hearing with the Decepticon Justice Division to determine his fate. Believe it or not, Shockwave has named me the interim Seeker Commander. I’m not kidding, and he wants me to organize the squadrons on top of that. I need your help in gathering every seeker together down planet side and inform me of their current activities so I can then present a report to ol’ one optic. Let them know what’s going on up here and try to keep their laughter at my leadership status to a minimum if you can. Contact me as soon as you have what I need. Thanks, buddy. I owe you one for this.”<<

Thundercracker's racing thoughts got some kind of a pause through a transmission sent by his brother. To say Skywarp's news weren't surprising would have been a lie. And yet, they felt so insignificant in the face of the return of the Fallen. But respond he had to, if only to let the Decepticons on board the Thanatos to know what was happening down on the planet.

>>"More than one. You'd owe me more than one 'Warp. But hey, listen... I can't help you other than naming the seekers present here - me, Dirge, Thrust and Ramjet. See, we have a situation here. The Autobots found our new base somehow. Except it seems like it wasn't the Autobots after all because Onslaught and Ultra Magnus just ordered a cease fire both and are now talking about... Well, let's just say I rather believe you were promoted the interim Seeker Commander than bear witness to the return of the Fallen. Yeah. That Fallen. The 13 all that ancient history mixed with myths Fallen. Uh, you probably should tell Shockwave."<<

Treeline

Kup was startled to hear the name ‘The Fallen’ thrown about. Apparently he had missed something pretty major. He could hardly believe Magnus was being serious here, but he had a pretty no nonsense reputation. Still, to think something like the Fallen had shown up, a being that was at the very most ancient history and more likely a myth or legend was unbelievable. The old timer would have had an easier time accepting his gun leaping out of his hands and changing into a tiny Autobot then the old godlike figure appearing in their midst.

The old timer looked over at Magnus as he asked him for more information on the Fallen. It wasn’t too surprising of a question really. He certainly had more experience and knowledge then any other Autobot around. This wasn’t the first time he’d been asked for some information, although it was the first time he’d been asked to consult on something so…mystical. It took him a minute to gather his thoughts on the topic before speaking.

Of course in the time it took him to gather his thoughts Onslaught jumped in with his own, rather rude comments and accusations. Before Kup could say anything Ironhide spoke up. “Typical Con, always thinking they are right and casting blame. Maybe you didn’t notice but there were a couple of mechs from your team fighting with him too. Maybe you’d like to explain how you missed that, or do all of the crazy psychos just blend in over on your side?”

Ironhide took a menacing step forward before being restrained by a lifted hand from Kup. “Keep it cool here Red,” he whispered to the other Autobot before looking at Onslaught and then Magnus with a slightly annoyed expression. “How dang blasted old do you think I am? Believe it or not some things happened before I was around, like the legends about the Fallen. I certainly wasn’t a witness to them myself, but I probably know the stories better then most.”

He glanced back at Onslaught before continuing. “Since we don’t seem to have the time for the full story I can just give some of the pertinent facts. The Fallen became an agent of chaos. He was bent on bringing that chaos to the whole universe and he saw Cybertronians as standing in his way. The Fallen sought to eliminate us all through some sort of ritual, I never really believed in the mystical scrap until now I suppose. Anyway he was stopped and banished somewhere that he wasn’t supposed to escape from.”

Kup stopped and thought and listened as others added to the conversation. “The thing about the Fallen is chaos. There might not be any rhyme or reason to who is working with him, or why he picked Hot Rod. It might just be bad timing, or, hmmmm.” The elder Autobot rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “It might have happened right around the time that Prime and Megatron got taken out. That might not be a coincidence.”

*

Hot Spot was relieved to see each of his teammates rendezvous with him in short order. It appeared they had come out of the battle fairly intact, save for the usual amount of battering that Blades always seemed to manage to absorb. With the wounded taken care of and his team accounted for the Protectobot leader could move on to the next order of business, which appeared to be answering the storm of questions coming in from the other Protectobots.

“To be honest I’m not entirely sure what’s going on guys. I was running out of a cave when all of this happened and it sounds like I missed quit a bit. Right now we just need to follow Magnus’s orders and keep calm. We will hold position back here while they talk, so if things break down we can cover a retreat.” He glanced over to where Magnus and the others were talking with Onslaught. “For now this cease-fire seems to be holding but I want to be ready to move fast if it breaks down.

*

Oil Slick followed Onslaught out of the water and to the treeline. He hung back however, preferring to go unnoticed if possible. While he didn’t expect to see Smokescreen or Tracer among these Autobots he preferred to stay somewhat anonymous and unnoticed. The chemist did, however, listen closely to the conversation taking place between the Autobots and Decepticons.

Oil Slick had always considered himself a being of science and so he found it both bizarre and intriguing to be discussing a creature that had been, until recently, little more then a myth. It was hard for him to truly grasp concepts such as magic and mysticism. Whatever the Fallen was and whatever his abilities were they must just simply come from a higher scientific and technological understanding then they possessed. Simpler minds could call it ‘magic’ if they wanted but he would study it with a more clinical mind.

The fact that Darkride was somehow brought into the Fallen’s circle wasn’t all that surprising. Whatever promise or dark seed he had planted in the Decepticon’s head likely found quite fertile ground. That wasn’t information he was about to volunteer however as being associated with a now revealed disciple of the Fallen would not reflect well upon him.

*

Swindle slowly followed Onslaught towards the Autobots, all the while eying the remains of a couple of Autobots who had been torn apart by the Fallen’s goons. That was of course assuming Hot Rod really was the Fallen. He was more then happy to leave that discussion up to the likes of Onslaught and Ultra Magnus. He was more interested in concrete things, like profit, and how this situation might help or hinder his ability to make some profit.

The weapons dealer could practically smell a profit coming off of this planet. From what he had gathered about the planet from the computer databanks on the ship, the inhabitants were primitive and warlike. Those two words were like music to him. He just had to find a way to get more of his ‘merchandise’ down to the planet and get away from everyone for a while. He’d run the whole ‘selling to the natives’ bit plenty of times. Heck, old Ultra Magnus was always trying to bust him for that. Too bad for him he had called the ceasefire and he was here with all of his teammates, for once.

Maybe he could convince Onslaught to just strike out on his own with the whole team. I mean, who wants to team up with those idiot Stunticons anyway? They were liable to get them all killed sooner or later. And the Predacons? They just looked at you like they considered you their next prey and meal. You just couldn’t trust anyone who took on a beast alternate mode. And the seekers, don’t get him started on seekers. And then there were the Constructicons who had a secretive little clique so tight they even had their own color scheme. They would always be up to something.

Speaking of which, where the slag were all of them? Sure they were probably down their working on the base, but he was pretty sure a couple of them were just idiot grunts who should have been up here fighting. The Combaticon rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Now that he thought about it he hadn’t seen much of Hook and Scrapper lately, and they were the brains of the operation. Sounds like someone was doing a little plotting and scheming, and where there was plotting and scheming there were secrets. Where there were secrets there was the potential for profit, either in blackmail or selling those secrets. He was going to have to keep an optic out for those two Constructicons.

*

Bottom of the Yellow Sea - Decepticon base

Hook finished sealing up Mixmaster as he looked over at Scrapper. “There is a battle going on?” he asked him with a bit of surprise. He had been so engrossed in the delicate surgery that he had blocked off the various incoming signals and extraneous sensory data to focus fully on his work. The fact that a battle had been taking place nearby had completely passed him by.

The surgical engineer glanced down at Mixmaster in annoyance as he reactivated. “It went well enough. I, unfortunately, did not have time to explore your cerebral circuits to try to give you a more stable personality. Sadly we appear to be stuck with you as you are now.”

Bottom of the Yellow Sea - Con base

The formerly blank optics came back online first that that he heard clearly was “We appear to be stuck with you as you are” the green and purple materials expert swung his legs around and stood up right a grin spread across his face as he addressed Hook. “Admit it if you messed with my head you’d lose a materials genius” Mixmaster stretched out his joints loosening them after being laid up he wasn’t sure where he was needed or what was going on after being out for however long seemed like vorns but was probably only a couple of breems.

He found the upgrades that where done to his body while he was out he chuckled he felt better than he did before the procedure.

“Thanks for the tune up Hook now that’s done what’s the plan?”

Tree Line

Ultra Magnus' response was along the lines of what Onslaught was expecting to hear. He could tell that the City Commander was bothered by the fact that he had not recognized what the Fallen had been able to accomplish from within his very ranks. Onslaught harbored no such guilt, and it was Ironhide who got to the very heart of why.

"They do, actually," Onslaught shot back at the elder bodyguard. Opposing soldiers on a field of mutual discussion. It was bound to get heated. Though Onslaught personally preferred the discipline and expert execution of each member of his Combaticon unit, Megatron had never been so picky when it came to swelling his ranks. For every Blast-Off, Swindle, Brawl or Vortex that was within the Decepticon war machine there were likely a dozen Wildriders out there. If not more. "Megatron knows only obedience. Or knew. And even a psychopath's knee will typically bend in the face of his own obliteration."

Onslaught's gaze shifted as Kup sought to ease the rising tensions between the two mechs. Having expressed his disinclination towards hearing stories, Onslaught did not object as Kup began to speak of what he knew. In the end, there could prove to be a valuable nugget or two that he had not considered.

As to Kup's initial assessment, Onslaught was inclined to agree. Given what he knew thus far of whom the Fallen had taken there did seem to be an absence of any overt connection. If it was there to be found at all, it would require digging much deeper than they had the means to do here.

Kup's secondary observation had caught the Combaticon Commander a little off though. Had the timing of such monumental events coincided with one another?

"That would be extraordinary," Onslaught began, his words trailing off as his hand rubbed thoughtfully against the bottom edge of his faceplate. He was going to need to dig in to everything that the Fallen's Decepticon "recruits" had been involved in within the last several breems and orns. Maybe longer. But given that the stakes and the risks were so high within the Decepticon ranks right now, he wasn't really sure when he would be able to find time to do that. What was for certain was that he would need to get word of this to Razorclaw. That too, however, would likely have to wait.

"So...where does this leave us? Inclined though I might be to draw my weapon once more, this threat seems far larger than us."
___

Undersea Base

"Yes...though we seem to have avoided the brunt of it," Scrapper said, considering their options. There weren't many. And he needed more information in order to make a decision.

He wasn't going to risk incapacitating Hook to enact the needed changes until his unit was whole and out of danger. Just as importantly, he didn't want to leave Long Haul and Bonecrusher up there against what could potentially be some overwhelming Autobot force. At this point, that meant either calling them back or joining them.

Fortunately, he did not have to wait long for an answer, as Long Haul and Bonecrusher made their presence known once more, Long Haul with a fairly detailed report of what was happening on the surface. Detailed and spark-stopping. Scrapper couldn't believe what he was hearing. But none of the Constructicons were known to be practical jokers either. Given the immensity of the projects they were working on, no one had time for such nonsense. Therefore, it had to be true.

"Primus...," Scrapper cursed quietly, thinking about all of the possible ramifications this information would have. It was enough to overload a circuit.

"In other circumstances I would probably agree, Long Haul. But this affords us a rare opportunity to get our work done in relative peace, however short-lived it is. If what you say is true, we can't finish him soon enough," Scrapper said, motioning for Long Haul to take the place that Mixmaster had occupied only moments before. "You're next."