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Garrus 9 – Corridors

”If he does, that’s on him and not following my slaggin’ orders. Now does as Snapdragon told you!” Apeface snarled in response to Slugslinger and fired another salvo at Logicor, this time towards the giant’s left knee joint due to Hun-Grrr and Triggerhappy getting in the way. Snapdragon seemed to agree given his outburst. And why wouldn’t he? The reptilian Horrorcon was far more bloodthirsty than Apeface and the simian Horrorcon was hardly a saint.

”That slag-spewing beast," the interceptor noted almost in awe, "He gave us an opening! Run or gun!"

”Do as he said!” Apeface shouted to reinforce Snapdragon’s words and prepared to lug off a grenade at Logicor but canceled his action as his optics picked up another Terrorcon assaulting Logicor within the smoke wall.

”Damn it Blot,” he cursed, watching the disgusting Terrorcon clamp its jaws on Logicor’s ankle just as Synapse charged after Triggerhappy. He wanted to facepalm so bad but this was not the time for it. Not with Synapse and Triggerhappy running back and forth between his position and Logicor. ”Fricking hell. Get back here you idiots or I will shoot you myself!”

Spared in this moment, Slog glanced to Apeface. “The weakness Monstructor has will not work for Logicor,” he informed the Horrorcon, “It requires one to cause a disruption in the collective consciousness of that thing. And that may be specific to Monstructor.”

”Yeah?” Apeface retorted, at least Slog had finally pulled his head out of his tailpipe and given somekind of an answer to his earlier inquiries.

“W-well!” Umbra called from behind the minimal cover that had been constructed, “That time before…that big Con…er…I don’t know his name, but he beat the scrap out of Monstructor and made you all fall apart.”

”We don’t have one of the Warrior’s Elite here to fight the battle for us now! Just keep pouring it in! If that thing has a weakness it has to come from the within!” Apeface roared back at the scared femme that had decided to share her piece with him and Slog. The Horrorcon could only hope he was right. He knew the Technobots well enough to know they weren’t seamlessly compatible psychologically. And Jhiaxus had pretty much forced them together into that… thing. It had good chances of backfiring on them. Afterburner was a defiant rebel without a cause. Lightspeed was intelligent but prone to bouts of depression over his place in the world. Nosecone was slow and methodical in everything he hid. Their leader Scattershot was belligerent and brash. And there was Strafe, as high-strung and trigger happy as they came, one push away from becoming completely unhinged in his paranoia. Considering those traits, Logicor was acting way too efficiently right now. Had to be Jhiaxus’ influence. Apeface sure hoped the Technobots were rebelling against their programming as he noted Hun-Gurr dropping off from Logicor’s back as the giant began leaning forward.

>>"Apeface, Snapdragon, Slugslinger, reinforcements behind you."<<

>>”Took you long enough Bomb-Burst! Just have your people spread your firepower over Logicor’s upper body, let’s see if we can get it out of focus!”<< Apeface replied back to Bomb-Burst. Despite of jokingly berating Bomb-Burst for taking so much time to appear, he was glad to get professional soldiers involved rather than having to deal with the Triggerhappies and Synapses or the Decepticon army. Some people just didn’t have a place in the battlefield.

"Calculating," Logicor grumbled, as his sensors began to take in an increasing number of arriving mechanoids. "Alternate countermeasures authorized."

”Oh slag.” Apeface cursed in reaction Logicor firing of a swarm of missiles to pretty much every direction expect towards the two Terrorcons at its feet. And the last thing he saw of them was a flash of a powering up energo-scimitars in Hun-Garr’s hands.

”Everyone take cover!” He barked out a warning, dove behind some debris and raised his shield above himself to give protection from the missile flying towards him in case it managed to come off in an angle his pile of debris couldn’t cover. Had not the following missile explosion deafened him for a short moment, he would have heard Logicor howl for pain as the leader of the Terrorcon’s sunk one of his scimitar’s hilt deep into the giant’s leg formed out of the Technobot Afterburner.

ctrlFrequency wrote:Near the Primary Mineshaft

A slight frown etched across Acid Storm's faceplace at Ion Storm's words about him revealing himself.

"Sometimes it is necessary." He responded softly but obviously irritated.

But at the suggestion to follow, Acid hesitated. He was of a like mind as Stormy when it came to staying away from the lime light. They had gotten the message from Scorponok about moving to Logicor's coordinants, but that didn't mean that was where these guys were going.

"Where are they going, Stormy?" He finally asked.

Near the Primary Mineshaft

Ion Storm glared towards Acid Storm when he was asked about where they were going. He face-palmed and spoke to him in a very irritated tone. "I do not know why you are asking me since you are my..." He took his hand away from his face and glanced over Acid Storm's shoulder and saw very familiar red optics. He continued to speak to Acid Storm. "...I mean our slagging trine leader. Where do you suggest we ought to go other than freaking mines? Hopefully, we can do something useful for a change."

Right after Ion Storm finished questioning Acid Storm, the dark yellow and black revealed his presence. He is known as Nova Storm. After a bit, he spoke in a dark tone.

"Acid, I have to agree with Sparky...anything is better than those mines. But what is the game plan?"

Near Primary Mineshaft

Acid Storm frowned at Nova Storm and Ion Storm. "I want to know where they are going." He said indicating to the group the encountered. "For all I know they're going further into the mine."

Near Primary Mineshaft

Both Ion Storm and Nova Storm heard Acid's response to their inquiries. Ion Storm immediately frowned and grunteddue to the possibility of going back into the mine. Nova Storm crossed his arms over his chest and looked over at Acid. "Fine...but I cannot make any guarantees that I will enjoy it and you know that for a fact. Just lead the way and follow them."

Near the Primary Mineshaft

"What is this? Autobots and Decepticons standing around and next to each other and chit-chatting!? Shouldn't you watch your backs while we are in a mine!? For all we know, someone could something like this..." He flung a lightning bolt out of his right hand and sent it slightly over their heads and towards the wall.

The chittering of the Insecticon diaclones intensified as one of the seekers made a flamboyant appearance by throwing a lightning bolt over their head. Had not Hardshell been there to stay Barrage’s hand, the trigger happy Insecticon would have blasted a hole through Ion Storm on the spot. Now he had to abide the will of his stronger brood brother.

"Yes. You just missed high tea. We're on to discussions of the effect of castes in the pre-Golden Age."

>>”Let them talk Barrage.”<< He merely transmitted both Barrage and Ransack while glaring at the seeker ominously. >>”Killing them will not work for our favor.”<<

It was the Autobots that broke the uncomfortable silence.

"Then throw us at it." Brainstorm said, finally breaking his silence.

"What the WHAAAT now?!" Whirl exclaimed, his singular optic flickered wildly.

What indeed. Hardshell could barely believe his audio receptors. Brainstorm was offering himself and the other Autobots as cannon fodder. It had to be a trick. The Autobots were full of tricks, particularly brainiacs like Brainstorm.

"We're hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. We're either another asset and another tick mark on Scorponok's to-kill list, another fuel pump for him to feed, or we go out there and fight that thing head-on. We stand here, with the Decepticons right now trying to stop that thing and its creator from escaping this facility and die trying or we get left for 'Cons to kill us later." Brainstorm paused in his thought and turned to face Sparkstalker and Hardshell. "We're just a liability. Throw us in the frontlines, lets us take point in trying to stop this combiner. He either kills us before your comrades, or you're all stuck waiting to off us at a later time."

It made sense. In a way. Though by now Logicor was swarmed by the Decepticons at least according to all the radio chatter Hardshell was listening to. They wouldn’t probably even make it to the gestalt in time for the Autobots to matter.

“Enough!” Sparkstalker snapped to both Goldrush and Ion Storm who had begun light bickering. “We’ve no time for this!”

No. They certainly didn’t. Sparkstalker had some redeemable qualities to him at times despite being so puny. Hardshell knew better. This small mechanoid had ran his own little criminal empire back in Kaon before the war. He was to be respected far higher than most Decepticons gave him credit for. The thing was – most did not know. And for a reason. Sparkstalker had always worked from the shadows. He had pulled the strings of others to get the outcome he wanted. If they only knew what kind of a mech he really was.

Sparkstalker snapped his gaze back to the recaptured Autobots prisoners, listening to their last bid impatiently. “Fine, fine,” he agreed waving dismissively, “Die in the Decepticons’ stead. It is a deal.” He looked to Ion Storm and Acid Storm briefly. “You two best come along as well. I don’t know if you’ve received the latest orders, but I’d surmise they might enjoy some reinforcements.”

”We have wasted enough time,” Hardshell growled.

”Yeah.” Ransack added, shoving his rifle butt into Brainstorm’s back, ”Start moving Autoscraps.”

Garrus-9 – Corridors

Once the EMP device had been deactivated, Rippersnapper slowly regained control of his faculties. Finally managing to revert fully into his robot mode, the terrorist picked himself up off the floor as Scorponok made his anger at the situation clearly known before giving orders to track down and stop the gestalts. Hun-Grrr wasted no time and left the amphitheater, entering the corridors, as did Blot. The shark-former quickly followed.

It wasn’t long before the the combiners had been located. Thankfully, Monstructor had already been taken down somehow. The one called Logicor, however, was another story. As the Terrorcon Commander and Blot attacked the legs of the Autobot gestalt, Rippersnapper decided to hang back some and aim his ground-to-air missile launchers up at Logicor’s upper body. After a brief astrosecond, he opened fire, being careful not to hit his fellow Terrorcons in the process.

Near Primary Mineshaft

"Fine. I will ask." Acid finally said. "Where are you going?" He said directing his question to the group of Bots and Cons assembled. "We were getting some samples of the ore down for Nova, but we are about finished."

Near Primary Mineshaft

”We have wasted enough time,” Hardshell growled.

”Yeah.” Ransack added. ”Start moving Autoscraps.”

Pointblank offered up no objections. Brainstorm's suggestion had been taken and the Decepticons were going to make use of them instead of exterminate them. It was about the best he could hope for under these circumstances.

The prison itself had been mostly quiet, far quieter than the mines had been with its constant clatter of metal against rock. But that seemed to have changed in the space of the few bits of banter that had been traded between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Muffled blaster fire and the muted thuds of what could only be explosions of some form or another could be heard in the direction of one corridor out of the several that led away from the primary mine shaft.

Pointblank didn't really know where he was going, but he knew that it would ultimately be towards those sounds. And so, he started onward.

Corridors

Bludgeon watched as Logicor reassessed the situation and began firing. He raised his own shield and crouched a bit for angle while snarler ducked under cover as the enraged combiner's missiles flew out.

Skullgrin, Bomb Burst, and Nightbird pressed up against the walls.

--

>>”Took you long enough Bomb-Burst! Just have your people spread your firepower over Logicor’s upper body, let’s see if we can get it out of focus!”<<

"Change of plans, Birdie." Bomb Burst said. "I think we need every gun here we can get."

--

Nightbird nodded. She doubted her rifle could make a dent in Logicor, but a few well aimed shots may serve to distract the behemoth.

--

"Snarler, create some chaos for that thing." Bludgeon ordered.

--

What could be called a look of glee (or what passed as it for Snarler) painted on Snarler's face plate chaos and confusion was his secondary function and one he took great pleasure in. Transforming into his warthog alt mode, he lept over the debris and began fire his chain gun, seemingly randomly, but centered on Logicor's midsection, well away from hitting anyone else in the area.

He was careful to remain close, but out of the line of fire.

--

As soon as everyone was moving, Skullgrin was flowing Apeface's orders, and with shrapnel cannon drawn, he was in motion too. Moving quickly around the right firing upwards towards Logicor.

--

Meanwhile, Bomb Burst followed Skullgrin but went left instead of right.

Range wasn't the assassin's strong suit, but quickness was. He had already ruled out taking flight as he'd just be in the way. So while continuously moving, he began shooting his arm mounted lasers at Logicor.

--

Nightbird had set herself up behind the cover, lining up a good shot on Logicor, aiming for his head.

"Come on, ugly, look my way..." She muttered between the deafening explosions, hoping out loud to get shot on Logicor's opstic or some other sensitive spot.

As Logicor turned his head slightly while firing, she pulled the trigger of her null Ray, sending a shot off at the combiner.

--

Bludgeon watched as his team went into motion, each knowing well what to do.

Transforming into his alt mode, he swung his cannon around to aim at Logicor. He stayed near the cover, though, ready to back down the corridor if Logicor sent more missiles that way. He wasn't too agile in his tank mode. The whine of his cannon powering up was drowned by Logicor's explosions, then he fired a shell at the combiner's torso.

Corridors

Seawing heard the command of the Butcher. The hunt shall commence with the location provided by others who had located one of the behemoth that the mad scientist had created. This will be a challenge worth fighting with hopes he or at least his fellow Seacons will get the last shot in and glory which goes with it. The former thought of maybe becoming one of these monsters was still back in his mind. Knowing this current version is being hunted it made him wonder if it would be worth it. Even if Seawing hadn't seen too many of Lord Scorponok's experiments beyond his personal upgrades, Seawing had to be confident the fleet commander would improve whatever process the mad scientist had done to his creations.

Seawing walked through the corridors knowing almost full well where the battle was at without the location given to him by the sounds. When he arrived, he saw a mess of a battle before him with Cons almost everywhere with this Logicor being able to withstand the assault. Even the mighty Fortress Maximus couldn't stand to such onslaught and yet this combined form was taking it and dishing it back out. One of the many missiles the giant launched made Seawing dive for cover. It hit the wall creating debris which Seawing barely rolled away from. Times like these made him wish they were several leagues under the sea. He summoned his weapon and tried to take out the missiles.

>>Snaptrap, is there any coordinated attack pattern to take this thing down? I sure hope we aren't counting on luck to bring this thing to its knees and separate components.<<

Primary Mine Shaft

Pyro had grudgingly ascended the tall and far-reaching tunnel that lead from the prison proper to the mines down below. When he reached the top, he had been more than a little surprised by what he found: Autobots and Decepticons that were not fighting to the death. As he listened in, he had discovered why. There was something of an informal negotiation taking place. That was good. That was the sort of thing Optimus Prime would have done if he found himself in these circumstances.

Brainstorm effectively negotiated their continuing survival, even if it was to serve as fodder for whatever combining Decepticon problem the 2nd fleet had managed to finagle themselves into.

Afterwards, their Decepticon captors prodded them forward. Pyro knew not where they were ultimately headed, but he saw more than one of his Autobot comrades looking more than a little downtrodden.

"My fellow Autobots," he said as he fell in step with the others. "Do not let your sparks be troubled by our current circumstances. Our journey has been long, arduous and painful. But we must stand firm in the knowledge that we have been given greater destinies. Even in this dark hour, we can show the world that freedom is truly the right of all sentient beings."

Primary Mine Shaft:

Oh this was bad bad bad! They were off heading for certain doom! Scrap you, Brainstorm!

Then, Pyro, after being seemingly uninvolved in every part of the discussion and issue, said the silliest last words that Highbrow had ever heard anyone say ever in the history of Cybertron. As Highbrow's life flashed before his eyes, Pyro said,

"My fellow Autobots, do not let your sparks be troubled by our current circumstances. Our journey has been long, arduous and painful. But we must stand firm in the knowledge that we have been given greater destinies. Even in this dark hour, we can show the world that freedom is truly the right of all sentient beings."

...

......

"Eh, heh, heh heheheh, hehehehehWHAT!? No, that speech was epitome of cliche! We're going to die, and you say something as hilariously absurd as that!? Haha WHAT!" Highbrow felt like he was going bonkers.

Garrus-9 – Corridors Near Primary Mineshaft

Sparkstalker stopped and turned slightly, eyeing the trio of seekers with a critical optic. “Where else would we be going? We are going to assist in the efforts to subjugate the gestalts. Those are current marching orders for those not evacuating.” He shook his head and turned away, baffled at them. “My, my, how out of the loop can one get?” he muttered, “Seekers and their incompetence. I suppose it reflects on their leadership.”

He was, of course, referring to Starscream. The effects of that overtly ambitious dolt rippled even to the second expansion fleet under the keen watch of Cyclonus and Scourge. A shame, really. But, Sparkstalker supposed that was what sweeps were for. As he pressed on with the Insecticons at his side, he paused when he heard one of the Autobots begin a belabored speech typical of their kind.

Turning a baleful optic onto the culprit, Sparkstalker was rather amused to see that the one who had given it looked strikingly familiar to a certain Autobot leader. The resemblance did not look coincidental either. Before he could interject his thoughts, it was to his surprise that another Autobot voiced a good portion of them.

“Well, well,” Sparkstalker purred, “It is refreshing to see that one of you, at least, has come to terms with your impending doom. He’s not wrong. You will die, but at least it will be on terms that you agreed to, mm? Well, either that or it’s the firing squad for you lot,” he chirped cheerily, gesturing to the Insecticons. “My associates would love to exterminate you this moment. Of that, I can assure you with utmost certainty.”

“Now, I would most enjoy it if you would refrain from anymore inspiring orations during the reminder of our trek. If you require incentive for that purpose, look no further than to my rather…ravenous cohorts.”

Garrus-9 – Corridors Near Primary Mineshaft

Nova Storm examined the ore in his hands with his optics to see if it could potentially useful while Acid Storm asked about what the plan was. Right now, he simply remained quiet except he glared intensely at Sparkstalker's explaination particularly the last bit. He muttered some colorful Cybertronian slang words under his breath.

Ion Storm heard Sparkstalker's response and he performed a fake yawn. "Is that all? Dealing with gestalts? Geez, I thought that would be much more exciting than that." He slightly walked away from his trine-mates. "The only good part is that we will get out of the slagging mine." He looked over at Acid Storm and Nova. "Coming or what, Green Bean and Hot-Head? Or do I need to give both of you e-tickets to send you on your way?" He smirked towards them.

Garrus-9 – Amphitheatre

“Fraggit,” Stranglehold muttered, slamming his fist into a wall. “Of all the dirty…Ha.” Who was he kidding? He’d have done something similar in that flimsy scientist’s pedes. He just…couldn’t stop shaking. After seeing two of their toughest fraggers get punted through a wall, he had realized just how out of his league he was. What could he hope to do against one of those things? What could any of them? Frag that.

Slumping against one of the walls by the door, Stranglehold kept himself as far out of the way as possible. Bludgeon and the rest darted out like nothing had happened, but it didn’t exactly inspire Stranglehold to do the way. He liked where all his components were. Well, maybe not. That thing the scientist had done had twisted up his internals pretty good. He was still sorting them out.

“Frag…huh?”

Stranglehold glanced down when he felt hands on one of his legs. The leg wasn’t fully transformed, but he could stand on it. What was this freak doing? Snarling, Stranglehold lashed out with a sad kick.

“What the frag do you think you’re doing?!”

To his displeasure, Spinister leaped out of the way with speed that surprised him and put his hand on his weapon, looking at him with wide optics. Oh, great. Now this idiot was going to gun him down?! Stranglehold stepped forward, only to have his bad leg give out under him. Fraggit all! This was demeaning.

In the next instant, Spinister was on him and snapped something in his leg. Pain shot up it like fire. Reflexively, Stranglehold jerked and lashed out with a punch, sending Spinister skidding back. He got to his feet.

“What in Pit did you think you were…”

Wait. His leg. Stranglehold glanced down at it. Whatever part had been keeping it in that painful half-way state had been fixed. He looked with narrowed optics to Spinister. Stalking away, he began heading out in the opposite direction from most. To the starport. He was getting off this rock. Frag this.

Spinister stood still and watched him go with a hand still on his weapon. After he had vanished from sight, he rubbed his faceplate cursorily. Nothing drastic. His eyes darted about, spotting someone else in need of assistance. He moved over assessing the damage. This one was small and had lost a lot of energon. Hm. Spinister set to work.

Corridors:

"Well? Go up there and hypnotize this thing- 'brother'!

Mindwipe hovered in bat mode asif in a trance staring at the ground, when Logicor's missile swooped down to claim him, he jinked at the last moment. The missile came back round but Mindwipe put some distance between him and the missile, it nearly claimed him again, Mindwipe shot straight up in the air barely avoiding the missile again. His head swum for a second, he thought he could hear the spirits of the damned.

"Come join us Mindwipe, Join us in oblivion."

Mindwipe charged at Logicor diagonally down, jinking again over his head, putting Logicor between himself and Logicors missile.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile:

Corridors:

Chopshop had seen Logicor launch a cluster of missiles, but decided to keep his head down while he came up with a plan, but suddenly his world exploded into burning photon and twisted metal. "Frack" He pulled himself up on his disruptor spear, he had been hit with a missile and thrown from cover. He survived but was in terrible shape, he was now out in the open, he drew some comfort from the fact that Logicor was still facing away from him and fighting a menagerie of deranged Decepticon nasty's.

He assessed his options, twisted, broken and probbably bleeding out. He decided that he would rather meet permanent stasis like this then be jettison'd into space for being a damaged, broken coward.

He charged Logicor from behind, he would do as much damage as he could, stabbing his disruptor spear at the combiners leg connector joints, reasoning it was as good a weakness as any giant unstoppable warmachine would have.

Mines

Whirl's singular optic fixated on Pyro as the Optimus-Wannabe tossed out some Prime-esque speech about "never giving in" and "keeping their heads held high" or something.

"Cliche?! Oh man, that doesn't even begin to describe it!" Whirl mocked as he listened to Highbrow respond with a cackle of his own. "Oh man, did you catch that little twang in the middle? That was the most Optimus-thing he's done all damn day! Oh man, tell me you were kidding there, Pyro."

There was a pause within the group as Highbrow's and Whirl's conjoined laughter died down.

"Oh wait... You were serious, weren't you?! Let me laugh even harder! Bwahahahaha!!"

Brainstorm did not bother to pay any mind to Highbrow or Whirl's outburst. Hell, Pyro's sappy speech even drew the attention of some of the Decepticons with his Optimusisms. The engineer cupped his right hand around his opposite wrist, typically as a sign of nervousness to most as they marched off towards the Combiner. For Brainstorm however, his digits fidgeted with the inside of his wrist as he tried to restore his connection to the seeker he had semi-mind controlled.

Corridor Network

With Logicor firing off a barrage of missiles, Snapdragon did what he could to live up to his duty as an interceptor to divert or obliterate the heat-seekers away from the limited amount of Decepticons below. His lasers made quick work of a few of the first volley, but a few soon found themselves locked on to the Horrorcon's signature and started tracking towards him. Kicking his afterburners into high gear, Snapdragon bolted down the corridor, leading some of the missiles away from the battle. Transforming into his robot mode mid-flight, Snapdragon turned back around and fired more laser rounds into the storm of missiles, his toughened armor absorbing most of the explosive force.

"Heads up!" He called out below, both as a means to warn any poor mech that was sitting below him as well keep everyone's attention on any of the missiles that hadn't locked on to him.

Landing back onto the ground, the Horrorcon interceptor turned his twin Gyro-guns to the Gestalt and fired rapidly, hoping his weapons would have some sort of effect on any of the components.

---

There it was again, that strange feeling in the back of his processor... Skymauler was watching the fight with the gestalt go down, but he moved and spoke with actions he did not process on his own accord. Was this what real fear did? Was this a lasting effect from Monstructor's energy field still lingering after his fall? His arm brought itself up to the side of his helm and activated his private command unit.

>>"Skymauler to Semper Tyrannis, we've got Decepticons trying to escape from Jhiaxus' combiner locked down in reutilized inhibitor claws. Need bypass authorization for the dispersed inhibitor claws. Security code: PTT-84"<<

Hopefully this code still worked...

Garrus-9 – Hangar

Stranglehold’s arrival into the hangar was without flair. He simply trudged in with a rather foul scowl on his mustached faceplate. He’d noted on the way that he passed many sweeps transporting the injured to the hangar. He hadn’t brought anyone along. Hadn’t really thought to. It made him look even more like a sniveling coward than he already did. Fraggit.

Stranglehold looked to the most distinctive shape in the room. Cyclonus. Hard to miss Commander Pointy Horns. He would be the one to go to. Ugh. Well, at least he wasn’t the only hard hitter missing out on the fight with that monster. Yeah. Taking a bit of comfort in that, the former wrestler marched up to Cyclonus

“Hey-ho, Commander Cyclonus,” he said, greeting the horned Decepticon with a rather sloppy salute. “What can I do to help?”

Behind Stranglehold came Spinister toting the diminutive Firewire on a stretcher that one of the Sweeps had brought in for the wounded. She was still unconscious but no longer losing energon. Boarding one of the available shuttles, Spinister rode it back up to the Semper Tyrannis.

Semper Tyrannis – Medical Bay

It wasn’t hard to find the way to the medical bay. All one had to do was to follow the line of wounded headed that way. As they entered the medical bay, Spinister glanced about before retreating to a mostly secluded berth and unloading the small femme onto it. He hooked her up to a variety of machines, pumping new energon into her drained body and offlining her pain receptors.

Spinister looked at her. Hm. Probably a new arm. The leg looked salvageable. His head snapped up with narrowed optics, catching movement in the corner of them. Reflector. He was standing in front of a CR chamber. Odd. Stepping away from Firewire, Spinister approached, looking at the occupant of the chamber. His optics widened. Overlord. He didn’t look good despite being in a CR chamber. He glanced down to Reflector then pointed to the berth next to Firewire’s own.

“…?”

Garrus 9-Mines

Nightbeat listened silently to Highbrow and Whirl complain about Pyro's speech as he walked. Are they ever going to shut up about that? Granted it was cliche, but they don't need to tell everyone he thought to himself. Indeed Nightbeat could not be more glad when their laughter eventually began to stop... until it started again!

"Oh wait... You were serious, weren't you?! Let me laugh even harder! Bwahahahaha!!"

The blue and yellow bot's patience was wearing down and eventually he could take it no more. He was attempting to mentally review some old case involving a statue of a bird and their laughter was getting rather distracting. He did not speak but instead shot them a glance to the effect of

Would you be so kind as to stop fragging laughing!

Semper Tyrannis--Medibay

The wounded from the prison were steadily arriving as the shuttles continued the evacuation procedures that Lord Scorponok had ordered. The Reflector unit that had been injured by Jhiaxus when the mad scientist made his escape was in the process of being sat upright. Reflector could see clearly through its optics once more, which was an encouraging sign. That would free up the one currently occupying the medical bay and overseeing Overlord's vitals to turn its attention to other tasks.

>>"Skymauler to Semper Tyrannis, we've got Decepticons trying to escape from Jhiaxus' combiner locked down in reutilized inhibitor claws. Need bypass authorization for the dispersed inhibitor claws. Security code: PTT-84"<<

Reflector paused, bringing up an internal file of Decepticon Skymauler. Seeker 17-AV-Epsilon. Reflector then ran the given code. It checked out. Standard operating code meant to increase efficiency on the front lines and not weigh down battlefield commanders with needless bureaucracy.

>>"Reflector to Skymauler--bypass authorization granted,"<< the second Reflector unit transmitted as one of the 2nd fleet Decepticons approached. Spinister. Grand.

He watched as Spinister looked at the intimidating form of the Phase Sixer currently recuperating in one of the CR chambers before pointing to an empty berth next to the small mech he had brought with him. The third Reflector unit approached the second and stood next to him, both looking curiously at Spinister.

"What? You are frustrating to communicate with for this very reason, Spinister. What do you want?" the two units said in unison.

Corridors

As they marched toward their inevitable fate, Pointblank looked back to ensure all the ones that had been down in the mines had made it up. As Pyro gave his "rousing" speech and some of the others laughed, Pointblank just shook his head. He couldn't tell whether now was the best time for words like that or not. Ultimately, he supposed, they could be going on their last march. Maybe it was exactly what they needed. It didn't feel like it though. As was usually the problem with Pyro, he tried just a little too hard to emulate his hero. Well, probably a hero to all of them. But even so...

Pointblank slowed his gait until he was in step with their resident ace investigator, Nightbeat. For a moment, he looked like he was staring daggers at Whirl and Highbrow.

"Don't mind them. I've worked with Pyro a long time. He knows what he's in for when he says stuff like that, heh."

He paused.

"So what do you think? You think this is our last, best hope? Or were we better off down there?" Pointblank said, pointing back at the mine shaft that was further and further away with every step they took.

Garrus-9 – Corridors

“Hm? Ah, yes, quite,” Synapse muttered as Triggerhappy led him away from the gestalt’s feet. Which was probably for the best. Hurrying behind the roughshod cover that the Horrorcons had hastily constructed, Synapse curled up into a little ball as missiles explodes behind and around him. He really ought to get away from the battlefield. Synapse was not even remotely suited for it. Behind him, a missile collided directly into their sparse cover and sent him flying as shrapnel and debris lodged themselves into his back.

Somewhat frantically, Synapse tried to get up, but his hand slipped in something. He looked to see what it was. Ah. His energon. The sight of it wasn’t unfamiliar to him unfortunately. Coughing up a small wad of it, Synapse dragged himself around further away from the fighting so as not to burden the combatants. He huddled up behind a bit of rubble likely produced from their initial attack.

Umbra had been sharing the cover with Synapse. She, however, managed to avoid most of the debris. For some inexplicable reason, most of it had hit the Decepticon beside her. Lucky her, she guessed. However, without a weapon, there wasn’t much she could hope to do or add to the present situation. Not fighting would only draw attention to herself too. Slag.

Quickly, she darted out to one of her very few allies.

“Stormwrecker, do you have a spare gun or something?”


On the other side of Logicor, Snaptrap continued his charge in alternate mode. Missiles landed near him, but his armor was well suited for dealing with such armaments. He did take some care not to suffer any direct fire, but his path was clear. Transforming as he reached the combiner’s feet, Snaptrap drew his sword and ignited it.

He drove it into the same leg that Hun-Grrr had assaulted with one of his own swords as the other was preoccupied with a Blot clamped down with all he was worth. His amber optics flicked briefly to the Terrorcon leader, sending him a questioning look. It asked if their plan was simply to chop it down.

Chopping its legs off would be rather…inefficient. The Butcher would hope that there was a bigger stratagem at play than that. Hun-Grrr was an intelligent commander but often ruled by his baser instincts. He would not put it past him to just berserk on his monster.

Garrus-9 – Corridors

As the hail of missiles came for the Decepticons, Slog lifted his magnetic rifle and repulsed those headed in his general direction. He noted some heading for his own and attempted to divert those as well. Had he more time, Slog might have been able to sling some missiles back at Logicor, but at the moment, this was all he could manage.

Hurrying over to his team, Slog glanced to Icepick. “Are you alright? Where’s your friend?” He looked to Scowl. “And you?” Bother, they didn’t really have the time to be worrying about each other with a monster still raging. Slog supposed he ought to consider vaguely acting like a leader. For some odd reason, he’d ended up the de facto one of his little rag tag group of compatriots.

“We once had a weak point until Jhiaxus ironed that out. Perhaps there are some oversights to this design as well. Try targeting the joints and any exposed segments on the central body.”


Semper Tyrannis – Medical Bay

"What? You are frustrating to communicate with for this very reason, Spinister. What do you want?" the two units said in unison.

Spinister let out a disgruntled huff as his optics narrowed. They darted between the Reflector units before narrowing further. They were giving him weird looks. He didn’t like it. After debating the merits of reacting – he didn’t know how. Maybe anger? He ended up deciding to try again. He pointed to Overlord then pointed to the berth.

“Needs help. Put him on it,” Spinister managed with some difficulty, “I’ll fix him.”

Retreating from the stares of the Reflector units, Spinister went over to the indicated berth and began prepping it for its new occupant. It didn’t take long. After he was done, he turned back to the little femme and stared at her leg and good arm carefully with optics that had narrowed to slits.

Garrus 9

"So what do you think? You think this is our last, best hope? Or were we better off down there?"

Nightbeat considered this for a moment. Neither option could be considered a decent one but of the two the mines would, at least in his mind, be preferable. This situation may be more interesting but chances are we were safer down in the mines

"Honestly, the mines. I wouldn't choose to be in either situation but all things considered we were probably safer down there. Not safe, but safer."

"Although in the long run that's irrelevant. I mean we're doomed either way, the end might as well be sooner and more interesting than later and amazingly pointless. It is pointless, there's no denying it. Anything mined there is just going to help speed up some planet's race to destruction. I suppose when you look at it that way, everything is pointless. Eventually this war will be over and what will be left to show for it all? Dead worlds filled with dead bodies. So really by not being in the mines we are assisting the universe. That went on much longer than I expected and has little to nothing to do with our current situation. I think I should just stop talking now"

Garrus-9 – Corridors - Certain Death:

After Whirl's long laughing session, and Nightbeat's long thoughtful look at today's society, Highbrow was feeling less and less sure of survival. Before their chances were in the one digits of percentages, but now it was going into the negative. Very bad. They were scrapped.

"Alright alright, so, when we enter the vicinity of these creatures of mass destruction, I suppose it will simply be a more dramatic death sentence than normal? Not only is this an utterly cruel way to send foes off to death, but it also simply makes no sense!"

Highbrow glanced under his visor over at Brainstorm seeing him fiddling with something and trying to hide it. Highbrow simply ignored it. Maybe Brainstorm had some genius plan. Who knew.

"I suppose, consider- imagine the Decepticons there? They are fighting a couple of monsters who want all of us dead; even Decepticons; and then you come in with us as some sorts of burnt offerings to the gargantuan fragglets! Utterly ridiculous! I thought you wanted them dead! Not offering them peace offerings!"