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Treeline

Ironhide almost laughed at Onslaught’s reply to his remark about lunatic Decepticons. It took a decent amount of control to keep from retorting back at the Combaticon leader. Stockpiling a bunch of lunatics and crazies was just one of the many reasons the Cons would never win this war, especially know without their great leader to keep all of those knees bent. He doubted whether there were any other Cons around who could keep them all in line. They’d probably end up wiping each other out in some big civil war or something.

The red Autobot listened as the conversation between Bot and Con continued, a bit more polite now. It was all interesting stuff but Ironhide had always made a habit of letting others deal with the bigger ideas and strategy. He was always better at seeing the here and now instead of the big picture. That’s why he would always be mixing it up with the grunts rather then sitting back at base directing things. That suited him just fine.

Ironhide turned and walked back towards the various other gathered Autobots. He caught sight of First Aid evacuating with the wounded and nodded. With the battle apparently over wounded took first priority. With them dealt with it was time to make sure everyone else was ok. From what he could hear from the various Protectobots that wasn’t looking too good. News of the Fallen was already spreading and he could tell morale was taking a nosedive with it.

“Alright Autobots, keep it together fer Cybertron’s sakes. Just cause someone comes out claimin’ to be the boogeyman doesn’t mean we are all doomed. If you believe all of those fairy tales then you know the Fallen’s been beaten and banished or imprisoned or somethin’ before. That means it can be done again and we’ll be the ones doing it, so don’t be getting your wires all twisted up about it. And as fer knowing Hot Rod was taken over by the Fallen, well until a few minutes ago I didn’t even think he was real, so don’t go beaten yerself up about it.”

Hot Spot nodded in agreement with Ironhide. Internally he was still blaming himself for how out of control the whole situation had gotten. His desire to try and keep it quiet and settle it himself had lead to all of this. “He’s right Protectobots, lets keep it together and not blame ourselves or each other for this.

*

Kup remained quiet as Magnus and Onslaught quickly sorted out a mutual withdrawal. He waited for Onslaught and his group to being pulling back before speaking up to Ultra Magnus. “Well, that didn’t go too bad. Two fatalities but the rest have been evacuated back to the ship. Ratchet should have them patched up in no time. We did manage to rescue the Bots who’d already been roughed up and we have some idea of current Decepticon whereabouts, even if we do have a ceasefire at the moment.”

Kup paused for a moment for continuing. “This probably doesn’t need to be said, but I’d be careful how much information you send ‘em.” He gestured at the retreating forms of the Decepticons. “Even letting them know where Hot Rod and the others have been over the past few days or whatever could give them some vital intel. I somehow doubt that they will be totally open with us anyway, despite what Onslaught said.”

The old timer looked back at the other Autobots where Ironhide and Hot Spot were already trying to rally them. He looked back at Ultra Magnus and spoke quietly to him. “You need to get on top of all of this. This news of the Fallen, coming so soon after losing Prime, well it ain’t gonna do anything good for morale, I can tell you that. I wouldn’t even think of keepin’ this quiet either, get back to the ship and lay it out for everyone and get them working and planning on it. Make everyone feel like we are ahead of the curve on this one and not completely blindsided like we are. Keep them busy and focused and they will feel confident that we can whip this thing.”

Kup received the signal from Blaster and sent back a brief reply.

*

Oil Slick remained silent as Onslaught arranged the mutual ceasefire and withdrawal of both sides’ forces. He trusted the Combaticon commander and his reputation for sound strategy on these points. Right now he was more concerned with his personal well being.

Physically he would need some repairs but he hadn’t suffered significant injuries. Of greater concern was his standing in the Decepticon ranks. With the apparent defection? Brainwashing? Mental control? Whatever it was that had happened to Darkride meant he had lost the only ally he trusted at all among the Decepticon ranks. Along with that any investigation into Darkride’s movements of late would get a little too close to his own rather illicit activities. He had no desire to be in the spotlight, but it seemed it would thrust upon him whether he wanted it or not. He would just have to figure out a way to work around his absence if possible in any explanations to the other Decepticons.

*

Swindle was disappointed to see the Autobots reclaiming their fallen soldiers. That’s what made this business so hard sometimes; Autobots always came back for their dead. While Decepticons shared most of the same parts, there were a few things you could only get from an Autobot. Certainly any intact memory files would be worth something, along with any entertainment vids they might have that the Cons didn’t. Of more value though were things like insignias, some Cons were just crazy about collecting those, probably for bragging rights. Swindle was happy to sell them and then keeping his mouth shut when those same Cons bragged about taking them off fallen enemies.

The arms dealer was a bit concerned to hear about The Fallen being involved in all of this. He’d always been the more practical sort, not really getting into all of those superstitions and legends, but he had heard of the Fallen. In fact he was pretty sure he’d sold a scimitar wielded by the Fallen, or, at least that’s what he’d told the dope who’d bought it off of him, made a nice little profit on that one. He’d rigged it up to light on fire and everything. Still, if the Fallen was truly involved and if he was anything like what everyone said he was, then they were going to need some heavy firepower. Maybe it was time to enact his little failsafe, whether Onslaught agreed to it or not. He knew that he would feel safer surrounded by his vast array of weapons and equipment.

The Combaticon looked up at Onslaught as the commander addressed him. A wide smile spread over his face as his purple optics lit up. “That’s music to my audio receptors Onslaught! I’ve just been waiting to hear those words! We’ll get old Blast Off down here along with oodles of guns, explosives and other goodies. This Fallen guy will wish he’d never crawled out of whatever he was in!”

Swindle produced a small beacon. “I know you’ll like this Onslaught, you always like to be prepared and I’ve taken that to heart. I rigged up one of the escape pods on the Obliteration for just such an occasion. Lets just say I’ve got it decked out as a little ‘care package’ in case we needed it and couldn’t contact the ship directly or get back to it.” ‘Or in case you guys kicked me off the team for good,’ he added silently to himself.

Anyway, I activate this and the escape pod launches. I installed a full cloaking unit on this baby, so once it detaches it disappears. Only old Blast Off will notice and I’ve got a pre-programmed message to let him in on it all. The invisi-pod will then lock on to my location and land nearby, instant portable armory! Ya gotta love technology!”

*

Undersea Base

Hook overheard some talk about the Fallen, but he dismissed it considering it came from Long Haul. You couldn’t trust all the rubbish a glorified transport was bound to spout off about. Scrapper could waste time considering the fool’s words while he kept hard at work. Worrying about superstitions wasn’t going to get Devastator completed any sooner.

The surgical engineer sneered at Mixmaster. “I would have to say that your usage of the word ‘genius’ denigrates all true geniuses out there, like myself. Now get out of the way while I continue to create the greatest feat of engineering Cybertronian technology has ever seen!”

Once Long Haul was on the table Hook quickly went to work. With each surgery he performed he became more adept. Unfortunately there was a limit to what experience could do to help him. Each Constructicon had a unique build, along with a unique function in the Devastator whole. This made each surgery different from the last. The Constructicon relished the challenge though as he quickly began make the adjustments to Long Haul’s internal structure to allow for the additional transformation and the flow of power and information across his circuits and into the connection points with the other Constructicons. After that bit of engineering came the more challenging work of adjusting cerebral circuitry, opening him to the merged mind that would be Devastator. Truly, if they weren’t at war he would write an entire journal on this process and likely win every award the science and technology academies on Cybertron had to offer.

Treeline

As Onslaught and the remaining Combaticons began a rather staggered withdrawl, with Vortex remaining to cover the rear perhaps to intercept some vital tidbit of inteligence before he too was forced from earshot, Magnus carefully and methodically began pegging out how further develop this into a mutually beneficial foundation of cooperation. Perhaps fate had given the Cybertronians a chance, albeit slim, to begin building political bridges that could lead to an end of this ever long period of conflict. His optics returned to their full width as he completed a scan of the battlefield. Bits of burnt timber, detonated boulders and charred rubble were strewn across an area no bigger than a half terran kilometer squared, but it was still large enough to rise concerns from the locals.

"Agreed. Any information I intend to send them will only pretain to the five members in question, and heavily redacted to where they had been in mutual contact and to general location. Details of operations will be withheld... and I expect that Onslaught would do the same." The first brick of the foundation of a bridge of cooperation, and it was already weakened by the necessities of their on going conflict.

His voice trailed off as he pivoted to gaze down the shakened Autobot cadre that remained. Kup was correct, much to his dismay. These horror stories would spread and shake even the staunchest Autobot's nerve programming... that was if bravery was not set in motion to counter such fears. One of the rare times he wished the likes of Fortress Maximus or even Scattershot and his merry band of misfits were here and now. Still it was a task he had been agreed to take up and inwardly he reminded himself to have Prowl scrub the exhaust manifolds of the Guardian for even talking him into it.

Ultra Magnus's optics locked with each of the Autobots present, to his amazement Slingshot the typically most vocal had been the most silent. A confident and reassuring smile melded to his faceplate as his weapon locked into a hidden subspace holster. "You are correct Kup," he stepped back to the Protectobots, Ironhide and Slingshot. "You are all familiar with the stories of the Fallen. You are all familiar with the legends that we have all been told when were nothing more than protoforms in the well. The Fallen, a great power who could challenged the order of Primus himself. The tales tell of the stories of how he rose and then fell from power."

Magnus's voice paused briefly as he considered where to go, he inspired by action and rarely by word. To be on a battlefield, to storm the enemy lines, to never surrender. That was how he had earned a reputation... at least a reputation others believed he deserved. "They are story files meant to frighten the masses into submission. But those stories of fear always end the same way. They end with the bright hope that even such terrors can be beaten, they can be felled by the greatest weapon in anyone's arsenal. We Autobots, we have that weapon in spades, a design that allowed our foremodels not to descend into the insanity and chaos that The Fallen promised."

Ultra Magnus moved to rest a reassuring hand on the shoulder unit of Groove. "We possess hope. We possess the legecy of justice and we possess what is right. We are the legecy of our foremodels, they too fought a brother as we ourselves fight siblings of our own. There is no difference. We have beaten Megatron and his legions time and again, the Fallen will be no different." He gave a subtle squeeze to the Protectobot scout and waved off a protest from Slingshot. He did not need the power diferencial reminder nor did he require the utter unpredictability of the Chaotic entity. And he certainly did not want the reminder that his own brother was now lost to them, the last of the Primes.

"What we must do now is gather our strength and secure our foundations. We must work together to bring about a united front against chaos. When we work together, when we act as one and with justice on our side my friends, we can defeat even the most daunting enemy." He released his grip on Groove's shoulder and looked over to Ironhide and Kup. "In the meantime we too will withdrawl. Return to the Ark 22 to begin devising our counter strategies."

Shoreline

"Let's hope it doesn't go that far," Astrotrain said with a smirk, referencing his fellow triple-changer's joke regarding having an Autobot insignia sludged on him.

Astrotrain listened in as Onslaught spoke primarily to his Combaticons. He didn't really seem all that interested with him or anyone else who wasn't specifically part of his unit. That suited Astrotrain just fine. It hadn't been all that long ago that he and Blitzwing were blasting their way out of this little encampment. Truth be told, he still wasn't all that averse to the idea of quietly slipping away. But where then? That was the question. Until he had an answer, he wouldn't push it.

"Well, there's our proof," Astrotrain said as he looked over at Blitzwing. "I mean, he's not standing in front of us or anything, but if a guy like Onslaught's gonna change his whole strategy based on something, then I'm gonna take it as true.

"If it ain't the Fallen, it's probably something else that's just as bad."

Treeline

Were Brawl a human, his whole head would have turned red of rage by now. Not even Onslaught's command take authorized Swindle to call an escape pod stashed full of weapons did little to change the baseline situation that was utterly alien to the heavily armed engine of destruction.

"Withdraw?! What the slag you are yammering about boss?!" Brawl fumed, his left hand clenched into fist that he was now shaking before his commanding officer. The fact was that the raging Combaticon was barely being able to contain his growing need of unleashing violence against, well - anyone. And now Onslaught, one of the few commanding officers he actually respected - was calling it quits because of some tall tale character?

"I don't care if some slagger fell on his face gazillion vorns ago and had some fancy pencil-neck write up a far fetched story to cover his clumsiness!" The increasingly irritated warrior continued his raging, now pointing his fore-finger at the large Autobot commander standing several hundred feet away from his position. "That's Ultra slaggin' Magnus! One of our biggest enemies!"

Brawl's body language was getting increasingly indicative of a sudden burst of action. "And his ugly mug is in need of reformat through an explosive shell!"

Shoreline

Onslaught took in Swindle's latest information dump with no small degree of satisfaction. Again he had affirmed exactly why Onslaught kept him in the unit, despite some of his questionable actions in the past. He did typically manage to redeem himself.

"Impressive," Onslaught admitted, not reticent at all to compliment his subordinates when they went above and beyond the call of duty. "Make contact with Blast-Off and get a sit-rep and proceed as planned. Let's have access to that pod ASAP."

Onslaught continued on, prepared to return to their undersea construct and inform Scrapper and his team of what they had learned up here.

"Vortex, I want full activity logs of everything that our missing brothers were up to in the cycles leading up to today and their sudden departure. We'll see how useful that information might be in predicting exactly what step the Fallen is going to take next. Then..."

Before Onslaught could say anything further, Brawl's interjection managed to get the Combaticon Commander's full attention. Moreover, his posture suggested that he was on the edge of doing something that could well see this beach awash in weapons fire all over again.

Taking large strides, Onslaught put himself directly in Brawl's path, shielding the Autobots who would have surely been the recipient of the Combaticon tank's next barrage.

"NO!" Onslaught shouted, before quickly calming and closing the distance between himself and his soldier. "No. This battle is over. Ultra Magnus and his kin will get theirs when the time is right. Our focus is up there. On the Thanatos, with Razorclaw working to ensure our new positions of power. And.....the Fallen. Loathe though I am to give such seeming nonsense any actual attention, it appears to be true. Given that, we have to prioritize. Once Shockwave is dealt with and Razorclaw is in power, we can ensure that the Fallen does not exterminate us. After that, we resume exterminating Autobots. Fair?"

Onslaught was not normally even one to ask, but he had utilized the bruiser's skills so haphazardly in combat recently, he knew he had to offer the belligerent tank some insight in to why he was doing what he was doing, otherwise he might well go off and either ruin Onslaught's strategy or just go off on his own entirely, just like those triple-changers had attempted to do.

Speaking of which....

Air Raid, was like a bystander during all these events, standing in his place, attempting to understand what's going on, and watching, unsure of what is really happening, coming late didn't do any good.

The Aerialbot watched as the Autobots and the Decepticons made a "truce", against the fallen, unsure of what he heard it seems like Hot Rod is the fallen, and has gathered some minions. That was a complete shock for Air Raid, that he, at the beginning assumed that there was an error with his systems, but no, it wasn't much before he was aware that he was hearing stuff. It's real.

Ultra Magnus soon ordered the withdrawl of the Autobot's forces, the Aerialbot is still trying to not believe what he heard, he should ask Slingshot later, he seen it all, he couldn't just lie on him. But now his duty is to return to the Ark, Air Raid prepared himself before using an Orbital Bounce from the Earth to the Ark, The Aerialbot left the scene

Tree Line

He plucked one from this joint. He plucked one from that crevice. He plucked one from that joint. He plucked one from this crevice. Here, there and everywhere were chunks and slender pieces of wood jutting out of Blitzwing's armour-plating as though he were striving to pass himself off as a new species of cyber-hedgehog.

Curse that forest and its trees.

He had Slingshot to thank for his ridiculous makeover, and he intended to show his appreciation in true Blitzwing fashion: by introducing his fists and scimitar to the Aerialbot. They were raring—oh so enthusiastic to meet Slingshot—and after they'd finished their greetings, neither the cunning of Swindle nor the proficiency of Gutcruncher would be capable of salvaging any spare parts, even remotely decent, to sell. Such was the atrocity Blitzwing had planned for the tin foil plane.

But it would have to wait. Slingshot appeared to be on his best behaviour, and that most likely owed to the ceasefire in place. That ceasefire, of course, conjured up and solidified with commands from Onslaught and Ultra Magnus, the highest-ranking Transfomers present, their respective superiors. Blitzwing couldn't exactly tell either of those two to “take a hike, loser”, or “you're not the boss of me so shut your oral cavity”, or “go frag yourself”, as much as he would have enjoyed saying those things to Magnus, particularly that last one.

Onslaught might have a meltdown due to the lack of proper protocol that he was such a stickler for.

So with a lot of reluctance and a lot more effort, he cast Slingshot from his mind, tried to be good, and listened to the ensuing discussion between Onslaught and Magnus. When it came to an end he was rather pleased, because all this talk of The Fallen had made Blitzwing somewhat anxious, had almost prompted him to disrupt their conversation and throw his own thoughts into it. Only by exercising a considerable amount of self-restraint had he not added his viewpoint.

Kill or be killed. That's all there is to it.

Blitzwing believed that to be an adequate reason to have included himself in their discussion. Hunt or be hunted. Strike or be struck. The practical part of him demanded something be done before it was too late.

Then again, it would be kind of difficult attacking a foe who could travel from one side of the solar system to the other in the blink of an optic. That foe being a demi-god. And kind of difficult as in incredibly difficult, if not impossible.

Hmm. Quite the prickly situation. Though, in Blitzwing's opinion, action still needed to be taken.

Brawl's outburst brought the Triple Changer back to reality, yanking him from his pondering state. He grinned at Brawl's reaction, predictable as it was—but also highly amusing. He had to. Among the Decepticons to have been selected for the Earth campaign, Blitzwing regarded Brawl as one of his genuine friends.

As tough as the most durable alloys, more brutal than the fiercest plasma storm, and perpetually keen to slaughter Autobots, what wasn't to like? And who better to fight alongside with in battle?

Blitzwing laughed. “That a lad, Brawl! Now tell everyone how you really feel!”

His laughter halted when he noticed Onslaught's gaze targeting him. No, not just him. Astrotrain, too. The Combaticon commander's posture suggested dissatisfaction or a condition similar to it. Joy.

Blitzwing looked at Astrotrain. “Am I paranoid or are we in deep slag?”

Treeline

Kup wasn’t much for flowery speeches; he was always more of a practical Bot. Still, he understood the importance of rallying the troops, especially now that morale had taken a pretty heavy blow. Magnus seemed up to the task for now, although they would need some action to back up those words. The Autobots were taking far too many losses to just patch over with some words. Hopefully everyone would be able to keep it together long enough for them to deliver some sort of victory.

“Alright, you heard him, we’re heading back to the Ark-22. If any of you still need repairs, get them. The rest of you can return to whatever duties you were performing. I’d suggest getting refueled as we are going to have to be prepared for the Fallen and the Decepticons’ next moves, whatever they are.”

Kup sent a standard retrieval signal to the Ark-22 and in short order all of the Autobots present were bounced back to the vessel.

(OOC: All Autobots in this thread are now moved to the Ark-22 and can begin posting there.)

Treeline

"After that, we resume exterminating Autobots. Fair?"

Deep down, Brawl had known that Onslaught wouldn't let him continue on his chosen course. Still, his rage just did not let him be okay with it without at least blowing some steam off through screaming and shouting. To be frank, had Onslaught not thrown himself on his line of fire, he'd have tried to shoot Ultra Magnus - not just make noise.

"Fine!" Brawl finally managed to grunt. Onslaught's reasoning didn't really find their target in the Combaticon warrior. The Fallen didn't sound any less of a myth. And if he was such a threat, why they couldn't just order an orbital strike from the Thanatos instead of waiting for Razorclaw to make his move against Shockwave? It wasn't like the uprising couldn't wait for little longer. But such lingering thoughts didn't make Brawl any less of a soldier. He was still able to follow orders. Even if he tried to bend them as much as he could depending on who was giving the commands.

The following Autobot mass exodus through orbital bounces robbed him of the chance to actually kill them anyways. For now.

However, it did not remove his lust for causing mayhem.

"We still gonna play hide and seek with the fleshbags?" Brawl asked, and continued before Onslaught had a chance to respond, "If so... get everyone off this fraggin' beach 'cuz I am going to clean the damn traces we left by blowing it all up!"

Encrypted Transmission to Onslaught from Blast-Off:

>>”Commander Onslaught, this is Blast-Off reporting. I have received a message from Razorclaw who is currently aboard the Thanatos. The message was sent via a light beacon directed at our sensor array. Rather low tech but still very effective. Seems that big things are about to go down over on the Predacon vessel. I’m relaying to you the translated communique now. I await your response.”<<


Decoded Message from Razorclaw's Beacon - Relayed by Blast-Off:

{Razorclaw to Onslaught. Need immediate assistance on Thanatos. Battle against Shockwave to begin soon in hangar. Powered up on ultra energon. Use caution. Out.}