The Energon Pub

Garrus-9--Med Bay:

"Rise in shine, triggerpuller!" said Triggerhappy to himself after waking from the cryogenic repair unit. It had been too long. Him and Slugslinger both were getting repairs because of a close-to-death encounter with a bunch of Autobots.

Triggerhappy's head hurt so much; well, it always did, but he didn't care. Triggerhappy was just 'happy. (get it?)' to be awake again and ready to do something fun. It's time to play games. That's what I do best!

Triggerhappy jumped up, and didn't even give himself time to stretch. It was another new day in another new place. Fun times!

Just then, the crazy gunner heard something odd in the room next to him...

”Drop your weapons or I swear to you I will snap her neck. Who are you? Where in the pit I am and what the slag is happening here?”

"Huh, I swear this is not usual conversation in a med bay," said Triggerhappy.

Triggerhappy walked into the room he heard it in. He found himself standing behind Skyhammer who had some Decepticon femme in his grasp. Triggerhappy unreluctantly pulled his gun out and pointed it at Skyhammer.

"Whadya doin? We're friends, right? I just woke up, so you should really give me time to perk a bit before having a hostage situation," said Triggerhappy before laughing.

Slugslinger woke up about that time out of his unit, and already Triggerhappy was pointing his gun at someone. The fool.

"Triggerhappy, don't make this more complicated than it needs to be!" said Slugslinger, "Sometimes speaking is better than shooting. DO NOT FIRE."

Triggerhappy wanted to ignore him so bad, but he then said, "Well, if they don't kill, then I don't shoot. Deal?"

Semper Tyrannis--Bridge

”Reflector, what just happened in the hangar? All video feeds from there went black. I lost connection to Bugly in mid-sentence. He tried to report an unscheduled orbital bounce.”

Reflector's remaining bridge component was leaning against his console. He looked as if he had just been shot with a fusion cannon, even thought there was clearly no physical damage to his person.

"A....-a-affirmative," Reflector painfully struggled to get out, slowly doing whatever he could to regain his inner equilibrium. It had been a long time since he had directly taken damage to any one of his three bodies.

"It was Jhiaxus.....h-he bounced up from Garrus....then.....I'm showing spacebridge activation on the systems..."
___

Garrus-9--Mines

Like the other Seacons, the sudden surge in activity had caught Tentakil's attention. His optics shifted around the area in a predatory fashion. Commotions were excellent times to snap up a weak cyberfox from its pack, so to speak. But he was also truly curious as to what exactly had prompted the mass exodus of the Insecticons and their brood.

“Well the Insecticons seem to know something. Maybe we should talk to one. Tentakil? If you would…”

The Seacon mumbled quietly to himself. Not in frustration, just simple contemplation.

>>"Kickback..."<< Tentakil began, having opened a comm.

>>"Not you, too,"<< the Insecticon promptly hissed in reply.

>>"What's going on up there? Everyone is curiously quiet."<<

>>"The amphitheatre's compromised. I'm working on finding out more. If I do, you'll be the last to know. Now begone from my channel, fish. I'm doing important work up here."<<

Tentakil's face took on a midly shocked expression as he looked over to the other Seacons.

"Well...such rudeness! Our Insecticon 'brethren' weren't feeling especially chatty. But it seems the amphitheater is compromised. That means...the Butcher..."

Garrus-9 – Central – Med Bay

Someone help her. Skyhammer reacted just about as well as Umbra thought he would, which was to say, not well. He took her hostage, which Umbra allowed. She wasn’t keen on testing her martial arts skills against a very volatile opponent. Fortunately for her, her two new Decepticon buddies and Pointblank were trying their best to smooth the situation over. It seemed like things would start to calm down when two more Cons appeared and set their guns on Skyhammer.

“For the love of Primus, don’t shoot! We need him!” Umbra barked at Triggerhappy and Slugslinger. “Alright?! Okay?! No one shoots anybody! And no one goes around snapping necks.” Umbra huffed, glancing up at Skyhammer. “Those things? They’re not something any of us can deal with alone, so…just…everyone calm down.”

Umbra didn’t care that for the fact that she was getting increasingly used to her life being in jeopardy. She just wanted one moment where she didn’t think she was going to get scrapped. She glanced at everyone.

“Okay? So. If any of us wanna get out of this alive, we should probably consider…I dunno. Working together.” Umbra hoped that her words were getting through to everyone. She had fought really hard not to die today. She would like to keep that living streak going. She also had to get out there and help Icepick. So. Yeah. She didn’t have time to die today.

Garrus-9 Central - Corridors

>>”I hear you Synapse, what is it? You have any idea what the frag is happening here?! I can't reach any member of the High Command.”<<

Apeface. Thank goodness. A small light of hope began to shine. Synapse glanced at his new associates furtively before responding. >>"Ah, I've found myself in quite the predicament. I am also unable to hail any member of high command. It is quite worrying...oh! But presently, I am being held captive by a ragtag group of Autobots. Myself and Lobe that is. Ha, such is my luck, I suppose."<<

"AY!"

“Ack!” Synapse jumped. His Autobot escort quickly whirled around toward the source of the sound, optics wide, weapons raised. Synapse turned to look as well, and what he saw made his optics widen a little. “De-“ Synapse cut himself off when he spotted the Autobot insignia where his Decepticon one normally was. So is that how he wanted to play this?

"Friend or foe?!"

The Autobots around him relaxed visibly when they saw the Autobot insignia on Deadlock. Flasher and Breacher lowered their weapons slightly, but Antic kept his trained on Deadlock suspiciously.

“Friend!” Breacher called out. He put a hand on Antic’s gun. “Easy there.”

“I don’t recognize him,” Antic grumbled, wrenching his gun away from Breacher.

Synapse, Lobe, and the Autobots shuffled over to meet Deadlock. Flasher smiled, relieved. “It’s so good to see another friendly face.” Synapse glanced at Flasher, struck by the irony of the situation. Flasher gestured at him and Lobe. “Oh, these two are our prisoners. That one is Synapse. He’s actually not that bad, for a Con, anyway.” Synapse offered Deadlock a small wave.

“Nice to meet you.”

Garrus-9 – Central – Med Bay

"Well, if they don't kill, then I don't shoot. Deal?"

"Fine. Just don't shoot him until I tell you to."

Slugslinger had just emerged from his cryogenic repair unit. No more that two seconds later, his friend Triggerhappy was already pointing a gun at someone. Just typical, really.

Slugslinger then noticed that Skyhammer had no weapons with him. "Well then, this should make things easier". Now to get some answers as to what's going on, he thought to himself.

Garrus-9 Central--Amphitheatre

Bombshell quickly grew disinterested in Kickback's little side conversations. Such was the nature of that particular insect to have multiple things pulling for his attention. Once Bombshell had been satisfied that nothing of particular interest was going to come from it, he returned his attention to the amphitheater. And so doing, he resumed his earlier gait.

When he arrived at the first major set of doors, he could see a couple of Seekers running up from an adjacent corridor.

"We heard central got compromised. That true, bug?" the teal Seeker asked.

It would seem to be the case," Bombshell said as he reached out to activate his entry authorization codes. The other Seeker, a black and tan, swatted his hand away.

"Hey! If it's compromised, y'don't just go openin' doors. We gotta contain whatever's in there."

By now, the Insecticon horde that had been following their core units had caught up and were crawling all over the immediate exterior of the amphitheater.

"I disagree, my fine young jet. Our commander's in there. We must know what's happened. You, of course, are welcome to ehhhh, try and stop me."

"Yes, try try," Shrapnel tittered, along with the macabre chitterings of about a hundred nearby diaclones.

The two Seekers looked around their immediate vicinity and exchanged glances before holding up their hands in a non-threatening manner and stepping back. Bombshell chuckled and finished entering the last of the code. With a few beeps and a hiss, the large doors slid open-and the first thing to greet them were a pair of Decepticons that had been effectively propped up against the doors spilled out on to the floor.

Bombshell's optics widened in surprise. The Cybertronians were misshapenly transformed and contorted into awful positions. On one he could recognize what appeared to be a partial mouth and head structure crying out in silent pain. Looking further into the room, Bombshell was greeted by more of the same. Much more.

"By Primus..." he whispered, as diaclones began to spill in to the room. It took a lot to shock an Insecticon, particularly one so ruthless as Bombshell. This...this was certainly something he'd never seen before.

>>"Apeface, I've got that live feed you were wanting,"<< Kickback said as he and the others walked further into the amphitheater.

Garrus-9 Central--Med Bay

“For the love of Primus, don’t shoot! We need him! Alright?! Okay?! No one shoots anybody! And no one goes around snapping necks.” Umbra huffed, glancing up at Skyhammer. “Those things? They’re not something any of us can deal with alone, so…just…everyone calm down.”

Sense. Skymauler liked this one. He wondered why there weren't more Decepticons like this during his time as a double-agent. Most of their ranks seemed to consist of psychopathic, would-be tyrant-kings or their enabling lackeys. It was good to see some variety.

“Okay? So. If any of us wanna get out of this alive, we should probably consider…I dunno. Working together,” Umbra continued.

Skymauler looked at the screen she had indicated, with those two massive gestalt Cybertronians apparently standing sentry outside of some room.

"Yeah, those things will tear us apart. That one causes some kind of....I dunno....it got loose in the penitentiary earlier and I got too close for a sec and it felt like I was gonna die. Like my spark was shriveling or something," the Seeker said, pointing at Monstructor on the screen. "Primus only knows what that other one can do. I second the whole 'working together' proposal."

Garrus-9 – Central – Med Bay

>>"Yeah, I copy! I can hear you and see what you're seeing. Don't ask how, I'll explain later. That mech you're holding, she's on our side...I think...anyway, she was down here with us in the mines. We sent her up to try and get you up and running again. Looks like mission accomplished on that front, but it looks like everything else is going to the Pit, so I'm not sure how much better off we are now than we were a few breems ago anyway."<<

That was lot to swallow. Everything was so confusing. None of this made sense to Skyhammer. The femme was one of them? The two others before him certainly weren't though, they were clearly Decepticons. And they were both armed unlike Skyhammer himself. Before the damaged Autobot officer could think of any kind of a reply to Pointblank, another Decepticon had managed to sneak behind him and by the sound of a gun powering up – he was pointing a gun at Skyhammer's back.

"Whadya doin? We're friends, right? I just woke up, so you should really give me time to perk a bit before having a hostage situation."

That idiotic laugher. It was unmistakable. Triggerhappy. Just great. This was getting worse and worse by the astrosecond. He now had a raving lunatic pointing a gun at his back. A raving lunatic very like to loose his cool any moment and blast yet another hole through Skyhammer's already damaged torso.

"Triggerhappy, don't make this more complicated than it needs to be!" said Slugslinger, "Sometimes speaking is better than shooting. DO NOT FIRE. Well, if they don't kill, then I don't shoot. Deal?"

Yet another Decepticon. Skyhammer could recognize this voice as well. Slugslinger. A self-centered cowardly braggart ready to use any underhanded trick to get the upper hand in a battle. If Triggerhappy had been bad, this was even worse. Or so he'd have thought. And yet Slugslinger was pleading for Triggerhappy to not fire instead of shooting Skyhammer in the back himself. Into what kind of a crazy world he had woken up to?

“For the love of Primus, don’t shoot! We need him! Alright?! Okay?! No one shoots anybody! And no one goes around snapping necks. Those things? They’re not something any of us can deal with alone, so…just…everyone calm down. Okay? So. If any of us wanna get out of this alive, we should probably consider…I dunno. Working together.”

And finally the femme had had enough and burst into screaming, prompting Skyhammer to release his grip on her and just simply lift his hands up.

”I surrender.” He simply stated, hanging his head. There was nothing he could think he could do in this situation. He was outgunned, outnumbered and with the wounds he still carried he'd be able to bring down only one of these 'cons at best before they'd overpower him. ”Just… make some sense to this...”


Garrus-9 – Central – Med Bay

"A....-a-affirmative. It was Jhiaxus.....h-he bounced up from Garrus....then.....I'm showing spacebridge activation on the systems..."

”What?!” Finback barked at Reflector, cursing his inability to leave his containment tank. ”He… he must have betrayed us! It would explain the communications blackout,” the old warrior wheezed in disappointment. All they had worked for, all of their sacrifices and recent victories – were they for nothing?

”Have you had contact with anyone down in the facility?” He finally asked, having collected his wits. ”I am sending people to investigate the hangar.”

Garrus-9 – Corridors

>>"Yes, I read you, Apeface. I'm working to get some of them in position now. What's going on in the amphitheater? My diaclones in there blacked out. I can't sense anything. I'm sure it's the same for the others."<<

>>”Gaaah! By Megatron's tailpipe, doesn't anyone know anything here?! Why the slag would I be asking you if I knew?! Everyone I have managed to hail so far are blacked out when it comes to the Primus forsaken amphitheater!<< Apeface replied back to Kickback with frustration evident in his voice. Everything was going downhill and a damn professional like Kickback had to act like a protoform? Ugh. This whole mess was royally pissing him off.

>>"Ah, I've found myself in quite the predicament. I am also unable to hail any member of high command. It is quite worrying...oh! But presently, I am being held captive by a ragtag group of Autobots. Myself and Lobe that is. Ha, such is my luck, I suppose."<<

The next transmission Apeface got while running through the various corridors of the enormous facility towards the amphitheater was from Synapse. And it was a message that made him validiate his theory in regards of Synapse being plagued by impossibly bad luck.

>>”Well that doesn't surprise me given the Insecticons claim to be black out too but slag it Synapse, of all the damn mechs in this aft-end of the universe - you just happen to run into the last Autobot resistance pocket inside this pretty much mowed down facility? That's just… rich.”<< Apeface chuckled at Synapse's predicament. >>”I am homing on your signal. Let's just hope your damn luck catches on those bots too before you run out of it.”<<

Just as he finished replying back to Synapse, Apeface finally received a message he had been waiting for.

>>"Apeface, I've got that live feed you were wanting."<<

And while the video feed Kickback had sent was most revealing in regards to what was exactly going on within the walls of Garrus-9, it hardly was something he had wanted to see.

”Slagging hell,” Apeface cursed, stopping on his tracks. It was all he managed to say before the initial shock wore away. Turning to look at Snapdragon after a brief pause, Apeface spoke again while sharing the feed with the reptilian Horrorcon. ”Before you ask, see for you self… frag it.”

>>”Well, slagging hell. Keep monitoring the situation Kickback. Can your diaclone enter the amphitheater without being affected by what the hell is going on there? Great work nevertheless.”<< Apeface finally managed to reply back to Kickback while opening another comm-link to Reflector, sending the video package to him too. >>”That's what happened. Send fleet wide alert. Jhiaxus has turned on us. Capture him on sight.”<<

Garrus-9 – Central – Med Bay:

"Oh man! He surrendered. Guess I have to not shoot," said Triggerhappy with a comical frown under his faceplate as he referred to Skyhammer. He put his gun down and rolled his optics.

He then turned around to Slugslinger, "Wait a sec dude! Why are you all so peace-happy all of a sudden!?" Triggerhappy started giggling before then saying, "You with dis guy? Who even is he? Haha tellme!"

Garrus-9 Central--Amphitheater

Kickback and Shrapnel had hung somewhat back, still assessing the situation. Bombshell's curiosity was clearly getting the better of him. He had seen Scorponok and was making strides in that direction.

Without warning however, as soon as Bombshell crossed some kind of invisible threshold, he stumbled and dropped to the ground, his body partially transforming and contorting itself in ways that mirrored the Cybertronians that were already in the room. A number of diaclones began to suffer the same effects as soon as they, too, got too close.

"Get back get back!" Shrapnel said, his electrical sensitivity pinging a multitude of different disturbances within this room, but also pinpointing where they seemed to be originating. His optics locked in on the massive, prone form of their commander. "There it is there it is. That's the problem problem.

Kickback took a measured step closer, though he remained a safe distance behind Shrapnel. He too saw the strange device jutting out from Scorponok's body.

"Such a curious tool. How do we get to it without succumbing to its effects?"

"You shoot it, duh," the black and tan Seeker from before said, now walking up behind the gathered Insecticons that had not ventured too close to the distortion field. He aimed his right arm cannon at the device, and in the midst of the collective gasps of Shrapnel and Kickback, he fired.

The bolt arced straight through the air in an instant but as soon as it was within striking distance of the device it arced upward and struck the ceiling of the amphitheater instead.

"Or not..."

Garrus-9 Central--Amphitheatre

Chopshops squadron circled the Amphitheater from the air, making sure they had the proper location to pin point were the strange energy source had come from.

Chopshops squad was small and highly disciplined. They landed in a circle with Chopshop at its center and his right hand diaclone "Rightly" to the right of him. Chopshop and Rightly were the first to Transform, the orange diaclones then transformed and produced all manner of scavenged and stolen devices from pockets and recesses in there carapace and began scanning the area.

"well this is a right mess we got 'ere" Chopshop says to Rightly handing him his scanner.

Chopshop quietly gives orders to Rightly before setting off towards Kickback, shrapnell and the seeker. Rightly looks left and right before discreetly pocketing the scanner. Chopshop shouts out to the other Insecticons,

"Looks like ol' Bombshell, got him self all scrambled up, eh? wots the situation 'ere then?"

Chopshop looks over at the disabled Scorponok, he eyes the device protruding from his prone form.

"Excellent", Slugslinger said with a smug voice. "See, Triggerhappy? What did I tell you?"

Slugslinger had recently woken up from cryogenic sleep only to find his friend Triggerhappy pointing a gun at Skyhammer. While Slugslinger and Triggerhappy had been arguing about what to do, Skyhammer suddenly raised his hands and surrendered.

"Wait a sec dude! Why are you all so peace-happy all of a sudden!?"

"Triggerhappy, you do realize that shooting first and asking questions later is a very bad idea", Slugslinger explained. "Besides, the guy is unarmed, so he isn't worth fighting. If he had guns, I'd fight him, and believe me, I'd absolutely smoke him."

Garrus-9 – Central – Med Bay:

"Haha! My kind of guy!" shouted Triggerhappy to Slugslinger before wrapping his arm around his back.

"Ya know? Maybe we'll have some fun afterall. Hyaha!"

Garrus-9 Central--Amphitheatre

Chopshop stopped suddenly and listened over his comlink. And excitedly Chopshop began barking orders to his diaclones, his orders drowned out by a low flying seeker squadron traveling at mach speeds over head, as he waves in his diaclone commanders and there teams.

Chopshop winks to Shrapnell.

"Our, er, little reunion is going to have to wait lads."

Chopshop turns and motions to his swarm,

"Insecticons, its time to bug out!"

Chopshop motions to the air as his squadron transform into stag beetles and take off, the back draft of the swarm of large Insecticons wings blowing up dust and debris leaving part of the amphitheater in a cloud of dust.

Garrus-9 - Spaceport

What was left of the spaceports automated defense was already in ruin by the time Chopshop had arrived, being destroyed by air to ground seeker squadron air strikes. Obviously this area had been spared the more powerful space to planet lasers, the area having been deemed a military asset.

The few guards that reminded were outmatched and surrounded. Chopshop held no ill will to the surviving Autobots, they had simply gotten in the way of him and his loot. He even took one Autobot medic prisoner, who despite her tactical deficiency had fought till the very last, this instinct for survival amused Chopshop. That and she might be worth something to someone.

The real prize here was three large armored prison space shuttles, a fourth had been destroyed when part of the roof had came down in the initial strikes against the base, and yet another had been partially dismantled and cannibalized for parts. These were relics of the ultra industrial age of Zeta Prime, and that brought a small tear to Chopshops eye.

"Alright ladz!" Shouts Chopshop addressing his "swarm", "I want thoughts two 'ulks rended down, i want the others rebadged and in working take off order, Rightly I want you in the mission control center I want a shake down of the autobot computers and any data. I also want logs of anyfing coming and going from this base, and full control of any remaining air defense systems. Lefty, I want routine patrols, this missions been slim pickins for steal'n, and i don't want wot we 'ave stolen, stolen, you get me lad!? Stealy im sending you to look for supply and ammo dumps. I want it all brought back 'ere, and I want it done real sneaky like."

The Diaclone acknowledged there orders, transformed into there mighty stag beetle forms and took off.
That left Chopshop and his last diaclone commander, Doc Choppin'z to direct the remaining diaclones as they begin work on hot wiring and doing systems checks on the now stolen prison shuttles.

Garrus-9 Central--Med Bay

"Besides, the guy is unarmed, so he isn't worth fighting. If he had guns, I'd fight him, and believe me, I'd absolutely smoke him," Slugslinger said, adding on to Triggerhappy's earlier comments.

"Exactly, heh. No need to waste ammo on a defenseless Autobot," Skymauler agreed. More to the point, Skyhammer was a valuable resource, and it was Skymauler's secret mission to preserve as many Autobot resources as possible. After this debacle, he was certain Prowl would reassign him. Garrus was almost a total loss at this point. Except for the lives. There were still lives to be saved. Skymauler had to keep his focus on that.
___

Garrus-9--Mines

”I surrender. Just… make some sense to this...” Pointblank heard Skyhammer say via the comm, obviously a clear tone of defeat in his voice.

>>"Just hang in there, chief. We're working to make some sense of this ourselves. A lot's happened."<<

Pointblank then turned to the others that were trapped in the mines with him.

"It's safe to say things aren't going exactly the way Clawsy McHandy thought they were gonna go. How do we best capitalize on that? We've got Umbra and 'Hammer up there. The 'Cons are down, but it's not gonna last..."

Garrus-9 - Mines:

"We've got Umbra and 'Hammer up there. The 'Cons are down, but it's not gonna last..."

"Let's see..." started Highbrow. It's time to analyze the situation.

"Skyhammer has obviously surrendered. However, it seems that the majority of those in that room are not present for his disadvantage. They need him."

Highbrow then paused and squinted his optics under the visor of his, and then jolted with surprise.

"By Primus' name, is that Triggerhappy??? And, is that Slugslinger beside him?"

This was a complicated situation. A madmech and a warhappy idiot. Why haven't they fired though? They had lowered their weapons.

"Those two MANIACS. It is for the better that they have not fired a shot. Why however? This is not sense-making."

Highbrow grabbed his forehead in short-timed pondering. Think genius, think.

Highbrow then spoke, "With those two idiots in there, it's nearly unavoidable for them to want to make it a slaughterhouse at the slightest annoyance. We need ideas. What would they want? We could possibly make a deal of some sort. A bribe. Decepticons are known for their love of trade, right? Yes, of course they are."

"This could quite possibly work. We only need something they want."

Semper Tyrannis--Bridge

”What?! He… he must have betrayed us! It would explain the communications blackout. Have you had contact with anyone down in the facility? I am sending people to investigate the hangar.”

Yes....yes! That was it! That communications blackout that had aided in Omega Supreme's escape from the facility. Jhiaxus! The horror...

"Affirmative, captain. I've made contact with Apeface. Both Horrorcons appear to be functional. He has taken emergency command of surface operations," Reflector said. "He appears to be coordinating with Kickback. The Insecticons were last in the mines. It would make sense that they managed to avoid whatever happened in the amphitheater."

Reflector then appeared to get a momentarily blank expression on his face before turning to look at Finback directly.

"Incoming from Apeface," he said as he loaded the audio and video playback.

>>”That's what happened. Send fleet wide alert. Jhiaxus has turned on us. Capture him on sight,”<< Apeface's voice echoed throughout the bridge as his captured video played on the primary viewscreen and all of the secondary monitors.
___

Garrus-9--Amphitheater

Before Kickback or Shrapnel could even answer Chop Shop's question, he and his motley crew of diaclones had taken their leave. Kickback didn't fully blame him. After seeing what had happened to Bombshell--who now lay in a pitiful, misshapenly-transformed mass--Kickback wasn't feeling too good about just standing around here either. But the raw intelligence gathering potential was too high to simply turn around and run. Still, he was curious as to what exactly the other Insecticon was up to. He could see from his current position that he was in the spaceport area of the prison.

>>Chop Shop....why the spaceport? What did you find?"<< he transmitted to the other Insecticon, just as a response transmission from Apeface came in.

>>”Well, slagging hell. Keep monitoring the situation Kickback. Can your diaclone enter the amphitheater without being affected by what the hell is going on there? Great work nevertheless."<<

>>"Yes. We're in here now,"<< Kickback said, readying a video playback of what they had just witnessed happening to Bombshell and some of his diaclones. >>"After the initial wave that affected everyone in the vicinity, there appears to be a field....emanating from a device currently embedded in our commander. So long as you don't cross within its range, you can safely enter the area. Bombshell, heh, well, got a little too curious."<<

Garrus 9: Near Abandoned Conversion Area - Level Alpha Section Epsilon

Atmosphere was thin within the tightly confined tunnel, due perhaps in part to the poor ventilation systems who's repairs had been stalled since the invasion, and perhaps more importantly due to efforts of resistance. Section Epsilon had been the fourth major vein cut long before the war had developed to a galactic affair. "Are you certain of these developments?" A shadow shifted in the poorly illuminated vein of the mine where conductive metals were once harvested in abundance. A spiral of dust was immediately exposed as the figure leaned back against the chamber walls. It spun aimlessly in the void before colliding with the inert body propped up against the warped environmental vent, destroyed by the orbital bombardment.

"It does not appear that they were very interested about recovering those they deemed unworthy of their time." A smaller Autobot responded to the towering figure, half buried in the chest of a third member of their part. A few sounds of twisting metal murmured from the jagged rent in the downed Autobot's chest. Its markings were black and white, trimmed in a silver with a golden seal emblazoned on its forehead. "Still, I don't think that is what you are getting at by asking, are you Pyro?" Lithe hands reached out only momentarily to pull a piece or two from the pile of salvaged bits and bobbles before disappearing behind a breached piece of armor plate.

"No, that part has become painfully clear during your efforts to mend my own body." Pyro knelt down next to the fellow Autobot survivor. He rested his hand on the fallen form's shoulder and gave it a brief squeeze of reassurance. His fingers paused over the twisted form of armor plate that had once been a shoulder actuator cover, now nothing more than the remnant of an Insecticon chew toy. When Pyro and Amaranth had found the wounded figure, it had been after a pair of insect clones scurried out of the tunnel in a frantic pace... if one could consider anything the clones did as purposed. "What I meant was, the infestation truly thinning?"

Amaranth leaned up ever so slightly till her head was able to peer over a piece of intact plate. "It appears to be the case. Dolgo and Troyian both caught the swarm moving towards various gathering points..."

"... before being forced to abandon surveillance or risk drawing attention by the primary over guards." Pyro looked back at the flickering optics of the wounded security officer. Things were moving fast now... perhaps too fast for his own ideal pace of resistance. In fact he had hoped that the Technobots would have been cast back into the pit to provide him with the ideal source of information about potential numbers and strength of the surface forces. Of course Pyro wasn't fool enough to believe those hopes were realistic, but hope was something they all required given their current circumstances. Instead, the Technobots were still missing, their leadership... as weak as it was, had been stolen leaving the Autobots within the mines few options to rally behind. While he had left much of the technical maneuvering to Pointblank's discretion, as well as the control of Whirl's unpredictable nature to that of Roadbuster, Pyro had found himself as the proverbial icon.

Just like Optimus Prime. The thought tugged at his hidden mouth before it faded. Since separating from the others the Obliterator Class Ranger had begun meeting with Autobot survivors. Convincing them that the time was near in which they would be able to make their way to freedom. A quiet rally cry had gone through the upper and mid levels of the mines, causing other groups to form and gather intelligence about guard movements and patrol routes... both being surprisingly lax irregardless of the location in which they had been tasked to secure. While he did not advocate direct confrontation with the Insecticon Clones, or the Seacons, he did urge his would be resistance to find subtler ways to thwart the cons mining operations while searching for a thin portion of the mine that would allow for easier egress.

The reflection passed as Pyro looked back at the medic weaving her practiced magics on the wounded security officer. "How is he anyways?"

"Lucky," Her muffled tone barely audible over the shifting of interior parts. "If those vermin had continued for another breem, they would have gotten to his core and that'd be the end of him." She peeked up for a moment to wipe away a smudge of grime and lubricants from her forehead light. Setting down the makeshift wrench, bent into place by her behemoth guardian, and grabbed a beat up coaxial converter box.

For his part Pyro simply remained as a sentinel, ensuring that potential prying optics of the Seacons did not spot their efforts. He saw no reason to offer the carrion feeders a chance at an early snack. "Than it is fortunate that whatever recalled them did so at an opportune time."

"Well he isn't out of the woods yet," She disappeared with the box into the larger officer's chest. Sounds of tearing wire caused the facial expression of the near motionless soldier twitch with discomfort. "I am sure he'll pull through though. It will take more than a few bugs feasting on his insides to knock this lug offline permanently."

"You seem to know him."

Amaranth's movement's stopped briefly as she pondered a response. It was an almost imperceptible hesitation. "Yes, his name is Deck... a security officer. I served with him once on board my ship... But after a rather trying engagement on Alpha Orindi, he transferred here." She pulled out the ruined CCB and tossed it into the pile of discarded rubbish behind her. With a fluid motion she dove back to install the salvaged component recovered from the corpse of a former Decepticon scout held prisoner. It was a smaller unit, which meant... like with most of the patches she had made to various Autobot prisoners, the unit would have to be replaced as it would unlikely survive combat conditions. "There, the unit will take time to calibrate itself to the larger frame of Deck, but he should be able to come online and have some limited mobility in a few breems."

"Good work Amaranth. Keep an eye on him for a bit longer, I have to check in with the others to get updated on the exodus of our would be guards." Pyro pushed himself up and dusted off his left knee before pivoting towards the pain branch of the Alpha Tunnel.

He emerged from the Epsilon spur after his brief round about labyrinthine route. His massive hand rested at the edge of the tunnel junction. "How many," A new voice caught his attention as a towering figure pushed himself off of the rock face.

"If Deck is able to recuperate in time, it makes enough for two squads. Amaranth is going to over see his recovery before joining us." Pyro stepped forward and began to lead the larger wrecker down the pipeline. "And your own efforts, Roadbuster?"

Roadbuster fell in behind Pyro. "Five."

"Enough for a third squad? So outside of our original number that leaves us with barely enough members to secure the mines, and no where near enough to retake the facility above." Pyro fell silent as Roadbuster simply nodded quietly. As the pair turned the corner, careful to stay out of the optical arc of the Seacon guards, the silence was broken with a whisper. "Then we will have to find another way."

"Obviously," Roadbuster picked up a discarded pick ax and swung it over his shoulder as if ready to work. "Without our abilities of transformation, we are at a considerable disadvantage beyond the numerical."

"Indeed, an all out uprising now would still not benefit us our or present standing."

The two turned the bend and darted off of the main hall towards the covert gallery where they had left Pointblank, Whirl and two fused seekers stuffed in a can. Quietly they tossed ideas back and forth, Roadbuster favoring a more direct approach to liberation while Pyro urging for a more cautious tactic. As they approached the gallery, they both agreed that there was precious information in which to device an appropriate response to the evacuation of the Insecticon Clones.

"Pointblank, Whirl..." Pyro whispered as he stepped passed the downed mound of rubble that secured the remains of a dead Decepticon Brawler. "Any word on our friend?..."

They stopped at the edge of the gallery and took stock in the two new arrivals to their desperate venture. "Brainstorm, Highbrow, I had wondered where you two had gone off to. I trust your miniature adventure was beneficial."

"Enough small talk Pyro. We need to get in contact with Umbra. Have her find a way to unlock these inhibitor claws." Roadbuster leaned against the wall next to Whirl's position. "Until we have that bit of flexibility, any and all strategies we may devise are utterly useless."

Pyro nodded only briefly. "True Roadbuster, any effort to escape is greatly dependent on our weapon systems and transformations being restored. But I am sure that our friend Umbra has discovered further items of interest that will be as valuable in our future endeavors." He glanced over to Pointblank. "At least that is my hope in this instance. We are woefully lacking in nearly all departments, though we do have a few functional prisoners ready to march once the time is upon us."

Garrus-9 – Central – Med Bay:

"Ya know? Maybe we'll have some fun afterall. Hyaha!"

Slugslinger responded, "Soon, Triggers. Right now, we got some stuff to deal with, eh?"

The Decepticon sniper then crossed his arms, and took a few steps forward with a more serious face than normally on the teal "clown's" visage.

"So, you say these things about the whole place coming down and all that. Normally I would be all 'that's scrap' and blow ya heads off. BUT, here's the thing that makes me wonder if you're telling the truth:

"Ya see, 'Cons aren't normally prone to wake up at the exact time in a Med Bay. My buddy Triggerhappy here and I just woke up, and at the same time. What does that mean? That there's probably a problem. And what do you do when there's a problem with the place you're in? You either fight, or escape. SO, if you aren't lying; which seems REASONABLY likely; then we're gonna wanna blow the CRAP outta those combiners. I don't wanna be the one getting blown up by them lugs, wouldya agree, Triggers?"

Triggerhappy then responded, "Oh naaa! That's BAYD news! It's funner for US to be tha ones blowin things up ya know? Hahaha!"

"Triggers! You KNOW that we ran out of explosives cycles ago, right?"

"Oh, really Slugz? HA! Thats NOT RIGHT! DANGIT! And here was I thinking we're gonna hav fun!"

"I doubt they have the good ones in the armory either, Triggs. They only have those small little fly ones. Those things make me SICK!"

"YEAH! Preach et Slugs! Their bombs here are SCRAAAAP. SO yestrday techs!"

Slugslinger and Triggerhappy let out simultaneous sighs.

"We can't blow up them big 'Bots with dat stuff, Slugs!"

"Welp. Guess we'll have to go with option two and escape, and then stock up SOMEWHERE IN THE GALAXY afterwards, Triggs."

"Uhhhhhhhh MAYN! Dangit Slugs! And here I thought we were gonna go all rambo on theyr arses! Why'd ya TEASE me? UHHH!"

[OCC: Slugslinger I am NPCing temporarily for Autobot N.]

Garrus-9 – Mines

"Well...such rudeness! Our Insecticon 'brethren' weren't feeling especially chatty. But it seems the amphitheater is compromised. That means...the Butcher..."

“That’s not surprising,” Skalor grunted, crossing his arms, “We did commandeer their ship.”

“But Snaptrap! If the amphitheater is compromised…” Overbite echoed Tentakil, following the resident psychopath’s line of thought. “He may need our help.”

“Pffff…bwahaha!” Skalor cackled, “He’d have your hide for sayin’ that.” His face grew more concerned after a moment however. Rubbing his chin, Skalor looked at Tentakil and Overbite. “If that’s true…we’re in some deep slag.”

“We’re going,” Overbite declared, beginning the march to the elevator shafts leading to the rest of the facility. Skalor tagged along behind, scratching his head.

“Come to think, where’d Seawing run off to?” he grumbled as the party of Seacons reached the elevator shafts. They flew upward, higher and higher, to the dangers that lurked above.

Garrus-9 – Central – Med Bay

"Yeah, those things will tear us apart. That one causes some kind of....I dunno....it got loose in the penitentiary earlier and I got too close for a sec and it felt like I was gonna die. Like my spark was shriveling or something," the Seeker said, pointing at Monstructor on the screen. "Primus only knows what that other one can do. I second the whole 'working together' proposal."

“Good, great, thank you,” Umbra said looking at Skymauler then glancing up at Skyhammer who had just released her. She didn’t move away but instead stood with her arms outstretched to protect him from those who might have any…bright ideas now that she was free. Namely, the two idiots that had just waltzed in.

”Just… make some sense to this...”

Skyhammer was confused. Well, Umbra would be confused too if a supposed Decepticon had woken her up and then asked her for help. Yeah. Understandable. But it was complicated and for now, it seemed best to maintain her cover. So. She would have to summarize.

Which she would do. But the two idiots Triggerhappy and Slugslinger were both running their mouths inanely. Umbra jabbed a digit at them. “Hey, you two!” she called, “Please, shut up! We’ve got bigger problems than your….explosive deficiency.”

Stepping back from Skyhammer, Umbra gestured to the console where Monstructor and the other gestalt loomed. “Okay. Short version. From what we know, the D-“ Umbra stopped herself. “Er, that is to say…There’s a scientist…Um.” Focus, Umbra. Think. “Our forces,” she began slowly, “Have largely been…incapacitated by a scientist. Who is not Shockwave. Jhiaxus. And he…commands those.”

Umbra pointed to Monstructor and Logicor. “One of which was…is a friend of mine. Kind of. I think. It’s complicated. But suffice to say. No one is getting off this rock until we deal with those things. So it’s a case of needing to work together. Ah, make sense?”

Garrus-9 – Central – Med Bay

Having listened to the inane discussion between the two Decepticon lunatics and the following summarized explanation by Umbra, Skyhammer began to laugh uncontrollably.

”Are you daft?” Skyhammer finally spat out, having regained some of his senses. Not all obviously, he could have acted so much smarter. Faked cooperation to better access the situation. Search for an advantage and exploit it. But no. He had to open his mouth. ”Why in the name of Prime I’d help a group of killers that brought this all on yourselves?! You attacked a peaceful planet I was trying to protect from you, conquered it in order to suck it dry of its natural resources and wiped out my response team! And as if that wasn’t enough you somehow managed to raze down Garrus-9?!”

At this point Skyhammer’s anger and frustration began to manifest themselves through screaming. ”And you are asking for my help?!”

”You and your leader deserve all this and worse!” He added with voice full of venom, ”I don’t care if it Jhiaxus or ghost of Zeta Prime! If I live to see it, I will enjoy watching those monsters trample you under their feet!”

Garrus 9 Central - Corridors

The Decepticon battle-network was a mess. Generalized comms were flooded with various mechs scrambling to figure out what that monster of a mad-mech Jhiaxus had done back in the amphitheater. Deadlock did what he could to gain any sort of assessment of the ongoing situation all the while dealing with getting the therapist and Lobe away from this pocket of survivors.

>>"Deadlock to Apeface. I've located Synapse. Time here is short so you focus on what's going down with Scorponok and I'll handle getting the good doctor back. We'll rendezvous when I'm done here. Deadlock out."<<

Closing his private line with the Horrorcon, Deadlock lowered his weapon to maintain his Autobot visage. His optics soon fixated towards Synapse and Lobe who were being held captive by this lot of... guards? Warriors? Whatever they did, it wasn't gonna last too long for them.

"Yeah, nice to seeing the Autobrand still standing strong." Deadlock lied through his teeth trying to keep his charade from going south. "Name's Deh-... uh..." the black and white warrior looked as though he was drawing a blank. "Dee-rift... Drift. The name's Drift."

"So what's our situation down here? Back the way I came from, the place is completely falling apart. Well, more so than it already was I suppose."

Garrus-9 - Spaceport

>>Chop Shop....why the spaceport? What did you find?"<<

"Were uh, fortifying the obvious way off world, many of the autobot shuttles have been destroyed by airstrikes" Replyed Rightly, Interchangeable with any of the other Chopshops.

Orange Insecticon Shuttles had come down from the Decepticon fleet bearing supply's for the Chopshop swarm, things lifted from within the fleet that needed to be used before their missed. Most of the work on the stolen Autobot shuttles focused around one, being modified and up gunned. Another was left in perfect working condition.

The Insecticons began warping the starport as they fortified it. with detestable unity and single mindedness the swarm worked.

Stealy, the youngest Chopshop commander, found nothing of use in the armoury, blasted open and picked clean, Stealy at first convinced his squad to head to the medbay, but feared ol'boot's big Chopshops wrath. and headed back to the Starport.

Stealy was alone so used stealth to approach the medbay through the air vents.


Garrus-9 Central--Amphitheatre

Mindwipe writhed in horror and terror, his prone transforming mewling form twisting and reshaping, arms legs wings, both heads, mewling, begging, twisting in formless horror.

"The pain, oh, the intolerable pain!" thought Mindwipe, as he twisted in ecstasy.

Mindwipe accepted his new form as a shambling horror, and writhed all he could transforming randomly and twisting all about, he got shifted into a detestable form, four wings, two heads, one arm, one leg, and began flying around madly, squealing "I am the chosen." Then crashed into a formless heap.

Was Mindwipe even still really alive, the maddening terror. No he couldn't meet his end here. He had to warn the others.

But alas he just blithered about.