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On Shore

Ricochet looked on in utter disbelief as his plasma darts simply bounced off of Rodimus’ chestplate as though they were nothing more than mere sticks. Before the gunner knew it, the flame-covered mech was standing in front of him and had taken his rifle before ordering both Darkride and Hex to kill him, painfully in the interrogator’s case. Then, as if by magic, the former cavalier disappeared, leaving only a bit of smoke in his wake.

“What the slag?” Ricochet could only get out of his dumbfounded vocalizer. What the frag had just happened? Rodimus can teleport now as though he was Skywarp? What kind of nonsense was this and what other powers did the self-proclaimed Prime now have that he didn’t exhibit before? That mech was clearly not Hot Rod reborn. He was someone or something else entirely, and it scared the slag out of the marksman.

The black and gold gunner then quickly backed away as Hex and Darkride approached him with the intent of exterminating his spark. How the young 'Bot could go from hating the torturer one astrosec to working side by side with him the next was anyone’s guess. It just added to the already unbelievable nature of this entire scenario that he found himself trapped in.

“I’m not playing with anyone who sides with a ‘Con!” Ricochet yelled back at Hex, readying his shoulder-mounted cannon in the process. Without further delay, the marksman turned and ran back through the foliage until he came out onto the beach again. He then turned his sights back on the wooded area and unleashed a heavy barrage of powerful shells in a desperate attempt to stop or destroy the seemingly supernatural pair. Somehow, though, he felt that their power had become just as great as that of Rodimus. If that was the case, then his explosives would likely not stop them or they would simply avoid the destruction that was beginning to rain down onto the dense thicket.

Opening his comm line to the others, Ricochet tried to warn his comrades of the situation:

>>”Hardhead, Saferoute, Warpath! This is Ricochet! Rodimus and Hex have betrayed us! They have joined forces with Darkride and are trying to offline me! Rodimus also just teleported away to Primus only knows where after shrugging off dozens of my plasma darts like they were human toothpicks! There’s something very wrong here! Their power has increased dramatically! I need immediate assistance! ”<<
_________

Not far away, Hardhead stood on the beach, watching as Ramjet soared by overhead. Soon more would arrive and then the fun would kick into high gear. The green warrior simply smiled at the thought of more Cybertronian trash entering the impending slaughter. How nice it would be to cleanse his actuators in their own energon. How very nice, indeed.

Hardhead’s smile morphed into a full on laugh as he received Ricochet’s transmission for help. The war veteran turned towards the gunner’s position near the edge of the sand and opened a return comm line with the doomed Autobot marksman:

>>”I’m afraid, Ricochet, that your doom was written the moment you were forged. Like all Cybertronians, there is no escaping your fate. Now, be a good little mech and die at the hands of my brothers!”<<

With his message sent, Hardhead returned his attention to both Saferoute and Warpath, who were still attempting to stop Oil Slick from escaping. Knowing that his brothers would appear through the fires very soon, the green herald saw no reason to put off the inevitable any longer. Thus, Hardhead transformed into his Stryker armored vehicle mode and pointed his 120mm cannon in the bus-former’s direction before opening fire. With a volley of highly explosive shells heading directly towards the yellow femme, the veteran soldier quickly rotated his turret around until his sights were then set on the crimson tank. Hardhead opened fire once more, hoping to quickly eliminate two Autobots with a single, well-timed attack that neither one of them would see coming.
_________

As the fires from his artillery bombardment consumed the wooded area in front of him, Ricochet received a very unexpected response from Hardhead. It seemed that the war veteran was also a traitor to their cause, but there was much more to his words than simple Decepticon rhetoric. There was a sheer hatred in his vocals for anything Cybertronian, regardless of the side they fell on. Perhaps a third faction had formed that sought the destruction of both ‘Con and ‘Bot. Regardless, things had just gone from worse to absolute horrible in the blink of an optic.

Ricochet backed further away from the burning thicket and turned to see that Hardhead had now opened fire on both Saferoute and Warpath. It appeared that those two were not traitors and thus were his only hope for survival. Opening a comm line to his fellow Autobots, the marksman sent another warning:

>>”Saferoute, Warpath, incoming! Hardhead is a traitor, too!”<<

Bottom of the Yellow Sea

Even in the midst of this little altercation, Onslaught hoped that Swindle's tactic bore some results. He had no desire to engage in combat with other Decepticons but he would do what needed to be done to preserve order in this already uncertain and chaotic period of their empire's history. If that meant incapacitating, or offlining altogether, a couple of insubordinate triple-changers then so be it.

More than one of the blasts pelted Onslaught's armored hide, but it did little noticeable damage at this point. The Combaticon Commander was readying a second volley when a new transmission had come in. One that immediately overrode everything that currently occupied Onslaught's attention.

Autobots? Here? They had installed early warning systems. They were obviously not in the most ideal location to achieve optimum functionality, but they still should have proved sufficient...

How in the slag...?

Their location had been compromised. That much was obvious. To what extent, Onslaught did not know, but he had to assume that if the Autobots knew it was entirely possible that everyone now knew what was being built down here. Onslaught would be damned if he was going to give it up without a fight.

>>"Disengage and regroup at the site. Activate and utilize all resources. Those without sufficient artillery will support those with. Time to test out those terrain defenses! Dig in and blow away anything that tries to take this from us!"<< Onslaught transmitted on the open-Decepticon frequency. Security of the signal was the last thing on his mind now. He could care less who might overhear. It wouldn't matter anyway if they ended up losing all the progress they had made to some Autobot raid. >>"Does anyone have visuals? Who's doing this?"<<

Onslaught slammed his gears in to reverse and began to backtrack towards the construction site. If Blitzwing and Astrotrain decided to listen to Swindle's reasoning, as well as the call of any Decepticon to respond to an Autobot threat, he might be a little more lenient when it came time to deal with their burst of disobedience. If not, well, then they would be the next mechanoids he would make a special point to see hunted down and brought to justice. Decepticon justice.

On Shore

Saferoute continued driving along the shore, but she was too far behind Oil Slick to stop the Decepticon chemist or even see if any of her shots hit. She was determined to stop him, though. Just then she was startled by the sound of multiple large explosions coming from behind her- Decepticon reinforcements? Then she recieved a disturbing message from Ricochet, Rodimus and Hex had betrayed them, and they possessed some sort of supernatural powers.

"What?", she exclaimed as she put on the breaks, "Did he burn out a processor or something?"

As the busformer came to a complete stop she got a better look of the area behind her from where she heard the explosions- and to her horror saw the wooded area they'd travelled through burning.

"Primus no!", she shouted, "There shouldn't have been any native casualties!"

Slowly but surely she turned her bus mode around toward the fires. Slag attacking the Decepticons, there were innocent Earth creatures in danger!

But just as she started in that direction she received a warning from the marksman- Hardhead was a traitor and was firing on them.

"Oh slag!", she yelled as the warning was confirmed when she heard the sound of Hardhead's cannon firing.

To slow to drive away to avoid the shells, Saferoute transformed back to robot mode, laying on the ground as low as she possibly could in the hopes they would fly right over her. Covering her arms over her head and into the sand, she felt two shells whiz right over her, much to her relief. That relief was very short lived, as a third shell hit her armor where the front of her bus mode stuck out from her shoulders.

Her scream was drowned out by the explosion as she felt the metal armor and glass shatter, scorching heat burning portions of her back that weren't directly hit as she was pushed deeper into the ground. It felt even worse then the burns she got in El Dorado.

She lay on the ground for several astroseconds to make sure he was done firing at her.

Saferoute put her arms out from over her head, and looked around to get her bearings. Ricochet was right that Hardhead had betrayed them, as now the green warrior was firing on Warpath. Hopefully that would give her enough time to find some cover.

She spotted Ricochet, but he seemed to be standing out in the open, not where she wanted to be. A couple hundred yards to her right she noticed a dune, not the best cover, but it was better than laying in the open like she was right now.

Come on, fight the pain, fight the pain....

Ignoring the burning she felt on her back, Saferoute got herself up- thankfully her motor functions were intact. Biting her lip she ran as best she could, clumsily tripping every so often in her rush, painstakingly making her way to the dune. Reaching the top she stumbled down behind it.

"ARGH, SLAGGIT!", she yelled in pain as she landed with her back against the cover. Looking over she waved at the marksman to get over to her position.

>>Ricochet, I'm hit but I'm not slagged yet. Now stop standing and staring and get over here, you're just making yourself a target!<<

*

Warpath's treads creaked as his engine roared, the crimson tank making his presence known on the battlefield. Still pursuing Oil Slick, he scoffed at the marksman's warning about Rodimus and Hex.

>>BLAM, yeah right, Ricochet. You're WHAM probably just whining because Rodimus wouldn't listen to one of your ideas. Give it a BANG rest, ya' drama drone!<<

Warpath loaded an explosive shell into his cannon as he rolled ahead, looking for Oil Slick or any other Decepticon target.

"POW, come out, come out, whereever you are!", Warpath taunted, "Guess those Decepti-slaggers are BLAM too scared to face Warpath and his good buddy Hardhe-"

Warpath was interrupted by another message from Ricochet, this time about the veteran soldier he was about to name.

"BANG, oh that's rich.", Warpath said to himself, "There's no SLAGGIN' way my pal Hardhead would-"

Warpath stopped in his tracks as he looked over to his friend, and practically went into shock when he saw the green armored vehicle fire on the busformer.

>>Hardhead what the- what the slag are you DOING!?!<<

Before the crimson tank got a response he saw his friend's turret turn to toward him and fire. With no time to think Warpath quickly aimed his own cannon at Hardhead's shots and fired. Halfway between the two warriors came a large explosion as Warpath's explosive shell collided with Hardhead's own artillery. Warpath transformed back into robot mode as he felt force from the explosion. Any other time he'd be bragging about how his superior accuracy saved him, but he wasn't in any mood.

As the smoke cleared, Warpath ran right toward the green armored vehicle. This was his friend, a warrior he had spilled oil with in battle, and laughed about it later over mugs of energon. To say he felt betrayed would be an understatement.

As he got close enough the crimson warrior loaded his chamber with another explosive round. His optics burned as he went right up to the veteran warrior and stood directly in front of him.

"WHAT IS YOUR SLAGGIN' PROBLEM!?!", Warpath yelled, as he stomped his foot right onto the front of Hardhead's vehicle mode, "YOU TRANSFORM RIGHT NOW, LOOK ME RIGHT IN THE OPTICS AND TELL ME WHAT THE FRAG IS GOING ON!!!"

On Shore

Hex reveled in the knowledge that Ricochet was too confused to make any sense of the situation that had been unfolding right under everyone’s’ noses. Such delicious irony. Hex let out a haughty laugh as he edged even closer to his intended target.

“Aw come on, Ricochet. I can assure you that Darkride will play nice. In fact he’s even willing to let you pick the game!”

At his young brother’s taunt Darkride let out an evil laugh. How he’d enjoy tearing this one apart.

He’s mine. So no ideas! Buuuut I will let you play with at least one part of him…how about his head?

The silent communication from Hex had Darkride releasing another dark chuckle…it ended abruptly when both heralds noted that their prey was making an escape. The interrogator smile faded into a deep frown right before he lowered into a crouch and took off after Ricochet’s retreating form. Close behind was the youngest of the pack belonging to Rodimus.
____

Hex had emerged from the tree line just as Darkride sprinted off after Ricochet. The young mech let out a growl but it was quickly squelched when he caught sight of their warrior herald fire on the remaining oppressors. Warpath and Saferoute. Hardhead had such a way with that cannon of his. The thought of the last Autobots’ sparks being extinguished by their hands was so very intoxicating.

It was then that he realized that the other ‘Bots stuck on those two ships shouldn’t be left out of the whole fray. After all the more opponents the more dead bodies. A sight he couldn’t pass up.

>>”Prowl! Or whoever the hell is in charge! It’s Hex! A bunch of us followed Rodimus down planet side! We found the ‘Cons but we’re takin’ a beating! You gotta send reinforcements like yesterday! These are our coordinates!”<<

Now that his desperate message had been sent Hex turned his focus on Saferoute whom he spotted trying, as best as her bulky form would allow, taking cover behind a large sand dune. He let out an amused chuckle as he recalled hardhead’s artillery shell grazing and burning her back plating. It must have hurt like the Pit.

Hex glanced around the area and took off around the perimeter of the tree line occasionally ducking in behind some shrubbery, until he stopped to the bus-former’s right.

“You know you can’t hide from us don’t you, Saferoute?”
____

The interrogator was fast, but he was certainly much faster now. From the border surrounding the shore Darkride had lowered into a crouch and took off at high speed after the Autobot Gunner. He was already ordered by his brother that he had no right to take his life, instead he could play with him…and Darkride had several games he wished to show Ricochet.

Even while closing in on his target Darkride could hear the communique Hardhead had sent to their former comrade. The interrogator let out a chuckle as he closed in on his target who would no doubt be stunned by the sudden revelation that not only had this small insignificant group been duped but so had both factions.

An animalistic growl was the only sound made before Darkride moved to take down Ricochet.

(OOC: The outcome of the confrontation between Hardhead and Warpath was agreed upon by both players.)

On Shore

Hardhead smiled when Warpath managed to blast his shells right out of the air. The crimson warrior had skills, without a doubt. However, those skills would only delay the inevitable outcome of this confrontation between old friends, an outcome that would see the tank-former lying in ruins beneath the green herald’s sheer fury. “Nice shot, ‘Path,” the war veteran replied as he transformed back to robot mode in order to meet his former comrade faceplate to faceplate on the battlefield they now found themselves on. He could see the rage in Warpath’s optics as he demanded to know what was going on.

“What’s going on?” Hardhead rhetorically asked, staring the crimson mech directly in the optics. “The destruction of you and every other Cybertronian in the Universe, that’s what’s going on!” Using his right hand, the green herald then grabbed a hold of Warpath’s chest cannon and swiftly bent it downward until it was at a ninety degree angle. The previously loaded shell could not fire now, not that it could really do any harm to the war veteran. The former Autobot smiled as he then delivered a powerful head butt to Warpath’s faceplate, knocking the red mech backwards and down to the sand. Wasting no time, Hardhead was on top of him in one swift motion before the tank-former could even react.

“My dear Warpath, your end has come,” Hardhead growled as he began to pummel his former comrade in the faceplate with closed fists. The green herald did not need his shatterblasters in order to shatter his opponent. His master had given him all the power he could ever need to wipe clean the scourge of the Cybertronian race. After repeated hits to the faceplate, Warpath’s head was left a mangled mess, but he was still functional. Not for long, Hardhead mused as he grabbed ahold of the crimson warrior’s cranium with both hands and easily ripped it off of his body, leaving the tank-former decapitated with energon pouring from the neck stump.

Hardhead then stood back up and lifted the severed cranial unit up to optic level. “Now you and Howlstrike have something in common. Heh heh,” the green herald chuckled before tossing the head aside and turning his attention to the rest of the slaughter that was beginning to take shape all around him. With Hex’s message sent to those in orbit, more Autobots would soon arrive along with more Decepticons from the sea. Once that occurred, even more energon would be spilled in the most grisly of fashion.
_________

Ricochet was dismayed that neither Saferoute nor Warpath seemed to take his warnings seriously. It was their loss as the expert marksman was not about to go out of his way in order to convince his comrades of who they could or could not trust. They would find out for themselves soon enough, and it would ultimately be their funeral if they didn’t want to believe the truth until it was too late.

>>”Suit yourselves.”<<

The gunner’s message had no sooner been sent when both of his comrades quickly realized that he had been right and found themselves under attack by Hardhead. The bus-former took an immediate hit while the crimson tank managed to knock the incoming shells out of the air before transforming and angrily confronting his old “friend”. Good luck with that, Ricochet thought as he noticed that Saferoute had managed to fight through the pain and get to cover a short distance away, suggesting that the marksman do the same.

>>”I know what I’m doing, sweetspark, I....”<<

Ricochet’s transmission was cut short by the sound of a vicious growl that drew the gunner’s attention back to the burning foliage where he saw that both Hex and Darkride had emerged unscathed. It was an unbelievable sight to be sure as any normal Autobot or Decepticon would’ve been fried, but somehow these two managed to survive with no damage whatsoever to show for it. It was like magic or perhaps some special kind of shielding. Either way, the black and gold mech needed to find a way around this protection if he was going to make it out of this with his spark still intact.

As Hex headed off towards Saferoute’s location, the interrogator ran directly at Ricochet, himself, the sharpshooter turning to face his oncoming attacker. With his rifle confiscated by that thing called Rodimus, the gunner only had his shoulder-mounted cannon to play with. It would do, espcially considering that a more powerful weapon was needed in order to make a simple dent against these super-charged mechanoids. Plasma darts were simply not going to be good enough.

“You want a piece of me, Darkride?!” Ricochet taunted his quickly approaching adversary. “Well, come and get me you filthy piece of slag!!” The black and gold marksman lined up his sights and unleashed a volley of over two dozen explosive shells, hoping that the torturer would have no place to go as hellfire rained down all around him.

Dodge that, glitch!

Bottom of the Yellow Sea

>>"Disengage and regroup at the site. Activate and utilize all resources. Those without sufficient artillery will support those with. Time to test out those terrain defenses! Dig in and blow away anything that tries to take this from us! Does anyone have visuals? Who's doing this?"<<

While Autobots having found their base wasn't exactly good news, Brawl was positively delighted to hear about this new development of the situation. It allowed him to do what he loved to do. The one thing he was good at. Fight. And this time he didn't have to try avoid damaging the opponent. In fact, blowing the enemy to smithereens was now the preferred course of action.

Hearing Onslaught's orders spurred Brawl to action. He did not think, he just acted. Just like Onslaught had indoctrinated him to do. Hitting his gears to reverse, Brawl backed down into one of the firing positions he had dug around the base perimeter earlier and pre-loaded his turret with explosive shells. Now he just needed targets or at least the general direction where to deploy his firepower. But for that he needed coordinates.

Luckily enough Brawl didn't have to wait for the coordinates for long. Ramjet had taken into the air and managed to quickly provide the general position of the enemy. That was all the information Brawl needed. Until Onslaught would pick him a target, he'd just randomly slug explosive shells at the Autobots. Given how he had enough firepower to do indirect damage even if his shells would not find their intended targets - this was something he could afford to do . And what came to Darkride, the creepy interrogator - if he even was alive anymore - was nothing but collateral damage as far the Combaticon heavyweight was concerned.

And so, Brawl spearheaded the Decepticon artillery units by opening fire towards the bots at the shore while other 'cons without ability to fire in arches like Ramplate prepared for the possibility of the Autobots trying to make a charge towards the Decepticon base.



Around the same time as Brawl began his artillery barrage, Scrapper decided to split his unit at least for now. Bonecrusher and Long Haul would be the most welcome additions to the defensive forces. Both were strong and tough and yearned for the opportunity to take combat duty anyway. The rest of the Constructicons were to continue their work for now at least.

>>"Bonecrusher, Long Haul - join up with our defense forces and follow Onslaught's orders for now! I will update you even the situation changes, Scrapper out!"<<

Having sent the transmission, Scrapper turned his attention towards Hook who was still working on Scavenger. "How long until you are done with Scavenger?"

Oh Shore

Warpath kept his cannon aimed squarely at Hardhead as the war veteran transformed to robot mode. When he had decided to join Rodimus and the others to attack the Decepticons, the crimson warrior believed he and Hardhead would be fighting side by side, taking down the Decepticons with their firepower and great strength. The last thing he would have thought he'd be doing was having to fire on his old war buddy.

Hardhead's words were a complete shock to Warpath- the destruction of every Cybertronian in the Universe? Those were not words he would expect from any Autobot, let alone one he'd fought beside so many times.

Before the crimson warrior had the chance to reply, the green mech had took hold of his cannon with one hand and bent the front half pointing down, making Warpath's only weapon completely useless. The tankformer didn't have an astrosecond to contemplate the ruining of his recently rebuilt cannon when he got a vicious headbutt right to the face, sending him down.

Just as soon as the Warpath hit the ground, Hardhead was already right on top of him, proclaiming it was the end for Warpath. The green mech then proceeded to pound the tank-bot's faceplate hard, repeatedly, and without mercy. Warpath had seen the war veteran fight Decepticons many times, but he never seen him attack an enemy so brutally . With each hit Warpath's faceplate caved and buckled until it was a broken mess, his vision becoming blurred by the damage his optics were starting to take as well as the repeated damage warnings that were brought up by his diagnostics computer. Each pound he took hurt, but it didn't hurt nearly as much as the fact that it was coming from a mech he had long trusted and relied on in the field of battle.

When Hardhead stopped his assault, there was little that Warpath could do. His arms and legs flailed about as he tried to mount some kind of escape or attack, but with all the damage his cerebral circuits had taken there little strength or coordination in any of his movements. By now he had taken so much damage to the head, now a mangled mess of broken armor plating, cracked circuits, splattered energon and wires, that he hardly felt anything.

"yerrr......yerrrrrrrrr nnnnnnnn,", was all that Warpath could weakly spit out from his broken vocal processor, just before Hardhead ripped his broken head from the rest of his body with little effort. It was an indescribable pain, followed by a feeling of complete numbness as his systems could do nothing but fail.

ye're......not.......Hard......head......, was the last think Warpath could think while his sensors sputtered offline, as his former war buddy lifted his head up and laughed, only to toss it aside as if it were just another piece of garbage. As his body flailed around without direction before shutting down from the loss of energon gushing out of his neck, Warpath went completely offline just before his head hit the ground.

*

Saferoute had pulled out her laser rifle as she got the response from Ricochet- not the response she wanted to hear though, and if they both lived this whole mess she would make sure to slap him for calling her 'sweetspark'. But that was the last thing she could think of. She cautiously moved to the edge of cover, to see what was happening with the two warriors still out in the open. Her jaw dropped as she just managed to see Hardhead rip Warpath's head off with little effort.

Oh no, Warpath! They're not slagging around here, and none of the other Autobots even know where we are! Oh slaggit I'm an idiot for getting involved in all this, what was I thinking?

The busformer was quickly caught by surprise as Hex made his presence known, having snuck right next to her. Startled she quickly turned toward the young mech, aiming her rifle right at his head.

"Don't move!", she threatened, "Who says I'm hiding?"

Saferoute stood up as tall as she could, in a vain attempt to intimidate Hex with her larger size. She looked over him, remembering the earlier warning from Ricochet about Hex and the other backstabbers being more powerful. She had already seen the war veteran Hardhead rip Warpath apart without straining a servo, so it may well have been more than just an overreaction from the marksman. But as far as Saferoute could tell there wasn't any significant physical difference in the young mech in front of her.

"So this was all just a trap for us from the beginning, wasn't it?", she asked as she kept her finger close to her gun's trigger, "I should have known something was rotten if you were a part of it, Unicron's Spawn!"

Saferoute began to shake her head in disbelief. She had come down here to fight Decepticons, in retaliation for all the innocent lives they had killed, especially those in El Dorado. Regardless of how much of a punk he was or how many times she'd wanted to slap him for oft-handed remarks, she never thought she would have to fight a fellow Autobot. As much as she hated to think it, this would have been easier for her if some Earth creature were in danger.

"You know what the worst part is? There was actually a few times that I thought there was a good bot in you. If a decent mech like Axle would take you under his wing, then you couldn't be all bad, right?", with a little of disgust, she aimed her rifle even more carefully at Hex's cranial chamber, "I'll bet that's what you're really looking forward too, isn't it? When you see the look on Axle's face when he finds out what a complete piece of slag you are."

She shook her head, she couldn't hesitate. This wasn't an Autobot anymore, this was a traitor and an enemy. And he was much faster than she was, so if she was going to do anything she had to do it while he was still close. He audio sensors began to pick up the sound of explosions, hitting different areas around them. It was probably enemy artillery, Decepticon reinforcements. If she wanted to survive she needed to take him out now, before they were too heavily outnumbered.

Saferoute didn't have anything more to say. Gritting her teeth, she resisted the urge to shut her optics, and fired right at Hex's head.

On Shore

>>Blitzwing and Astrotrain! We need to stop the Autobots from getting to the construction site! Take it to ‘em in the sky!<< Ramjet had ordered.

Astrotrain wasn't exactly sure what to make of Ramjet's little burst of...what was that, anyway? Leadership? Odd. Or maybe not. Maybe with Megatron out of the picture, everyone who had even half an inkling of carrying the Decepticon banner was going to try to do it.

Blitzwing, for his part, had decided that the better course of action was to shift gears and start attacking whatever Autobots were here instead of their fellow Decepticons who were trying to prevent their departure. Eh. Might as well.

"All right. Autobots it is. It's what we always come back around to, right?" Astrotrain said, activating the thrusters in his feet and lifting himself slowly in to the air even as energy blasts continued to burst through the water around them. Ramjet's course of action seemed as good as any.

This next part was going to hurt. He could already feel it.

Getting himself some aerial momentum, he transformed in to his shuttle mode--grunting in pain as he did so, from the damage that he had already sustained--and fired off another burst of thruster energy. He wouldn't keep pace with a Seeker like Blitzwing pretty much could, but he could do his part.

On Shore

Swindle had sent him a transmission. Oil Slick had sent him a transmission—though to be fair, it was a general message dispatched to all Decepticons within a certain vicinity. But it still counted, as far as Blitzwing was concerned. And now Ramjet, of all mechs, had sent him a transmission.

Quite the hive of activity, their “secret” location had become. Even though Swindle's transmission pertained to the Triple Changers' escape and how he claimed he could free Blitzwing and Astrotrain from their predicament, the other two contained startling information relating to the Autobots and their unexpected visit. All messages were linked to violence in one way or another.

So, as Blitzwing thought, quite the hive of activity. And not the sort beneficial to the construction of their base. Their secret base, that was. Tucked away in a secret location. Being steadily built in secret.

Blitzwing would have loved to have made a grand joke out of that, if it weren't for the fact that their current situation required a serious approach. It rankled him immensely to admit it, but these Autobots, however small in number, could do some damage. They could destroy what progress had been achieved on their headquarters thus far. They could even take out a few of his comrades if the opportunity presented itself.

Blitzwing knew all the advantages the element of surprise possessed; he himself had favourably employed them many times before on the battlefield, success synonymous with the carnage he wrought. But the Autobots were not going to exploit them on this pitiful foray of theirs. Because they had been discovered. And they were going to be annihilated for their insolence.

Still, that didn't mean Blitzwing couldn't have a little fun while engaged in conflict. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't all business, especially when one viewed fighting how he did. Oh, no.

The commando smirked as Astrotrain agreed with his proposed idea. Good old Astrotrain. He was incapable of letting Blitzwing down.

When his friend transformed into shuttle mode, Blitzwing quickly took to the air and also transformed, his physique fluidly shifting and shaping into an F-15E Strike Eagle. A decent battle awaited him.

“Time to frag up some Autobozos!”

On Shore

Vortex bobbed briefly as his sensors took in the descent of rubble from the impact sites where his water twisters had bombarded the cliff face. While he had not made direct contact, he knew his actions had placed a fear into the back of the processors of the Triple Changers. Disobey and feel the full force of the hurricane, it was a simple approach that did not require refinement... much to his dissatisfaction. But it was still effective.

Cutting his station keeping props, Vortex allowed himself to release what ballast he had and drifted up to the surface of the tumultuous sea. His primary rotor spun at its full force to push a mass of water down as he dried out his internal engines and intakes. Once his readings were in the clear, the Combaticon copter released his air break and shot up nearly a dozen feet over the next crashing wave. His sensors pinged the slightly stunned Triple Changers who had each halted their mad dash to freedom.

Vortex pivoted on his keel and headed over towards the duo, his weapons hidden yet armed, ready for potential confrontation with the two larger Decepticons. There was something to be said for being smarter than the average brute,

He pegged a channel to the Triple Changers just as the first burst of laser and cobalt fire erupted in the near distance where some of the patrol units had been stationed. His sensors immediately swung over to detect a bevy of enemy signals on the far perimeter. "Autobots? Here... Scrap it. Ever get that feeling Starscream is some how responsible for their detecting this location?" He spoke into the open channel to all Decepticons who were now connected to the primary combat link.

The interrogator swung back and forth and secured the airspace, at least the Autobots failed to bring air cover. That would make wiping them out all the easier. His weapons emerged from their under carriage and locked into their pivoting turret positions. The Combaticon sent a charge of energy into his turbine and launched toward the heaviest battle zones.

As he approached the skirmish where the Autobot Tanks were laying down something, Vortex fired two thermal rockets from his launcher pods and then gave them a boost with a burst of concentrated air funnels. "You Autobots are fools for trying to take on us with only a handful of scrap piles."