The Energon Pub

Killzone

"Guess that can do..." Bane grinned, knowing he had strenghtened his position as 'alpha' in the group... and that even without having to weaken Thrall's position either. Brilliant!

> Bane replied, looking at the worn face of his old companion with a glimt in his optics. One of the longterm members of the Corrupticons, Havok, had fallen some time ago. The two remaining shared the same philosophy, but they represented two different sides of the same coin; Thrall was the honourable and loyal, while Bane was the insidious and opportunistic. Havok had been somewhere inbetween and the lack of him as a buffer between Bane and Thrall had become more and more prominent lately.

The hard metal ground was crumbling underneath the feet, treads and wheels of Autobot and Decepticon alike. Lethal projectiles of matter and energy streamed all around them. The atmosphere was filled with dust and debris and the sounds of explosions and screams. Everything was just as Razorclaw liked it; the heat of battle was on, and tonight warriors would fall.

None of those fallen would be Predacons though, at least not tonight. Warrior’s predilection and warrior’s determination told him that.

Of course as a warrior he could not allow himself to get sloppy. This Autobot before him was a trained warrior as well, not some coward with a gun forced into his hand and pointed at them by a desperate commander. For that Hardhead had the Predacon general’s respect; but that would not stop him from cutting the Autobot down. The crystaline shards dug into his exostructure but did not penetrate it, at least not anywhere vital. He brought his sword up over his unarmored optics to protect them, using its own vibrations to protect it from shattering.

So the Autobot didn’t want to talk. That was fine with Razorclaw; words were not his strong suite anyway. Waste of energy. He would rather let the screams of his foes as he ripped the circuitry out of their smoldering corpses speak for him. Once the barrage had past he lowered his sword and fired his own concussion cannon once again at the Autobot, angling the blast to try battering the green mech into the ground.

The Killzone - Right Flank

As his new patient sat on a large piece of debris, Brewer walked over, pulling out a couple of tools from his side compartments. "I'll check your systems in just a nano. First, we need to see how bad your communications are." He began to fiddle with the armor hiding the device inside, taking it off and studying how the wiring was. It seemed fine, and there weren't any burn-outs. Here we are," Brewer spotted a simple problem with the wiring. "It seems that all the banging you've been taking knocked a loose one out. No big deal." He replaced it, making sure that it was plugged snuggly. "Now," he opened a compartment on his arm, revealing a small computer of some sort, and hooked a few links to Juggernaut at the connect near the back of his head, "let see about the rest of you."

Forte stood nearby, her thumbs fidgeted as she looked around to make sure everything was being kept at bay. Her Null Ray Rifle was set to stand-by, and just in case, she pulled out a pistol from her subspace compartment. The other warriors were doing a good job, but she didn't know how long they would last. The fembot only hoped that she didn't have to worry about saving another life, for she didn't know exactly how it would turn out.

The scanning had finished after a few breems, showing up the results on Brewer's arm-mounted computer screen. "Looks find to me. Even with all your damages, you're still in tip-top shape." He unlinked and closed the compartment. "Anything else, boss?" He saluted and awaited commands.

Shockwave's Tower - Command Center

Small currents raced inside the Military Operations Commander's cranial unit, as his logic circuitry intook and processed the additional information. It only took a small amount of time, during which the sole optic of the cyclopean Transformer remained focused on the spot marked on the map by Megatron, slightly flickering.

"Concurred," he then replied, simply acknowledging the directives given to him.

Saying and doing nothing else, Shockwave turned around, and with even steps, made his way outside the command center of his massive tower. The door slid closed behind him as he exited, and his shadow glid across the walls and floor of the hallway he walked along. His feet clanged against the ground, echoing between the silent walls.

It had been quite some time since he had last attended the front personally. His internal analysis indicated that the re-run of his combat protocols would do good as excercise, and increase his readiness by approximately 2.395761%. It would be a satisfactory result.

Slightly fastening his pace, he proceeded towards the rally point. Time was against the Decepticons in this battle.

Skies over Killzone

Starscream was getting more annoyed on how things were turning out. The idea that he was here and putting himself in danger while Megatron was no where to be seen made his feelings worse. In this situation he wasn't motived to do much of anything. Still, he had to do something so Megatron wouldn't smash him to bit when the battle is done.

>>"Alright Seekers we have plenty of targets up here. Stick to dogfights in the air. Don't worry about the Cyberjets... erm... let them do... what they're doing."<<

Starscream turned off and brought up Silverbolt and his targeting scanners. "Let's see what your limits are, you Autobot glider!"

Behind the main defensive lines

The Autobots had indeed breached the Polyhex defensive line, but it was only one layer of the defenses that they had decimated. With as many skilled strategists and engineers as the Decepticons possessed, they had put considerable effort into building fierce defenses for the nearly surrounded city state. Defenses had been designed with highly sophisticated targeting and automated launching systems. The defenses had also been built in depth.

As the Autobot spearhead approached Polyhex, defenses that previously did not have the range to hit the Autobots began coming online deeper in Polyhex. The Decepticons had no compunction about turning their entire city into a battlefield, including the more ‘civilian’ sectors. Artillery pieces opened fire and missiles flew through the air towards the charging mass of Autobots.

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

Skies above the Killzone

Darkwing tried to avoid the mortar fire, but one shot caught his right wing and shredded it pretty badly. Muttering curses at the Aerialbots he went spiraling towards the ground, transforming and landing relatively gently in his robot mode.

As soon as Dreadwind saw his missile hit Slingshot, he knew he was doomed. The Universe wouldn’t let him have such a stroke of luck without punishing him in return. It came as little surprise to him to see two missiles streaking right towards him. He quickly transformed to robot mode and just let himself fall. The missiles exploded above him, but he still caught a bit of the fire fog. He landed next to Darkwing, his shoulder and the top of his head still smoldering.

“Ok, you were right, we are doomed. I say we pull back and get fixed and be ready to ditch Polyhex when the Autobots overrun the defenses.”

Dreadwind nodded, “That is a plan I can finally agree with.” They both began making their way back into the city proper.

The Killzone

As Orpheus once more returned to his feet, his patience was finally running out. Unlike a longtime friend of his who enjoyed all aspects of a close combat duel, Orpheus' attention span would tolerate only so much defending before he would hit his boredom threshold and just go on the attack, irregardless of if his opponent was also on the attack.

With Rampage flying through the air towards him, sword in hand, now was the point at which the young Warrior reached his threshold. The fact that the Predacon was intending to cleave him in half didn't occur to Orpheus as he activated the blade on his right arm and aimed an attack at the midsection of Rampage, hoping to skewer the Predacon with his blade. The way this was shaping up, it was hard to see how the next few moments could end happily for either of them.

----------------------------
Skies Over the Killzone

With the Autobot aerial forces within range, Silverbolt broke off the front of the formation, with Skydive close in behind, and pointed himself directly at the Seeker Commander, Starscream. The Aerialbot Commander's electro static battery had yet to be used in the battle, so it was at full power as he unleashed a pre-emptive shot towards Starscream, mainly to get his full attention rather than take him down.

Air Raid meanwhile had spotted Quantum once more and immediately made his way towards the Seeker, readying his missiles once more that he didn't get a chance to utilise in their previous encounter. Streaking towards the Decepticon and his nearby allies, Air Raid noted that he had been followed by about a squadron and a half of Autobots, acting of their own volition "Heh, seems like I'm not the only crazy flyer who wants some more" Air Raid thought to himself as he closed in on Quantum, close enough to allow the 'Con to hear him once more.

"Why hello there, did you miss me by any chance?" The Aerialbot joked as he flew straight past the Seeker and towards those Decepticon squadrons behind him.

-----------------------------------
Polyhex ~ Defensive Breach

"Pests" Havok said to himself as the Autobot forces began making their way through the breach in large numbers, led by the imposing form of Fortress Maximus. Watching on, the Corrupticon couldn't help but acknowledge that the Autobot General was fighting superbly....for an Autobot anyway, and knew that if he were to fall, then the Autobot forces would most likely crumble with him.

Havok wasn't quite sure just how long he'd been out of the war for, he hadn't been told, and to him, it wasn't relevant to the situation. The only thought that interrupted his focus on the battle at hand was when would he finally fight alongside his fellow Corrupticons once more. "See you soon my brothers" Havok said to himself as glanced to those surrounding him and gestured for them to get into the battle, which all of them did without hesitation, before he introduced himself into the conflict, to the detriment of the first Autobot conscript to walk into his path.

The young Mech froze in his tracks as he stared up at the dark grey from of Havok, his glowing purple scythe even further up. Havok said nothing as he took his scythe in both hands and quickly and deftly cut the Autobots gun in half with an upswing, before cleaving the 'Bots upper body into pieces with a vicious downswing. As the AutoBot's lifeless body slumped to the floor, Havok simply stepped over it and moved towards the rest of the Autobot forces, his little squad in tow behind him, some in awe, some energized by the display of power they had just seen.

Skies above the Killzone

The two Cyberjets, Hooligan and Space Case, were having a grand old time as they flew about the battlefield, picking off targets that stood the least chance of being able to fight back.

“Ha-ha!” Hooligan watched another target vanish in a ball of fire. “I love it when they die real easy.”

“Yeah. It’s great.” Space Case agreed.

“Hey, Case, how much ammo do you have left?”

“Uh. I’ve got four missiles left.”

Hooligan considered his and his partners remaining ammo supplies for a second before continuing. “Okay. We’ll start heading back into Polyhex for rearming now, and destroy any other juicy targets we see on the way back.”

“Okay. That sounds like a good idea.” Space Case replied agreeably.

Hooligan and Space Case banked around, pointing themselves back toward Polyhex.

“Woah! Hey! What have we here?” Hooligan dipped down lower as he spotted Dreadwind and Darkwing on the ground below. He transformed into his robot mode and hovered in the air next to the other two Decepticons. “Hey there my glum chums. What are you doing down here? Shouldn’t you be in the air making the Autobots’ lives miserable, like me an’ Case?”

“Yeah.” Space Case agreed as he transformed into his robot mode, as well. However, instead of continuing to hover in the air like Hooligan, he landed on the ground next to Darkwing. “We were killing medics. I got…” He paused for a moment as he counted off on his fingers. “I killed four of them!” He finally said proudly, holding four fingers up toward the others for emphasis.

The Killzone

By the time Ramage noticed that he was going to get skewered it was little too late for him to do much about it. Nevertheless he did decided to follow through on his attack hoping that if his blade impacted first then his opponent would drop his guard; allowing him to get away without much more than a rather nasty scratch.

He angled his body just right as he came crashing down to assure that if his plan didn't work then...at least he'd still be alive and a blade that was attached to his opponents arm also made him realise that if he could take the hit (which he didn't doubt that he could); then that would leave Orpheus nicely open for an attack. One which he doubted the autobot would expect becuase right now Rampage was simply acting instead of just thinking.

Defensive Breach

Onslaught viewed the on-going carnage with what disturbingly seemed like pleasure. He'd received Megatron's orders, but by the time they actually arrived things had changed.

"Blast-Off, time to use that X-Ray Cannon of yours. Disrupt the Autobot aerial formation and buy our air forces time to rearm." The shuttle nodded curtly and transformed, living up to his name as he erupted into the sky.

"Brawl, there are a large number of Autobots in that Killzone, many more than there are Decepticons. Go even the odds, would you?" Brawl clapped his hands together and took to the air in the direction of the fighting.

"For you, Vortex, a special job. Locate and retrieve any damaged Decepticons. If you can pick up an Autobot or two, good."

"On it." Vortex transformed into his aerial mode and moved off after Brawl.

"What about me?" Swindle asked.

"Your job is to patch up anyone Vortex brings back, Swindle. Keep an optic on the autodefenses too. If they start failing, bring them back on-line ASAP."

"No problem, Onslaught," Swindle grinned as he transformed into vehicle mode and drove off.

"Now then..." Onslaught said to himself as he activated his communicator. >>"Megatron, this is Onslaught. Requesting permission to fire my photon missiles. They'll cause some collateral damage, but I dare say that doesn't matter at this point."<<

As he spoke, his targeting computers were already singling out the most obvious target: Fortress Maximus.

Skies above the Killzone

Flying up to join the aerial battle, Blast-Off mulled his options. He was not built for prolonged air combat and Onslaught knew it. Therefore, he was simply expected to give the Autobots something else to worry about, then pull back. He quickly singled out a lone Autobot flier flying past a Seeker and headed for the approaching Decepticon squadrons. "Air Raid," the Combaticon muttered, recognising the Aerialbot. He locked onto the reckless Autobot and opened fire with his X-Ray laser cannon.

Killzone

Patchwork raced across the battered terrain skimming so low to the ground that he appeared to be more of a ground pounder, or rolling target as he thought of them, then the flyer he was. He had received orders to head for the Breach that the vanguard had made in the and provide frontline triage and first aid as well as give medical assistance to any downed Autobot flyers he might run across. So far he had been as busy as his fellow medics patching up their comrades. This had been done in a well-fortified bunker well behind the front lines, just like he always wanted.
Cursing both his Alt. Form and superiors to himself as he vectored his thrusters to allow him to sideslip an artillery blast. Bad enough that he was once again throw into the thick of it the confused and panicked transmissions from some of his fellows had informed him that the Decpta-Slag Pits had started going after medics! Of course this had only encouraged the rear area idiots that he was even better suited for the job.
Paying close attention to his Sensors the mottled Autobot skimmed closer to his destination.
[/b]

[apologies for the delay in returning...]

The smoke from the primary defensive line could now be seen clearly in the suburbs and a black ambulance was racing at high speed towards the now deactivated primary defensive line.

Mal Practice in his vehicle alt screeched around a corner and gunned the accelerator in an attempt to get to the second defensive line before the autobot frontline could overpower it.

"Technical operative Psychout to commander Shockwave. We are requesting permission for myself and Mal Practice to interface with defensive line alpha's central computer and attempt to remote repair and reactivate some of the disabled front line gun enplacements.

"If we can execute a 180 degrees roatation of these cannons, we will be able to surround the enemy in a killing zone of such magnitude it should exhaust their resources before they are able to breach the second line, especially if any aerial bomardment was concentrated on that point simultaneously.

"Please respond with the co-ordinates of the nearest remote terminal and any required access codes urgently if this action is sactioned. Psychout out."

Skies over Killzone

"How dare you fire at me!" Starscream shouted after Silverbolt. The Autobot seemed to be smart enough to bring back-up along with him. Starscream was sure he could take on Silverbolt by himself if he wanted, but he really didn't want to focus on two targets. So Starscream turned around and retreated.

"Just follow me if you dare." he thought to himself. He angled downward a bit a slowly started to descend. In dogfights, it was a better idea to get above the target but Starscream had something in mind by getting closer to the ground.

Near Polyhex

Darkwing looked up at the forms of the two other Decepticon fliers, Hooligan and Space Case. He had been hoping that they could slink back into the city-state without being noticed and quietly getting some repairs. The two of them were going to need to be at full capacity for when Polyhex inevitably fell. The scramble of Decepticons fleeing to Kaon was liable to be pretty hectic and they would need all of their speed to make it ahead of everyone else.

“Killing medics eh? I guess that is better than shooting something that would fire back at you. That’s what happened to us.” Darkwing pointed at his shredded wing and at Dreadwind’s partially melted face and shoulders. “We are going back for some repairs before we rejoin the fight. You guys keep up the good work!” Darkwing tried to muster up some enthusiasm, but he mostly just wanted to get away from these two idiots before a massive wave of Autobot fire slaughtered them all.

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

Defensive Breach

Megatron’s voice was heard through the Combaticon commander’s radio. >>”Permission to fire granted Onslaught, but keep friendly fire casualties to a minimum. We aren’t yet at the point of sacrificing fellow Decepticons.”<<

Skies above the killzone

Nightraid narrowly dodged incoming fire from below and than fired off a missile to the target below taking it out.
The tactician spoke to his wingmen "Form on me... V-pattern" he ordered as a large enemy squadron headed for them, distracted by the main Decepticon force.
"Open fire on my mark!" he said as his squadron moved in from the side.
The black and red Seeker waited for the opportune moment than ordered.
"Fire!" a barrage of energybeams and an assortment of ballistic weaponry of varying sizes was unleashed upon the enemy.
Taking down their flank, the enemy squadron dispersed in panic, three of them managing to crash into each other.
Another Autobot began to crashland and transformed only in the nick of time, landing crouched.
However Nightraid's missile hit his back just when he smiled on a semi-safe touchdown.
Nightraid veered back up, turned around.
"Reform... and we'll go at them once more" he said, having circled around and done attacks like this many times today. The small squadron was mostly ignored due to the chaos of intense dogfighting constantly distracting both airforces.
Suddenly an Autobot Jet doomed up behind him and hit him.
Lashing out and denting his wing, the purple Decepticon insignia was scorched and the plating of his wing melted.
"Boogie on my tail!" he said as he rose up in a circular motion. Nightraid wasn't very fast compared to most jets and the Autobot followed however Nightraid made irritating and unexpected maneuvres, keeping the Autobot from locking on.
The Seeker tactician led the enemy into the fray where intense dogfighting took place. He fired of a barrage of hits, taking out an Autobotbomber foolish enough to pass by. He scooped down and up.
"Blast!" the noble Decepticon exclaimed. The Autobot still followed.
Another barrage hit him. His team itself had become locked into a dogfight with an enemy squadron on the outskirt of the main conflict. If he told them to assist him, he'd force them into a position that was to their disadvantage.
He dodgd another barrage of energyfire and the small missile that followed.
Suddenly he veered to his side and zipped in between a haze of Jets... . The Autobot's panicked and veered to all sides as behind them the Autobot now followed footing. However the large fast Autobotjet seemed to lack stomach and veered away. The damaged Decepticon turned and unleashed a barrage of fire on the Autobot's side. Putting it too fire and sending it spiralling downwards.
New enemy fire only just missed him as a group of Autobots cut chase behind the tactician.
"Bah... heroic Autobots? 3 to 1 is not heroic..." he muttered as he attempted to get away before the enemy locked missiles.
His squadron slowly returned but they'd be too late... .

The killzone

Hardhead's circuits were buzzing as he barely avoided the blast from Razorclaw's Concussion cannon, feeling the shifting in the air as the blast rolled just milimetres above him. He was impressed, the leader of the Predacons was indeed everything he had considered him to be. However, as that was true, he knew he could only keep this up for so long.

He had to end this, and quickly.

Transforming into tank mode, allowing his shatterblasters to reform on his hull, he reved his engines and gunned it straight towards Razorclaw, praying his armour would hold up for just a little bit longer. The armour at the top of his current form was significently damaged, and a lucky hit would be all it would take to take him out. He needed to take out that sword, and just pannel beat the decepticon into submission...

Elsewhere, Thrall spat as he, as respectfully as possible, aided Bane in positioning the bodies of the fallen Autobots around their position, the distaste in his optics clearly visible. This was not honourable, but he had the knowhow to know that to completely blow Bane out on this would show weakness to the rest of the decepticons, something he dispised doing. Therefore, to him, it was the lesser of two evils. Finally holstering the last body onto the lines, he glanced back to the others. "Done.. whilst yer arrangin' the troops Bane, i'm gonna contact command and let them know what the slag we're doin'.." he said, getting quickly behind cover as he reactivated his communications system, taking power from his repair systems to boost his signal. He didn't need the repairs anyway, as due to his unique repair system, his body was now back at 100%, the only signs of the damage he had recieved being a few noticable fractures and cracks in his armour, where there had once been gaping holes.

>>>Oi.. Corrupticons 'ere. Just ter let yer know we're flankin' the main Bot defensive line.. got about ten mechs with us, all heavy assault. Anythin' yer want us ter slag whilst we're out 'ere?<<<

The Killzone

As expected, the end result of the 2 attacks were not beneficial for either Orpheus or Rampage. The Predacon's attack hit first, slicing deeply into the Warrior's shoulder, not quite reaching it's target of the opposite hip, but still leaving a huge gash in the upper body of Orpheus, causing more fluids to leak out.

No shout of pain was forthcoming on this occasion however, only a wince, not that it hurt any less, but Orpheus was completely focused on sticking his blade into Rampage, something that he succeded in doing, his blade skewering the Predacon's torso at an angle from his left side to right, the entire blade disapearing into Rampage.

With both Orpheus and Rampage locked together, each with their weapon buried in the others body, the fight was beginning to take it's toll on the young Autobot, no more was he offering up comments to his opponent, now he was concentrating on getting out of this still functioning.


Elsewhere, among the fallen and injured, Slingshot was assessing the damage he'd recieved from Dreadwind. After getting hit and spiralling towards the battlefield, the VTOL jet only just managed to pull himself out of his nosedive in time, levelling out just enough so he could transform in the air and hit the ground in robot mode. Unfortunately, the speed at which he was moving at resulted in him hitting the ground feet first before shooting forward head first, rolling along the ground until his path was halted by a broken wall rather abruptly.

Now sitting on the same broken wall, Slingshot was thankful for the fact that nobody had seen his rather undignified landing, and realised that his next destination was back behind the Maximus Line for repairs. Looking up, he saw something smoldering flying directly towards him. Thinking it was one of the 2 Decepticons coming back for more, Slingshot pulled his neutron rifle out of subspace and aimed it at the incoming jet, only an incoming commlink message stopped him from pulling the trigger.

"Hey 'Shot, you OK?" Fireflight asked, smoldering because he got caught in the blast from his own firefog missiles that hit Darkwing, and still flying directly at his fellow Aerialbot. "Oh yeah, I'm great" Slingshot replied, sarcasm clearly evident in his voice "What do you think you're doing, I almost shot you out the sky" He continued, sarcasm being replaced by annoyance "And what are you still doing flying towards me, pull up, PULL UP!!" Slingshot shouted while dropping to the ground as Fireflight flew directly over his head, ridiculously close to the ground.

"Oh you know.." Fireflight replied as he ascended once more "..Just saving you from getting blown to pieces" the Aerialbot Scout smartly replied "As if, I planned this to act as a decoy so you could get a shot off, as always, my plan worked to perfection" Slingshot replied, as sure of himself as always "Anyway, you better get up to the frontlines and help out our fearless leader, I'm heading back for some repairs, I'll meet up with you guys a bit later"

Fireflight gave a quick chuckle and agreed, with going to help Silverbolt, not with Slingshot's 'Plan' working, before jetting off to link up with the rest of the Autobot forces, Slingshot slowly got to his feet and began to make his way back towards the Autobot line, limping slightly, cursing his landing.

-------------------------------------
Skies Over The Killzone

Silverbolt smiled as he heard the shouts of Starscream in response to his attack, which unfortunately didn't hit it's target. As the Seeker Commander turned and ran effectively, Silverbolt prepared to follow, but was cut off by his second in command "Leave him to me Sir, I've seen a tactic similar to this before in my studies" Skydive commed, quickly descending after his target. Silverbolt let him be, he knew how good Skydive was, and didn't doubt for a second that he had seen something like this in his research, besides, the Aerialbot Commander's jet form wasn't exactly the most manuverable in tight spaces, whereas Skydive was made for this kind of fight.

Air Raid was still grinning as he made his way through the Decepticon aerial forces, waiting for Quantum to come after him, but it seemed as though he'd caught the attentions of another Decpeticon flyer already. "How popluar am I?" Air Raid chuckled to himself as Blast-Off's attack missed him by the smallest of margins, if it had hit, then the Aerialbot probably wouldn't have been smiling.

Banking right to try and come around, Air Raid opened up a commlink to Skywatch, hoping the Airspace Control 'Bot had got himself someplace safe after getting attacked. "Yo, Skywatch, are you setup yet? If you are, I'd appreciate some help dealing with my 2 Decepticon admirers, pick whichever one you want and take a shot, or 70, Air Raid out"

Behind Defensive Breach

Cutthroat squeaked irritatedly and stomped his feet against the ground. Metal banged against metal, but was barely heard in the cacophony of the battlefield that was burning with fire, just outside the ruins they used for cover. The Autobots were making their advance, slowly, but surely. Thin satisfaction was that they were losing almost as many troops as they were taking down.

Still, even that thin satisfaction was not satisfaction to the Terrorcon named Cutthroat.

The crimson optics of the metallic, winged creature, that was Cutthroat's alternate form, glowed with anger and hatred that he had real difficulties to hold back. The enemy was there for them to massacre, why did they have to wait just behind the direct front lines? Knowing Shockwave, it could be just another 'calculated' factor to raise the aggression of some Decepticons to the maximum, and then let it explode suddenly on the Autobots.

Or at least, behind the red fog that descended on his cranial chamber, that was as far as he could get, trying to think about reasons for their current orders.

"Craaaaaaawkh!" He then screamed, as he gave up the mental process, and slashed his wings wildly around himself. Some of the claws on those large, intimidating wings his alternate mode had, did manage to hit something. The razor sharp egdes gave a creaking sound upon sliding across the other metallic surface. Cutthroat turned, and was about to jump on what his claws scarred, but in the very last of microns, he came to the realization that it was not an Autobot, instead, one of his teammates.

Blot.

"Blarkgh... why me?" The other creature whined, pressing on of his cumbersome hands on his slightly damaged head section. Though his tough armor dulled the sudden blow, that would have sliced a regular Autobot in half, enough to only leave a light bruise, the action did far more damage to Blot's sense of security.

"Cause you're ugly and stink as the Pit!" Cutthroat yelled at his supposed partner and smashed him on the head once again. Blot staggered a few steps away, and gave Cutthroat an angry and sulking look. The bulky, blue-purple creature could not decide whether he should strike back, or stay still.

"Why in all slag on Cybertron do we sit here, when those irritating pest Autobots are right across...?!" Cutthroat went on, but the sentence was never finished.

From behind one of the ruins, stepped out a mechanoid form, easily recognizable. Through the thin cloud of smoke, the flickering of his sole optical sensor was clearly visible, leaving no doubts about his indentity.

He stepped closer, his motion measured as usual, reminding more of a lifeless piece of machinery than of a living mechanical being. The sole optic raced across the gathered group of mechanoids, scanning them like a piercing laser beam, then settled on Cutthroat.

Shockwave glared at the Terrorcon for an astrosecond or two, silently and coldly. Like a disassembling unit analyzing the object that is to be disassembled, to figure out where to start and where to finish the process.

While his brain module kept processing the information influx from his surroundings, his communication systems registered an incoming message from the operative Psychout.

>> Affirmitive. You may proceed. > Analysis: Autobot attack force overwhelming compared to stationary defences, by approximately 263.461439%. Decepticon air support: unavailable. Decrease of Decepticon disadvantage by reposition of active and activation of inactive defense grids: approximately 21.500003% Possible rate of repair work to damaged defense grids with current assets in current situation: very slow. Preferred use of defense grids: diversionary tactics. Objective: activate as many grids as possible. Do not spend time on repair work. Draw attention away from mobilized Decepticon reserve forces. Available time to accomplish objective: 3 breems. Shockwave out. << The cyclopean mechanoid cut the channel. Based on the data files on Psychout, he calculated a 93.273419% probability that the operative and his partner would complete the task successfully. Even if they didn't, it would matter little. The Decepticons were moving.

"Hun-Grrr, report. Are the forces ready?" The Military Operations Commander asked from the assigned leader of the reserve force, without taking his optic off of infuriated Cutthroat.

Skies over the Killzone

Wink radios to her sister

“Blink look, Starscream got Autobots on his tail.”

“Two against one, uh, well let’s hurry up and even out the odds shall we.”

The two female seekers line them selves up to intercept the Silverbolt and Skydive. Seeing that Silverbolt was holding back allowing Skydive to take on Starscream they saw him as a bigger threat.

They spread apart from each other, and then angled themselves to come in on Skydive like a “V”. They opened up fire on Skydive.

Even though both of them fire at Skydive they kept account of what Silverbolt was doing. If he got in their way before they could take down Skydive they would have a few tricks for them.

The Killzone

"Imploder" Bane inspected the 'wall' of dead Autobots.
"Yes, commander?" the younger decepticon respectfully answered after throwing the last Autobot corpse on the pile.
"Hide your soldiers behind the wall and keep silent. Also, give the area in front us some of your 'special' attention" the Corrupticon suggested with an unnerving smile on his face.
"As you wish" he turned to his troops and began barking orders. They did as they were told. The young troopleader began laying out a few dozen explosives in the area in front of them where the Autobots would arrive. If they had to go down they made sure they took so many with them as possible.

"This is our last stand" Bane said, almost whispering as his skull-shaped vizir began covering the front of his head.

In front of the Corrupticons, a half a mile away, were the Autobots under Juggernaut's command was preparing for another assault. This time with everything they have got left.

"Alright, comrades. Fortress Maximus is relying on us to break through and by Primus we will!" the giant Autobot transformed to tank-mode and began rolling towards the location of the cursed Corrupticon.
"Form up and attack!"

Skies over the Killzone

Quantum noticed Air Raid trying to get his attention. Instead the Aerialbot had got someone elses attention and was now having more trouble than he was looking for.
The black and white seeker opened a wormhole and flew through. A second later another one opened just in front of Air Raid. Quantum appeared, but transformed the very astrosecond he exited the wormhole, and tried to knock the flier down with an elbow-attack.

Behind Defensive Breach

Hun-Grrr didn’t like waiting to be put into the fight, but he had more patience than the rest of the Terrorcons, and he understood why they weren’t fighting yet. They were letting the Autobots come into the defensive lines, drawing them into Polyhex and setting them up for a massive flank attack. The reserve forces would smash into the Autobots and pin them against the other Polyhex defenders. The Autobots would be crushed between the two forces.

“Lousy, weakling Autobots! I’ll slice ‘em to bits with my claws! I’ll teach them to never even dare look at Polyhex!”

Hun-Grrr, still in his robot mode, looked down at Rippersnapper. The other Terrorcon could barely keep still. He, even more than Cutthroat, was always eager for combat. Hun-Grrr knew he would fight with reckless abandon, to the point of even injuring himself and other Decepticons. It was one of the many reasons why his team typically led the assaults. The sheer power and ferocity of the Terrorcons meant it was best that other Decepticons were better off staying behind them and out of their way.

“Are we going to attack yet? My joints are going to start locking up from lack of use soon if we don’t.”

Hun-Grrr almost sighed at the sound of another one of Sinnertwin’s complaints. The Terrorcon was one of the most dedicated and powerful Decepticons he knew, but he could also be one of the most annoying. He slapped one of the other Terrorcon’s two heads, hard enough to get his attention but not hard enough to hurt him. “Quiet! Our attack will begin when the orders are given, and I’ve had enough of your whining!”
Sinnertwin grumbled but kept quiet.

The Terrorcon commander made his way forward as he saw Shockwave approach their position. The fact that One-Eye himself was leading the assault showed just how important this battle was. He stood next to the Military Operations Commander and waited until he addressed him.

“The troops are ready to slag some Autobots sir. Just give the order and me and the Terrorcons will lead the way.”

Secondary Autobot bunker

Skywatch arrived at one of the secondary bunkers alone. Others fromt he primary command bunker had opted for, or had already assigned secodnary postions. If it wasn't for all the ordinance flying about, you'd think it was never going to be used.
Skywatch slid to a stop transformed and made his way to the roof of the bunker. This one already had several antenna sheared from random artillery. Worse luck.
Up topside, he shifted back to his slablike vehicle mode and synched with the sattelites. What they showed wasn't good. His limited links had served to keep some situational awareness, but now...now the situations had changed.

He took a few moments to zoom in, ID, and tag units he could recognize..at the bare minimum he tagged as friendly or Decepticon.

In the western arc there was a mass of red, with a strobing carat indicating Shockwave's position. Given the press the Autobot forces were making...those should have been in the line..as is they were poised to cut into the salient Fortress Maximus was making.

Autobot aerial units had started straying too close to Decepticon lines, leaving their support behind. Several units were marked as downed, but ground combat capable in some capacity. Others were being pressed. Silverbolt was, again enjoying unsurpassed popularity.

Time to get back into business.

Links reestablished, he began feeding the operational graphics to Fortress Maximus "Commander, there is a major force massing on your left flank. Unless they are decisively engaged they will cut you and your assault force off" He cooly reported in his off sounding tone

Switching channels "Silverbolt stand by, fire support inbound."
His rear deck turret swiveled and elevated, he checked the payload, adjusted it for proximity fusing, and set them for hypervelocity launch and image seeking tracking.
That done, he verified the images imprinted in the missiles targeting centers.
Six missiles roared from the boxes, each cracking the sound barrier several times over before they cleared the launch cells. 3 missiles targeted Blast-Off and Quantum each.
Following the missiles, bolts of ionic energy rippled in sequential fire tracking around the probability zones if they managed to dodge the hypervelocity missiles zones of detonation.

That ought to say 'hello' in a way they understand...

Killzone

The Autobot medic skidded around several stray missiles and almost clipped his wing on a ragged outcropping. He had been forced to abort his direct run to the Breach and zigzag around the battlefield as he attempted to treat the fallen Autobots from the aerial battle, a task that often proved futile as he would arrive at the crash site to find nothing but a smouldering wreck with no hope of recovery.Reaching his destination he was forced to dodge several shots from the injured Autobot as he transformed.

“ Autobot! AUTOBOT! You idiot!” Patchwork said loudly as he gestured towards his emblem.

The Autobot slowly lowered his weapon slightly and limped into cover gesturing the multicoloured Autobot to follow.

“ I should slag you right now. Identify yourself.” The Autobot flyer demanded.

“Patchwork, Autobot Medic. I’m here to patch up idiots that get themselves shot up. Present case included.” The Medic replied as he took out his equipment and pushed the Aerialbot down.

“ It was a lucky shot.” The winged Autobot protested but allowed himself to be bot-handled, the sooner he was fixed up the sooner he could have another crack at the Decepticons.

“ I’m sure. Now shut up and let me work.” Patchwork replied with sarcasm as manipulator arms emerged from several points on his body and he began his work in earnest.

Killzone

As always, Razorclaw's focus was not just on his actions and his foe's reactions, it was on Hardhead as a whole, gaging his strength, watching his stance, looking for any blaring weakness(es). It would be the quickest and most efficient way to defeat an enemy, using his own faults against him.

That wouldn't be easy with this Autobot however. Only once did he break off from fighting, and that was to transform. Rather than waste ammo hoping to impact some vital gear left momentarily vulnerable during shifting, Razorclaw took the reprieve himself to transform. His quadrupedal form, based off the tarq beast, was much more maneuverable than any treaded vehicle...

...as demonstrated by his next maneuver. The Autobot was stupid enough to attempt to ram him... him, one of the fastest and most feral Decepticons in the fledgling Empire. All he needed to do was leap upward and on to the Autobot... which was exactly what he did. Struggling to fight the effects of inertia, he hoped his long claws would anchor him in place long enough to sink his teeth into the Autobot's hull. He just needed to find the most vulnerable spot to inflict with his bite... There. Right on the very top. Razorclaw opened wide and growled his louded as his swung his head down with as much force as he could muster.

Killzone

Hardhead yelled in pain as he felt the fangs of Razorclaw bury themselves into his back, and knew that he'd made one horrible mistake. He hadn't counted on Razorclaw being controled enough to make such a manuvour, and for that, he paid for it with a blaring warning in his internal systems. Transforming almost imediately, he did the first instinctive thing he could think of. As soon as his arm formed from one his his tracks, he balled his fist, and with a yell, thrust his elbow back into Razorclaw's flank, and almost imediately, did it again, and again, as long as it took to get the bastard off of him. As he was doing so, he used his considerable strength to attempt to rise, feeling his servos react favourably to his attempts. As much as Razorclaw was the more agile, Hardhead was the physically stronger. His yells became a roar as he felt his fluids spill down onto his back, but he wasn't known for giving up so easily. Scrabbling his hand backwards, he attempted to find the scruff of his opponants neck and then, heaving, attempted to tear his opponant's jaws away from his vulnerable back, staggering this way and that.

It had gone past the stage of enjoying his job now. Now, it was just plain survival.