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Clemency – Graveyard

Skyquake had avoided most of his mortar shells. They had been more to attract the Predator commander's attention. Thunderclash braced himself, paying mind to his injuries so that he would not move in a way to leave an opening for Skyquake. Skyquake was up in the air...transforming... He would be here soon. Sliding one of his feet back, Thunderclash readied himself for the inevitable retaliation.

"AUTOBOT SCUM!!!"

Skyquake was coming at him, making the transformation back into robot mode. Any punch or kick that he could throw at Thunderclash would be particularly devastating thanks to the leftover momentum from his dive. However, that momentum could be used to Thunderclash's advantage.
He waited. Astroseconds crawled. There! There it was. A punch. Thunderclash moved to the side instantaneously. His injuries protested at the swift movement, but the blow from Skyquake just clipped the side of his head.

"Your efforts of evading me and my forces were useless! No one can outrun the Predators forever!"

Skyquake's momentum would set him off balance, having largely missed his target. Thunderclash brought up one of his legs to deliver a powerful kick to send the Predator sprawling.

“No effort is useless if it wastes your time and resources, Skyquake,” Thunderclash growled, “United, we can stand against you and your Predators!”

Clemency - Graveyard

Road Rage had no real chance to see whether or not her shots had hit Snare before the crimson femme came under fire from another one of Skyquake’s aerial minions. The former bodyguard’s outward sensors detected the volley of missiles streaking right towards her. The mech responsible for the attack was none other than Falcon, whose battle cry was more than loud enough to give away the fact that he was directly behind the flying Autobot.

“Thanks for the heads up on your position there, Falcon!” Road Rage shouted back at her Predator adversary as she sped up to keep just ahead of the rockets that were almost literally licking her exhaust. Up ahead was a large crashed Decepticon freighter that stuck out of the ground like a giant tombstone, which seemed fitting considering she was flying over one great big graveyard.

Pushing her thrusters to their limits, Road Rage was rapidly approaching said freighter. I have to time this just right or I’ll end up in a million pieces all over the side of that ship! She thought to herself as the image of the ‘Con vessel grew larger and larger in her forward view. Then, at the last possible astrosecond before collision, the red femme pulled up, narrowly avoiding certain death. The missiles that had been trailing her had not been so lucky as they each struck the side of the freighter with an explosive might that fed one another with each successive detonation.

“Whoa! That was a close one!” Road Rage commented aloud as she flew vertically up the side of the Decepticon freighter. Flames scorched her aft section as a series of fireballs expanded behind her. With any luck, Falcon would not be able to pull up in time and be forced to follow his own missiles into the side of the hull, adding to the inferno. However, the former bodyguard wasn’t about to wait and see if luck was on her side. Oh no. Once she reached the top of the wreckage, Road Rage flipped around and went into a steep dive back down towards the Predator stealth fighter. Wasting no time, she unleashed a volley of magna-bombs from her launchers directly at Falcon, hoping that if his own stupidity didn’t take him out then she surely would instead.

The Avant Garde--Bounce Chamber

Elita was no stranger to these sorts of affairs. Dangerous missions came part and parcel with the function that she had been given and the team she had been given to do it with. They would do what they needed to do and then join them inside the massive Decepticon hellhole and they would succeed. Just as before. She did her best to give it no more thought than that, even if she couldn't fully shake the feeling that this mission was somehow different than all the others she had been on.

She watched curiously as the codes they had received from Agent 113 snaked their way through the Nemesis' command and control systems and accessed the corresponding bounce chamber. It would be nice if said codes could just shut the whole ship down remotely. They could board and take out all the leftovers piece by piece. But Elita suspected that only Megatron himself would be able to disable the Decepticon flagship in that manner. Maybe not even him. Maybe there was no such mechanism. Regardless, these codes would get them aboard, and that's all they really needed. Skill would handle the rest.

"Kinda late to worry about those codes boss," Roulette said. Elita smirked.

"Heh. Probably so," she said, switching the Avant Garde's bounce controls to remote access.

"Lets go show them what we can do."

Elita nodded and gathered the pair of weapons she had set down next to the bounce controls and walked over to the chamber with Roulette. Primus himself only knew what would be waiting for them on the other side. But it was now or--very realistically--never. This was their shot. Elita would not waste it. The heads-up display text on the bottom right corner of Elita's optical field shifted.

"Let's."

//NEW DATA ACCESSED//

//BOUNCE TECHNOLOGY ACTIVATED//

And in a flash of white, the two special operatives were gone.

((OOC: Permission granted from Fox to do the things I've done.))

Clemency - Graveyard

An impressive counter to his attack sent the Predator commander skidding across the battlefield. He placed a hand over the spot where Thunderclash's foot had connected with him. No energon drawn, he's losing his touch. Rising back up to his full height, Skyquake tilted his head to each side of his shoulders, the sound of servos popping back into place following each motion.

"Heh, your theatrics never cease to amuse me, Thunderclash..." Skyquake taunted in a mild tone as he pushed forward in a mad rush towards his target. When he was in range of his combatant, he lifted his knee joint up into Thunderclash's waist, causing the Autobot commander to hunch forward from the blow. With his knee up into Thunderclash's waist, Skyquake brought down that same leg against the Autobot's knew servo, crippling the already injured commander to fall to the ground.

Standing over his opponent, the Predator commander let out a satisfied chuckle as he grabbed the Turbomaster commander by the back of his neck and his waist and lifted him overhead.

"But words and cliches won't save you and your wretched crew from me!!"

Using all his strength, Skyquake tossed Thunderclash forward into the debris.

"HOW BEFITTING IS IT THAT YOU CRASH LANDED ON A GRAVEYARD WORLD?!? NO ONE WILL HAVE TO EVEN WORRY ABOUT BURYING YOU AFTER I'VE RIPPED YOUR SPARK FROM YOUR CHEST!!!"

After his taunt, Skyquake drew his minigun from off his back and pointed in the direction he had tossed the Turbomaster commander. As the weapon began spinning up, the sound of incoming Autobots pierced Skyquake's highly tuned sensors. He turned to see the Autobot reinforcements rolling in from behind the debris.

"Impossible..." Skyquake muttered to himself as he turned the weapon towards the femme-forces approaching their position and opened fire, spewing heaving metallic slugs of ammunition towards the Autobot ranks.

((OOC: Permission granted from Domey to do the things.))

Clemency – Graveyard

Connected. Good. Thunderclash planted both feet firmly on the ground, his injured leg sparking a bit from the exertion of the kick. The regional commander's blue optics locked onto Skyquake who stood up undaunted and popped his neck. No good. Well, the fight was only just beginning! And Thunderclash, sure as those that followed him, was going to give his old chap Skyquake a good show. He prepared himself for Skyquake's retaliation.

"Heh, your theatrics never cease to amuse me, Thunderclash..."

Thunderclash frowned at the taunt. Suddenly, he found himself staggering back as Skyquake rushed madly toward him. Thunderclash was caught off-guard. No time to defend. Knee to the torso. He was looking at the ground. Pain. More movement? A sharp pain in his injured knee servo. Thunderclash's legs buckled beneath him as he crumpled to the ground against his will.

So much for a good show... Thunderclash thought grimly to himself as he tried to push himself to his feet again. However, he felt himself hefted upward, weightless for a moment. Finding himself staring up at the sky, Thunderclash thrashed in Skyquake's grasp to little avail.

"But words and cliches won't save you and your wretched crew from me!!"

And he was soaring through the air in an uncontrolled spin, smashing into a pile of debris and decepticon bodies. Thunderclash managed to lift his head up in time to see Skyquake taunt him yet again and point his trademarked minigun at him. Well, this was a bit of a pinch, now wasn't it? But as fortunate would have it, something caught the Predator commander's optic. His salvation from this particularly dodgy situation rolled in from behind some ship wreckage. Reinforcements. Thank the bloody stars.

"Impossible..."

Thunderclash's optics widened as Skyquake turned his weapon on the newly arrived femmes and opened fire on their number. Pushing himself from the heap of scrap metal that he had landed on, the regional commander transformed into his combat carrier alternate mode and tore over the uneven ground, barreling toward Skyquake. He would not allow Skyquake to lay a hand on theit reinforcements. Crashing into Skyquake, Thunderclash transformed once more as the Predator skidded away.

“Nothing is impossible, chap!” Thunderclash boomed with a confident smile plastered across his faceplate. “Perhaps our evasions of your attempts to capture us were not as futile as you thought? Have you forgotten when we Autobots stand together, miracles can be accomplished? We will win this day, despite your best efforts, Skyquake,” Thunderclash barked as he drew out his mortar launcher and fired off several shells directly at the Predator commander.

The Nemesis--Bounce Chamber

Elita-1 had bounced to and from so many Autobot ships and facilities that suddenly finding herself aboard a Decepticon vessel--their flagship, no less--was something of a jarring experience. Most Autobot constructs were well-lit, clean silver, white or other bright primary colors. The bounce chamber of the Nemesis looked like an entranceway into the Pit. Everything was so dark that Elita's optics had to automatically adjust in order to compensate. Just dark-dark--lots of blacks and grays with only the faintest hints of anything else. But it was unoccupied, so Elita was thankful for that at least.

Elita was off the bounce pad and pressed against the nearest wall in a few short steps. The special operative pulled up the limited technical specifications that Autobot Intelligence had been able to provide her for this operation. The majority of it was guesswork, based on the size and overall design of the vessel. There weren't exactly a lot of Autobots who had been onboard this ship and got back off alive again.

There were three different doorways leading into the bounce chamber. Elita looked to Roulette to ensure she was ready and, seeing that she was, headed for the rightmost door. With their access codes in play, it slid out of her way and revealed a long, winding corridor, one as dimly-lit as the bounce chamber itself.

Great.

Subtlety and subterfuge and sabotage would be their best allies for the time being. But when things went to slag, as they inevitably would, they were armed and ready to go out fighting. Weapons in hand, Elita stalked off into the great unknown.

Clemency - Thunderclash's Trailer


Bumper spotted Stalker as he was scrambling to keep the signal strong, and let any reinforcements know exactly where they would be needed most to assist and save the wounded (not to mention me!, he thought). But when he spotted Stalker, one of the larger Predators he'd seen on file appear out of a bounce, he stopped worrying about conserving the energy in the trailer for the wounded. They needed protection, and that meant firepower.

Fun Fact: did you know it can take, on average, 7 to 19 seconds to calibrate all systems after a bounce. Bumper cursed himself for sparing the split second he wasted recalling that fact as he ran through all the routines needed to turn Thunderclash's trailer into its battlestation form. 4 seconds. Placing the distress beacon behind the control panel for the station as the primary weapon hummed to life. 7 Seconds. Now he was just hoping. Hoping that Stalker would take those few seconds, Bumper's pressing of the button sequence turned frenzied and he almost ended up just punching the buttons, trying to get them to understand the urgency of the situation and he only had moments before the Predator would open up on them and there was no way that they could survive if it didn't-

Bah-Leep! Primary, Secondary, Tertiary Defenses: Online

beeped the console.


Oh thank Primus....


Skies Over Clemency

Snare had been tailing the odd little Flying Car Autobot when Skyquake and Thunderclash started making so much noise. He was tempted to slice the ground between them open with his Masers, but settled for streaking towards the Trailer/Battlestation further down the field. He'd locked on when he saw the injured Autobots, and one panicky small yellow one...before swooping back towards Thunderclash. If any of the other Predators wanted to attack a minibot trying to protect his invalid friends...well, Snare couldn't stop them. It didn't mean he had to take part, especially since he didn't think he was noticed. Switching on his Masers, Snare fired one, two, three brilliant arcs of searing blue energy towards the Autobot Commander as more enemies popped up on his sensors.

Clemency - Small Bounce Zone

Lancer came out of the Bounce and almost immediately went into Vehicle Mode, her large Oxidation Cannon mounting to the bed of her vehicle form. She didn't respond especially well to the unease that came with the teleportation technology, and being in the more 'solid' flat-bed mode helped her immensely.

She revved her engine and put herself between the general Bounce area and the rest of the fight. They all had to get down there safely with their heads on straight. Since Lancer was first, her first goal was making sure everyone else could get down safely.

The Nemesis - Bounce Chamber

Roulette took a moment to shake off the effects of the bounce. Normally she might have made a joke about how she was feeling but she knew this was not the time or place for such things. She drew her rifle and made her way carefully towards he door. She looked towards the long hallway and crouched, aiming down the hall with her sniper rifle. She turned towards Elita and nodded. She was ready to cover Elita and put a bolt into the head of any 'Con who came across her.

The Nemesis--Corridors

No sooner were the two outside of the bounce chamber than the steel doors they had come through and had smoothly slid out of their way previously now slammed behind them.

Elita whipped around, giving the entryway a quizzical look.

Weird.

Still, no visual threats. Their cover was still in tact. She turned back around, seeing that Roulette was more than ready to cover her, as she always was, allowing Elita to do what she did best--take point. The makeshift map of the flagship displayed in her lower left optical field, Elita dashed down the corridor, rounding the first corner and finding herself facing three new corridor options.

Alright...one more right then we're going left next time...

Picking up her pace again, she ran past a side door that was just starting to slide open.

The Nemesis - Bridge

Skyquake was elsewhere and Skydive was enjoying the silence, well the silence of being left in charge of the ship. The bridge was echoing with the sound of vehicon pilots clicking and clacking away at their consoles, maintaining the Nemesis' position in orbit above the reigniting battlefield below.

"Ahh, Peaceful." Skydive mused as he pivoted in the command chair with an energon cube in hand, gently sipping from it every so often. "What's our current condition?" Skydive spoke up towards the vehicon in the navigator's chair.

"We're still high in the atmosphere. Maintaining visual range with Skyquake, all while holding our current altitude in orbit."

"Excellent!"

"Umm, Skydive, sir?" Another vehicon lackey said speaking up from his terminal, "We uh... We have a situation on board."

"ACK! Wh-what?" Skydive exclaimed practically spat out the energon from his mouth before he caught himself from upchucking the magenta-fluid all over the floor in front of him. "What do you mean?"

"It's the security camera in Subsection-5, Corridor-A."

"Annnnnnnnd?"

"Well... The time frame on it..."

"And what ABOUT it?"

"It seems to be running... in a loop..."

Skydive rose from his seat, placing his half-empty cube down on the arm of the command chair as he approached the vehicon. A puzzled expression etched Skydive's faceplate as he studied the console screen infront of him. His underling was right, the timeframe on the side of the screen was looping the last breem-and-a-half or so.

"Camera's probably on the fritz. Have you tried remotely diagnosing it?"

"Yes, sir. System says the camera is working absolutely fine."

"Hmmmm..." Skydive pondered as he brought a hand to his faceplate and rubbed his chin strut, "Send in a repair crew down there to fix it. Last thing we need is Skyquake to blow a fuse over the ship going faulty on us."

The Avant Garde - Engineering

"DAH! Slaggit!" Nautica cursed as she pulled away from her wrench and shook her actuators out. Her trusty wrench remained locked around a bolt she was untightening. Settling her grip on the handle again, the engineer tried loosening the bolt once again by placing all her weight forward on her hands, pushing down on her iconic tool until-

*CREEEECK*

"Finally!" She exclaimed as she spun the loosened bolt out of its socket and grabbed it before it hit the floor. "You were one pesky lil' bugger! Good thing I need to replace you." After placing the bolt down at her feet, the Camian engineer removed the plating the was protecting the various amounts of glowing fuel rods lined within the radiation-safe encasing. A cheerful smile etched across her face as she stared into the neon-green light emanating from the metallic box. She placed her right hand on one of the 3 contained fuel rods in place and stared at the hologrpahic display that displayed over her faceplate.

"Gotta time this right now, only got less than a fraction of fraction of a breem to do this..." The violet femme let out a small breath of air as a countdown set itself up on her holograhic visor. "3...2...1..."

In a flash, Nautica yanked the dying fuel rod from its socket, the lights in the engineering deck faded out until only the glow from her fuel rod patching was lighting up the area in front of her.

">>.124 BREEMS AND CLOSING<<" Buzzed the display in front of her as she reached for the replacement fuel rod. She clutched the spare in her left hand after setting the dying one down on the flooring beside the profound bolt and placed it back in the casing. Once in place, Nautica quickly rewired the radioactive rod back into place.

">>.095 BREEMS AND CLOSING<<"

"Don't worry I got it!" She reassured herself. She placed the final wire into place and quickly slammed her palm on the red button on the side of the encasement, sealing the fuel rods off from the outside atmosphere.

">>.021 BREEMS REMAINING.<<"

"WOOHOO!! New personal best eh Lan-" Nautica exclaimed as she leaped into the air excitedly and the lights flickered back on, only to remind her how Lancer had chosen to go off and join Elita-1 and Chromia on the ground operation. "Oh, right... Just me here." The violet femme lifted the panelling back over the fuel rod casing and pulled out a riveting gun from the tool case beside her, bolting in a fresh, smooth bore rivet in where the faulty bolt was.

Rising back up from her work, Nautica tossed the rivet gun back in the case and turned towards the doorway, swinging her trusty wrench back and forth around her actuator as she worked her way to the bridge to keep an eye on the situation on Clemency unfold.

The Nemesis--Corridors

There were few tasks as difficult as providing cover fire for Elita. She moved with so much quickness and confidence that the moments of hesitation that would normally give her time to move and reset herself did not exist. Roulette was constantly moving and setting herself to provide cover fire. Fortunately she was a good enough shot that she did not need much to set herself. She would constantly run with her rifle in a ready position to keep up with Elita.

When Elita started trying to beat out doors without a thought to the Roulette having to make the run from farther back she had no choice but to continue moving to put herself in a position to provide cover as Elita makes it through the door and then dash in before it closes.

Taking time to complain would only make get her left behind.

Clemency- Graveyard

Stalker's attention was on the wounded, vulnerable Autobots bunkered in the debris. He was so consumed with bloodlust that he'd allowed himself to be caught unaware.

Stalker's radar dish continued to ping. The annoying, consistent sound had taken him out of his place of contentment, thoughts of slaughter replaced by that irritating ping.

A quick glance at his HUD, however, quickly revealed the source of his concern. An Autobot motorcycle was approaching his position. Stalker shifted to robot mode, abandoning his initial plan and drawing back.

He took his battle pistol out with one hand, raising another to his ear and tapping on a short range comm signal. "Commander! The Turbomasters have brought in reinforcements! I'm updating your telemetry data now!"

Stalker took a cursory glance of the battlefield and prepared his transmission, turning his battle pistol towards the slim motorcycle in the interim.

He'd been denied killing many helpless Autobots. He'd have to settle for killing a sprightly, active one instead.

The Nemesis--Corridors

One door lead to another series of hallways, only these weren't outlined on the map she had been given. Unsurprising. There were going to be a lot of areas inside this monster of a ship that Autobot intelligence had no idea existed.

Walking forward, weapons at the ready, she could hear footsteps in the distance approaching from one of the connecting corridors ahead. Large footsteps. Two sets of them. Elita cursed.

The illumination levels in the corridor flickered slightly, causing the whole area to dim even more significantly than the area already was before adjusting back to their previous levels. And still the footsteps were approaching. She rounded back just as Roulette was coming up behind her and signaled toward a room that was just a little ways back.

The Nemesis--Corridors

Roulette stopped when she saw Elita motioning. The moment she did she began to hear the same footsteps that Elita had. She nodded and carefully moved towards the room she had signaled, trying to match the footsteps of those that were incoming as to cover the sound of her own. She held her rifle with one hand as she worked to access the room. Hopefully the door would be open, if not, she would have to do some tricks she had picked up from criminals after busted them for so many cycles.

Clemency – Graveyard

Falcon followed the Autobot femme, firing a continuous stream of rockets at her. His gaze was completely riveted on the helicopter that dared to invade his airspace. However, when that Autobot disappeared from his vision and a wall of fireballs replaced her...well. He had fallen into a trap yet again due to his hatred for the Autobots. He simply could not help himself. Cutting his thrusters and pulling up so that he was completely vertical, Falcon soared through the fiery explosions, his momentum carrying him toward the wall and slightly upward.

Scraping his underbelly on the wall, Falcon just cleared the freighter's hull. He fired up his thrusters despite their complaints, for the slagged Autobot had decided to launch a volley of magna-bombs down at him. Falcon fired off rockets to intercept the bombs and create a smokescreen of sorts before cutting his thrusters again and diving down toward the ground, reactivating them just in time to avoid going splat.

The former Predator commander's frame was scorch-marked and smoking slightly. The underbelly was scuffed and marked by the side of the ship. Damaged. Heavily damaged he was already. Was he going to let that stop him? Oh slag no. That little Autobot fragger would get this back and more. His engines screaming eerily Falcon pulled up, kicking in his afterburners to send him rocketing above the battlefield. Once he passed the Autobot in altitude, he angled back down and set his minigun a-churning, raining down a hail of bullets at Road Rage.


Chromia transformed from her blue race car alternate mode into her robot mode with a launcher of some variety in each hand. Firing a grenade or two at Stalker, the veteran bounced about, keeping light on her feet and making for a difficult target. Glancing around the battlefield, she assessed the situation. Lancer was rolling on down toward her, Moon had wandered off to get a sniping position no doubt, and Firestar and Flare-up were still hanging back by their initial bounce position. All that was fine, they were here to reinforce the Autobot forces. Chromia would allow them to do just that as they saw fit.

Opening up a comm with the ship above, Chromia attempted to reach one of the few left stationed on the Avante Garde. >>”Hey up there! Nautica? You around? C'mon girlie, pick up. Look, I'm gonna need ya to tell me when Elita and Ru get back aboard, alright? I like our chances against the Predators, but not the Nemesis's guns, get me? We'll do an emergency bounce procedure after Elita and Ru hop back, get these boys onto the ship, and jet out of here. Heh, provided Elita doesn't just take care of that little problem while she's away.”<<

Chromia kept the comm link open, hoping for a reply as she noticed Snare firing off some masers at Thunderclash. Not on her watch. Chromia hefted her missile launcher at the masers and fired off heat seekers to intercept. “Over here afterburners!” she shouted to Snare, taunting the Predator.


Moonracer had zipped off to the nearest destroyed ship when she noticed a little minibot manning a battle station with a bunch of invalid Autobots gathered about. Aww..she couldn't just let the little guy go it alone! The light green femme diverted course and zipped on over to Bumper was. Transforming as she approached, Moonracer skidded to a stop and flashed Bumper a little peace sign with a bubbly grin before backflipping into position beside him.

“Hiya cutie!” she giggled as she drew out her sniper rifle, training her sights on Talon, “Let's give these big ole meanies a thompin', tee hee!” Humming softly, Moonracer traced Talon's flight pattern, setting up her shot with deliberation. Chromia and Elita always said focusing would be good for her, so they gave her a sniper rifle. Turned out, she was actually a really good shot! Hee! “How do ya like...” Moonracer pulled the trigger and shot off a high impact round at Talon “THAT UGLY?! Hah!”

Clemency - Graveyard

Femmes, a rare sight on its own, let alone seeing several of them all rushing across the battlefield. It payed Skyquake no matter, they bared the Autobot insignia. He was just gonna make their species a lot more rarer. That was until Thunderclash rammed right into him with his truck mode. Skyquake had not anticipated Thunderclash to recover from his latest toss so quickly. Oh well, an underestimation he shall not make again.

“Nothing is impossible, chap!" Thunderclash boomed with a confident smile plastered across his faceplate. “Perhaps our evasions of your attempts to capture us were not as futile as you thought? Have you forgotten when we Autobots stand together, miracles can be accomplished? We will win this day, despite your best efforts, Skyquake," Thunderclash barked as he drew out his mortar launcher and fired off several shells directly at the Predator commander.

Skyquake snarled as he recovered from his skidding along the ground. He brought a hand up to his faceplate and wiped away small traces of Energon that had begun to drip from the cracks in his moutplating.

"Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound spouting such foolish bravado?" Skyquake questioned as he drew his hand-held missile launcher and began firing off a counter volley towards the Turbomaster commander all while trying to avoid the barrage he was coming under. "You're faith is blinding! Give in and accept your death!"

Avante Garde - Bridge

Nautica entered through the hissing doorway into the quiet and lonely bridge. The only sounds that could be heard was the steady and rhythmical beeps from the computer consoles and command terminals. Still, there was something rather pleasant about the subtle quietness.

The violet and gold femme approached the main terminal she usually is stationed at whenever she's not sprucing up the quantum engines or something and took a seat in her chair. She had modified the backrest to accommodate for her wingspan and allowed her to lean back in it comfortably without damaging herself.

"Ahhh." The Camian sighed in relief as sat back in her chair and pulled up the viewscreen of the ongoing battle planetside.

>>”Hey up there! Nautica? You around? C'mon girlie, pick up. Look, I'm gonna need ya to tell me when Elita and Ru get back aboard, alright? I like our chances against the Predators, but not the Nemesis's guns, get me? We'll do an emergency bounce procedure after Elita and Ru hop back, get these boys onto the ship, and jet out of here. Heh, provided Elita doesn't just take care of that little problem while she's away."<<

>>"Oh okay, yeah sure not a problem 'Mia!"<< Nautica answered nervously after being caught off guard. >>"I'll check in with them now and she what their status is. Want me to do anything else in the meantime? This place is up to par and my wrench hand is getting itchy."<<

Closing her comm line with Chromia, Nautica clicked her signaler on her comm device to alert Elita-1 and Roulette about checking in. She figured that being on a top-secrety mission inside the Decepticon Warship was dangerous enough, don't want to bother her with a voice communication. Don't wanna blow her cover either. Oh well, the alert alone should let her know to make radio contact when she can. For now all Nautica could do was wait.

Clemency - Graveyard

Thunderclash had indeed struck Skyquake in time for the femmes to avoid coming under fire from the Predator commander. Good. Now all he needed to do was keep Skyquake engaged in a vicious scuffle for as long as he could. Buy the femmes the time they needed to extract the injured and whatever else they needed to do. From there it was a matter of running away from the Nemesis before it destroyed the femme's ship as well.

"Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound spouting such foolish bravado?" Skyquake questioned as he drew his hand-held missile launcher and began firing off a counter volley towards the Turbomaster commander all while trying to avoid the barrage he was coming under. "You're faith is blinding! Give in and accept your death!"

“Never!” was Thunderclash's instantaneous retort, “Not so long as energon still flows through my circuits!” Thunderclash moved to the side to evade Skyquake's return volley of projectiles, most of them intercepted by his earlier attack. Using the fireballs left by the explosions, Thunderclash tried to flank the predator commander. His injuries made moving around quickly difficult, leaving him at a disadvantage at close quarters combat, but if he could tag the Predator commander with a mortar shell that would more or less put them on equal footing.

As soon as the Predator commander came into view, Thunderclash launched another volley of mortar shells at Skyquake, strafing to the side even as he did so. “This won't end like it did on Varas Centralus,” Thunderclash gritted out with a grim determination and underlying tones of contempt.

Clemency--Graveyard

“C'mon ladies, time to show the boys that we mean business!" Chromia had said when their group first bounced down and Firestar had no qualms about doing exactly that. Whether this would just be a standard rescue mission or something much more dangerous, Firestar would deliver on her end. This was, to borrow a human expression that she had picked up from reading some Earth Autobot mission logs, her "bread and butter".

When the others on her team had rushed the scene, Firestar had as well, weapons blazing. Once she felt she had provided some decent cover chaos, she transformed into her Cybertronian racer mode and sped off faster. The last thing she wanted was to be a part of a big, concentrated target. The others clearly had the same idea.

>>"This is Firestar to any Autobots in the area--who needs priority evac? Gimme some coordinates, words, smoke signals, whatever ya got please. That'd be great."<<
___

The Nemesis--Corridors

Elita attempted to access the room just as smoothly as she had the others so far. This one, however, was not as cooperative as the others had been. She attempted her access tool a couple of times before attempting a manual code. Nothing.

Great. Already the complications start.

And the footsteps were getting slowly louder and closer.

Clemency: Graveyard

Flareup giggled briefly as the effects of the bounce field released its delayed grip upon her form. She had been the last to bounce down, from their orbital vessel... her reasons would be her own for the time being. As the final glow faded into obscurity, the demolitions expert pulled a small aerosol from a magnetic strip located at the top of her waist. She pulled off the cap and plugged a radial chip into the data port located next to the spray nozzle. A green light flickered twice before it ejected the chip back into her waiting palm.

She placed the chip back into a wrist control panel and to the portable detonator control device that had been installed. She replaced the canister on the magnetic strip and proceeded to reach behind her back to dislodge her primary form of armament.

Before her several clouds of smoke began to rise in the middle distance, evidence that the battle had begun in her absence... much to her dismay. A stray charge detonated nearby, sending a spray of sparkling shrapnel and black smoke into the already brown acid stained sky. "Oooo, a Kay Thirty Seven Cobalt. Archaic but those things... the shock wave alone." She knocked her wrists together in appreciation and admiration. "Those things haven't been employed in Astro Cycles."

Flareup did not pause longer than she had to. She knocked a surface to surface rocket propelled high explosive arrow into her plasma bow. The weapon's magnetic pulled back and snapped forward as the Autobot femme unleashed her charge straight into a squadron of flanking Vehicons that were maneuvering to catch the World Sweeper in a cross fire.

Clemency - Graveyard

Once her magna-bombs were launched, Road Rage pulled out of her steep dive and leveled off as best she could. Falcon had managed to survive the initial explosions along the freighter’s hull before firing off his own rockets to intercept her bombs. The smoke screen left behind had blocked her sensors from getting a good reading on his whereabouts, allowing him to dive down and then pull back up high into the skies. Before the crimson flier knew it, she was once again under attack from the Decepticon stealth fighter, a hail of bullets raining down all around her.

“What the slag?!” Road Rage exclaimed as she tried to take evasive action. Unfortunately, the former bodyguard was not fast enough to avoid several of the bullets as they struck her frame, one of which piercing through her left wing. “Dammit!!” She cursed as the flying car wobbled slightly in midair. The crimson femme managed to regain control, checking her internal sensors as she ducked down into a make-shift valley that had been created by the culmination of numerous downed warships on either side. The damage she had sustained thus far was minimal, but the bullet hole in her wing tip still concerned her as she could feel that side of her flight mode weighing more heavily now then before. Road Rage would need to compensate while flying from now on in order to avoid losing control and crashing into anything.

The space around her was beginning to tighten as the flying cybertronian car continued onward through the valley of dead vessels. More bullets rained down, one hitting her windshield and becoming embedded in the passenger seat. It was nothing she couldn’t handle, but Road Rage needed to turn the tables on her attacker and fast. Otherwise, she would wind up a permanent part of this graveyard.

It was then that Road Rage noticed that the make-shift valley came to an abrupt end up ahead where a large and severely damaged battlecruiser lay directly across her path. The ship in question was only a shell of its former glory, riddled with big holes that an Autobot could easily flying through. Inside, her sensors indicated that the vessel was a literal maze of wreckage, tight spaces and sharp turns that only the best fliers could maneuver through.

“That’s perfect,” the crimson femme muttered to herself as she accelerated, avoiding more bullets as she went. “Hey, Falcon! Come and get me if you're not too scared!” Road Rage shouted back at her attacker before flying through one of the haul breaches and into the guts of the downed battlecruiser.

Clemency - Inside Battlecrusier Wreckage

Once inside, Road Rage immediately slowed her pace and began weaving around chunks of debris and searing edges of metal that had been torn apart in whatever battle this ship had last fought in. It was truly a maze in here as her sensors tried their best to plot the best possible course through the dangerous labyrinth that could easily spell certain doom for her if the crimson femme made one wrong turn. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all, the former bodyguard thought as she narrowly missed a support beam overhead. That was close!

Hoping that Falcon would follow her into the vessel, Road Rage rotated her bottom-mounted plasma discharger around 180 degrees and fired a continuous volley of shots behind her. Some of her shots struck various bits of wreckage she had just flown by, causing the rubble to cave-in and rain down on anyone who would be following in her wake. With any luck, Falcon would either find himself hit with a blast of plasma or be buried in the debris of this dead warbird.

Clemency - Graveyard

Talon laughed as he fired at the Autobots below him. This was all a game to him so he tried to avoid any direct shots as he did not want to end his fun too quickly.

"Ha ha ha haaaagh!!!"

His fun was interrupted when he took a shot from a sniper rifle below him. Had it been any other Predator it would have likely been a kill but Talon was built in a very study fashion. It hurt but did not do any serious damage. Talon transformed and flew down to the ground, focusing on the one that had shot him. He looked towards Moonracer with malicious optics.

"That stung!" He said and began to walk forward, slamming his right first into his open left hand.

"For that, I am going to sting you back all over your face!"

The Nemesis--Corridors

Roulette frowned as Elita stepped in to try to open the door. She gently placed her hand on Elita's shoulder and gave his a slight push, a signal for her to move away.

Roulette carefully handed her sniper rifle to Elita, partially out of a concern of making noise and partially because she did not want it scratched. She reached into the containment unit in her right leg and pulled out a knife which she then used to pry open the door switch. She patiently took her time to do so as the footsteps got closer. She could have panicked and just tore it off but she knew that would only draw attention. Her handiwork had to be clean enough to avoid any damage that would be too obvious.

The panel was soon off and she placed her knife back where it was. The tension was intense as the foot steps continued their unrelenting rhythm. She continued to work slowly and deliberately however. She held the panel with her mouth as she reached into the wiring inside and began to work.

Clemency- Graveyard

A pair of spheres rolling through the dirt, drawing Stalker's attention away from the femmebot.

Grenades!

Stalker drew back, firing at the ground over and over with his battle pistol, uprooting as many clumps of dirt as he could. When the grenades detonated and shrapnel exploded through the air, some of the shards were caught and weighed down. Stalker suffered only a few scratches on his left arm and shoulder. A dab of freshly spilled energon fell to the ground.

Stalker quickly scanned the battlefield for his opponent, scanning through the dirt and smoke. Eventually he spotted her silhouette holding fast, and he detected a comm signal emanating from her vicinity... contacting her comrades at another position.

Stalker immediately tuned his radar dish to try and find the second point of her signal. His telemetry data of the battlefield was becoming increasingly chaotic as the two sides were doing battle, but his adversary... she wasn't sending the signal to one of the other participants. She wasn't bouncing the source through the graveyard; she was sending her communique straight up, into the atmosphere...

...towards an Autobot ship in orbit!

Stalker fired at her, trying to make his fingers work. Some wiring must've been cut loose in his arm, because his index finger was a bit too slow on the trigger to hit the sprightly femmebot. Now it seemed she was trying to goad Snare into battle... that didn't sit well with him.

"Commander!" Stalker called, tapping his head casing to initiate a private communication. "The Autobots have a support ship in orbit! I'm trying to isolate the signal!"

He continued firing at the femmebot, as his records finally identified her as Chromia, but he quickly discarded the intel and focused on her still active communication stream, moving up out through the ionosphere, ever upwards...

"I'll send a warning to the Nemesis!" Stalker continued, still firing his sluggish pistol shots at the femmebot. "In a few nano-kliks we can blow that Autobot ship out of the sky!"

The Nemesis--Corridors

Elita-1 felt the touch on her shoulder and knew immediately that Roulette wanted a crack at getting it open.She moved out of the way and took hold of the sniper rifle both carefully and silently.

Still the footsteps. Coming closer.

The special operative watched as Roulette peeled away the panel and started to work on the wiring. Her optics widened, a silent indication of the words that were playing on repeat in her mind: c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'moooooonnnnn...

Still the footsteps. Coming closer.

Elita gingerly swung the sniper rifle over her shoulder and got her other assault rifles ready to go.

This could be it.

The Nemesis--Corridors

Roulette could not help but feel a little embarrassed as she worked with the panel on the door. If you study criminals long enough you will start to get good at what they do. Still did not look good for an enforcement official to know how to do this. She could hear the footsteps getting closer but still did not hurry. Hurrying is what got the crooks she had hunted caught. She had not only learned their techniques but also their mistakes.

As the foot steps got louder the door suddenly opened. She tapped Elita on the should and nodded for her to enter as she placed the cover back where it was supposed to be. As soon as Elita was in and the cover put back properly she would move in.