The Energon Pub

Autobase Prime - Main Medbay

As Blaster's broadcast died down, Perceptor could once again return to his work, as well as offering First Aid some more help. "If you require supplies, there is a small remaining supply of the double-bonded Titanium-ceramic alloy that The Twins use in their armor plating in my Lab. I still haven't been able to mass-produce it, and the new cosmotron project has been taking up most of my time recently...."
The arrival of his fellow scientist Swerve finally brought the talkative Perceptor to a stop. A mere glance at Swerve carrying in a autobot with obvious impact injuries was enough for Perceptor to put the whole incident together in his head. He'd seen Swerve in much the same state a half-dozen times, and worse.
"Er, just place him on one of the non-critical beds, the blue ones. Cog or Ratchet should be able to look at the two of you, once the more serious cases are done."

"Thanks Perceptor. Will there be anything I can help out with once I'm back to full operational order? It looks like you are a little preoccupied with things. One of these days, we should create a metal that is extremely resistant to most of the weapons out there. Sadly, that would bring about more destructive weapons. If anything, we can use the metal on the superstructure of our cities so at least those will withstand a little bit better in this mess of a war."

Autobase Prime -Med Bay
Panzer slowly got up and stretched, slowly testing out his joints. First his arms, then his legs, then everything else in between. Everything was in place, every piece account for, except his guns were missing. Now he was naked, no weapons, even in a peaceful place he needed his weapons.

"Thanks doc, did a bang up job there. But um, do you know where I can get re-armed? I kinda lost all my weapons out there."

Autobase Prime ~ Medbay

"Ooh, that smarts..." Jedishen muttered as Strafe obliged his request and yanked the shrapnel out "..Thanks.." He said as the Technobot handed him the shard "..You could be a Medic with touch like that.." The Scout continued as he threw the piece of shrapnel onto the scrap pile, before stretching out a bit to see how bad the pain was.

Stopping mid stretch as he hit a sore point, Jedishen switched his attention to what other injuries, if any, he'd picked up on the way out of Autobase Tau. The Scout was lucky, as an unexpected benefit of sticking as close as possible to Ultra Magnus during the battle, he'd been protected from serious harm, only a few of Quake's shots had managed to harm him, and the injuries were well within his range of medical ability to repair.

"..Yeah, since you're offering, could you pas.." Jedishen continued in response to Strafe's offer of further assistance, cut off only by Blurr's approach and offer of a medkit "..Never mind Strafe, this'll do just fine.." The Scout continued as he took the medkit from Blurr "..Much appreciated Blurr, I should be able to handle myself, an old friend of mine is a Medic, made me do repair drills with him all the time, but thanks for the offer"


Elsewhere in the Medbay, Ratchet had long since finished with his scan of Stormfire, and was already wrist deep in the flier's chest, proceeding with the necessary repairs. The general scan had reported some small anomalies in regard to the 'Bots neuro circuitry, but they were not responsible for him being in stasis lock, and so the CMO put them out of his thoughts and focused on sorting out the major injuries Stormfire had suffered at the hands of the new 'Con drones.

One thing that did play on Ratchet's thoughts as he slowly discovered the full extent of the damage he was trying to repair, was how did Stormfire manage to walk into the Medbay under his own power? In his time with the Autobot army, the CMO had seen many 'Bots bigger and tougher than Stormfire, having to be carried into his Medbay after suffering damage like this. Even this peculiarity though was quickly pushed out the way, Ratchet knew he had a long list of casualties to see to, and he couldn't waste any time wondering about issues that he couldn't answer.

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Autobase Prime ~ Command Center

His arrival seemed to spark further approaches towards Optimus, Grimlock and Smokescreen both putting forward their plans to retaliate, or rather, Smokescreen putting forward a possible plan, and Grimlock stating what he was going to do, whether the Autobot Supreme Commander agreed to it or not. Regardless, Magnus took a step back, not wanting his arrival to interrupt proceedings, and heard Blaster welcoming him back to safety, along with Eject's customary barrage of odd phrases.

"No offence taken at all Blaster, I'll be the first one to admit I'm not exactly looking at my best right now.." Magnus began in reply, allowing himself a small smile for the first time in a while "..But sometimes, sacrifices must be made.." Pausing as he looked down to Eject, the City Commander was still trying to work out exactly what he had just said, whatever it was, it was said with the Cassette's usual unrivalled enthusiasm "..Well, that's kind of you to say so Eject" Was what Magnus decided to go with, hoping one day all the Cassette's unusual phrases would make more sense.

Autobase Prime - Main Medbay

I don't think either of us could design a metal safe from you, Swerve, Perceptor thought. "For the time being just concentrate on repairing yourself. I am certain we will have plenty to do once we're finished here and back in our laboratories."
Perceptor's tertiary optics then caught Panzer getting up. "Er...Panzer, is it not? While I have stabalised your systems and Road Rage has completed the fluid replacement, your systems have suffered significant stress from the ordeal and I doubt returning to the front would be wise. At the least, you require a slight....wash." Perceptors gaze followed the remainder of the old leaking lubricant dribbling down Panzer's leg. "I would highly suggest 1.3 Breems in the CR chamber to complete a full maintenance cycle. Then you can go rearm."

Iacon - Streets

Ironhide ran through the streets of Iacon, knocking bots flying as he barged past them.

'I can't believe it!' He thought. 'Grimlock's back, It has been way too long since I last set eyes on him. In fact, it has been far too long since I did anything for the war cause. Easily remedied though.'

Ironhide ran into Autobase Prime and looked around.

"Hey, anybody seen Grimlock!" He shouted.

Autobase Prime- Main Medical Bay

"Oh I'm not a Doctor. I just helped Perceptor out. Still, it's good to see you up and about." She chuckles lightly in reply to Panzer.

She was about to offer to show Panzer where the armory was, but Perceptor had recommended that he spend time in the CR chamber. It wasn't a long time, either.

She looked at Panzer waiting to see his reply to the doctor's order.

"Oh, incase I get called away,-" She gives Panzer directions to the armory.

She keeps her radio open to transmissions incase she's needed for her functions as Advisor or Bodyguard, but keeps an audio sensor sharp incase someone here needs anything here. She can't do much for the medics other than getting them things and moving things, but if it helps get the wounded repaired faster, then it'd be worth being out of her element.

"Pardon me." She looks towards the shout.
She overhears Ironhide's shout. <<Ironhide, this is Road Rage. Looking for Grimlock? He's probably in the command center.>> She radios to him on a more direct band giving him her educated guess to keep the noise in the base down.
She didn't know for absolute certain if Grimlock were there, but him being a commander it was a good guess.

Ah, advising. She took some joy in that little morsel.
She might not be the smartest of the Autobots but she's good at what she does. At least she'd like to think so.

Autobase Prime - Entrance

<<Thanks Road Rage.>> Ironhide radioed back. <<I'll go check it out.>>

And with that Ironhide walked, rather than ran as he thought it would appear he'd gone crazy if he ran through Autobase. As Ironhide walked through the various corridors he couldn't help notice all the damaged bots.

'Wow. It really is as bad as I'd heard'

Ironhide reached the command center and went inside.

Autobase Prime - Command Center

Taking the datapad from Grimlock, Optimus Prime gave its contents a cursory glance. Kup...Smokescreen...Ironhide...Inferno... Behind his mouthplate, Prime smiled a bemused smile. No big surprises here. Well, there is comfort in familiarity, I suppose. Or discomfort, if you're a Decepticon. He handed the datapad back to the Dinobot.

"Fine. Take the shuttle Dauntless and a supply of energon and ammunition, and set out for Uraya when your team is ready," he told Grimlock. His optics narrowed as he finished his orders - such as they were - to Grimlock. "Keep...me...posted," he emphasized each word. Giving Grimlock his own unit to command and a new front to open against the Decepticons was one thing, but Prime had no desire to be kept in the dark about the Dinobots' activities. "If you're going to be completely effective, you're going to have to let the rest of us know your situation so we can take advantage of another front against the Decepticons."

As he spoke, he noticed Ultra Magnus, sans armor, enter the Command Center. The city commander appeared damaged, but apparently not that much the worse for wear aside from a lack of his typical battle-armor. This is apparently a good orn if you happen to be an Autobot everyone's left for dead, he grimaced. Black humor was not comfortable or, in Prime's mind, appropriate for the supreme commander of the Autobot army. However, Prime was a soldier at the end of it all, and every soldier had to indulge in a little gallows humor now and again, if only to remain sane.

"Would you believe me, Magnus, if I told you you weren't the first Autobot to walk into the Command Center that I thought I'd never see functional again?" he asked rhetorically. "It's good to see you alive." And a little easier on my optics and fuel pump than seeing Grimlock, I have to admit.

"What happened in the Heights?"

<hr>
Autobase Prime - Main Medical Bay

"Fan..." Sunstreaker winced as he saw one of the cutting drones approaching him. "...tastic."

Severely damaged as he was, the gladiator still had no taste for watching his beautiful if bruised form be subjected to the laser scalpels and cutting torches of the medical staff. It wasn't that he had a weak fuel processor. Quite the contrary. Rather, he just didn't like to see any part of his paintjob - even if it had been gashed and smashed to utter scrap by his scuffle with the Sweeps - be touched by anyone, much less a drone.

"Well, Perceptor, if you don't mind, I'm just going to pass out now."

The golden warrior slipped back into stasis lock, giving the drones and medics opportunity to do their work without his cold, angry glare upon them.

<hr>
Awakening from his stint in the CR chamber, Mirage felt quite refreshed. He had not been badly damaged in the battle in the Heights, but what dents and scorches his exterior plating had suffered had been quickly remedied by the chamber. A bit of premium-grade energon and I'll feel like a fresh protoform all over again. Looking around the Med Bay at the casualties and medics working feverishly on them, his mind raced back to the task he had already assigned to himself in the wake of the withdrawal from the Heights. Walking over to where Ratchet worked, he addressed the good doctor.

"Ratchet, where is Roadbuster?" he inquired. "I know he suffered considerable damage in the battle, but is he able to converse with me? I have questions to ask him about his opponents."

Autobase Prime - Command Center

"Aaargh! Now you did it you walking trashbin!" Cliffjumper reacted to Landfill's unintentional, yet embarrassing actions.

Cliffjumper let out a bloodthristy roar, followed by the minibot jumping to Landfill's back. Completely ignoring the how vile the material transport was, the minibot was now either trying to strangle Landfill or just hanging from his neck, it was difficult to say - and using his free hand to punch the side of Landfill's helmet.

"That's for belittling me! And this is for messing me up! And this is for..."

Then it struck him. The reason why was here. The discussion between the big boss mechs. He jumped off from Landfill's back and hurried between Optimus Prime and Grimlock.

"Sign me up for Uraya! I wanna bust some Decepticreeps right where it hurts!" He exclaimed as loudly as ever.

Autobase Prime-Main Med Bay

Swerve did an internal diagnostic and nothing on the inside was really damaged. He then looked himself over and noticed a few dents and a gash in left leg. Most of the damage was superficial even though some was deep enough to cause minor issues. Swerve went about removing his own armor and punching out the dents with the proper tools. He also melded the gash on his left leg. He then replaced his armor and made sure there wasn't any other injuries. Once he was satisified, he took the injured bystander that he brought in and put him into one of the open CR Chambers. After that was done, he looked around and notice how things are slowly dying down for the med bay.

"Hey Perceptor, I'm done patching myself up. Is there anything here you need me to do or should I go to one of the labs and work on a new alloy?"

Autobase Prime - Main Med Bay

First Aid was kinda amused that it was Perceptor's name being called every few seconds. It left First Aid alone to focus on programming the drones to repair Sunsteaker and replace the parts needed. "Poor guy" First Aid said after Sunstreaker passed out. "He won't get to see the procedure... it's quite fascinating. Though I admit I'm look forward to watching Sideswipe's more."

Autobase Prime - Command Center

"Ugh... Cliffjumper..." Jazz just shook his head in embarrassment. If Cliffjumper did go with Grimlock though, the Dinobot commander would have to deal with Cliffjumper's antics. Considering the other Dinobots where probably no better, he would be used to it by now. Jazz was just glad he probably wouldn't be called for the mission. He'd rather have Ironhide stick around though, Jazz always liked working with him.

Though Jazz didn't want to be part of Grimlock's proposed mission, he did want to be assigned to something. He had to pay the Decepticons for what they did to him and Prime on the moon.

Autobase Prime - Main Medbay

With Sunstreaker shutting down for his repair, Perceptor returned to Sideswipes nueral circuits in earnest. "Unfortunately, First Aid, I'm almost done with the primary repairs. With so much calculation power moved to the combat and mobility processors, as well as a general engineering for robustness, the primary nuerocircuits on a dedicated warrior mech tend to be...simpler than average." An oversimplification of the makeup of Sideswipe's brain, perhaps, but Perceptor couldn't help the dig at the Autobot jock.
As the displaced ciruitry was returned to place and the damaged spots were expertly microwelded back together, finally the inside of Sideswipe's head looked like something resembling a Transformer. With the major crisis averted, Perceptor closed up Sideswipes head panels, tranformed back to robot mode and signalled a medical drone.
"He will require treatment in the Critical CR chambers, minimum 4 breems, reccommended 13. Monitor all compupatterns and report any anomalies to a full medic or scienist designate. Execute." The trolly-shaped drone slid Sideswipe into it's tray without any disturbance, and wheeled quickly off to it's destination.
That dealt with, Perceptor turned to Swerve. "Ah, yes. Well, the Twins are among the top Autobot warriors and will require their full allotment of repairs, so we shall have to formulate more of the special formula Titanium Alloy for them. You recall, we spent 2 Deca-cycles figuring out how to color it yellow for Sunstreaker? I have some spare parts in my lab which the wounded may require in addition."

Autobase Prime--Command Center

Scoop looked at the autobots in the room. It seemed that Grimlock was setting something up. Then he heard that Smokescreen was amongst the team that the Dinobot leader had wanted. Scoop then thought that maybe this team would do what Smokescreen had planned. Scoop then decided to wait to see what was going to happen. He then went back to his station and left the planning to the leaders. He was just a soldier who did the fighting. On his way back to his station he nudged Smokescreen, and whispered "Now is the time to give the leaders that idea of yours.

Autobase Prime Hallways

Streetwise had his arms crossed still waiting for his fellow protectobots Groove and Blades to meet him so they could go up to the command center with Hotspot so Prime and the other leaders would finally give them something to do besides waiting around Iacon waiting for the cons to attack. He was a patient bot but he wasn't going to wait here forever. The autobots needed the Protectobots on the lines to turn the tide. He leaned there wondering when they would show up.

Autobase Prime Command Center Hallway

Repugnus was finally approaching the command center. He decided hanging around the entrance was a waist of his time, along with watching the stupid mechs in the entrance. He wanted an assignment and wanted one now. As he approached the command center he heard about some kind of mission that was being assigned. He entered the command center looked at Prime and said "I want to be part of some kind of a mission now. I am sick and tired of not fighting the decepticons."

Autobase-Main Medbay

"Those two twins can be such a hassle, Perceptor. They have to look so prim and proper to the point they complain of one speck of paint that chips off. If they weren't so affective in battle, I would say let them get their own alloy. Yeah, Sunstreaker wouldn't shut up about how exact the yellow has to be for himself. Something about glimering in the light to where he looked like a far off star. I'm just surprised that the Cons haven't blasted him off into a star. Oh well, I guess it is back to the drawing board to work on more of their alloy. Hopefully we have enough components left to get them some what patched up. I wonder if Sunstreaker would notice if we were off on the color by a microfraction? I would suggest paint a sign that says hit me but the way those two act, they don't need a sign."

Autobase Prime: Command Center

The shrill battlecry of an obviously angered Cliffjumper had caught Landfill a tad off guard. He could not understand why the minibot had lunged on him and began pounding away at his head component. The ringing was annoying to say the least, but little damage to his thick head was being done. At some point, Landfill figured, Cliffjumper had just reached the boiling point of his battle lust.

After giving the red minibot the opportunaty to vent his frustration, Landfill had enough of the ringing. He reached behind him to grab the feisty minibot only to find the red devil already running across the floor towards the two major officers in the room. "At least he is persistant and a constant." The materials transporter smiled lightly as he listened to the warrior beg to be allowed to join the mission.

Rubbing at his chin as Ultra Magnus strode in, battered and nearly broken. "Optimus," he said before he turned his attention to the City Commander's entry, "If you would like I can offer my assistance in any method that you may deem required."

Autobase Prime - Command Center

Swoop fought very hard to keep his optics from rolling at Prime's words. Oh, Grimlock will keep you posted, alright. Someone has to show you how to win a war!

To be perfectly honest, the Dinobot couldn't be happier to hear Grimlock's announcement. He knew very well who was on that list. We're back, he thought with eagerness. It was all he could do to keep from chanting 'LSC! LSC!' right there in the Command Center.

And the pilot was glad to be getting back to Uraya as well. It had always been home to him. And he was just glitching to get back to that old bunker on the north side and build a reeeally big bomb.

And then ram it right up Megatron's fusion cannon.

Cliffjumper's outburst gave the bombardier a chuckle. He'd always liked the little guy. He had spark. He was looking forward to cracking a few Con craniums with the red mech.

The Pterodactyl turned towards his leader. He subtly cocked his towards Cliffjumper, indicating his approval of the minibot. He let Grimlock make of that what he would. "Me Swoop gonna go get the others on the shuttle, okay boss? Me can have it ready to launch in a breem."

"Just say the word."

Autobase Prime - Command Center
The excitement was palpable in the air as the command centre filled up with more and more Autobots, all seemingly sensing a return to the battle; either that or it was Landfill. Blaster idly wondered how much longer they could stay fighting the good fight and stay good. Then he cast that thought away and got back to his console. He was hoping Soundwave would be around somewhere nearby, but it was a large planet, and his scans could penetrate many of the Decepticon strongholds. The coward's probably still hiding in Kaon the comm-bot thought. And of course the only way to get to Kaon was through fighting. And fighting couldn't happen in a command centre, Landfill and Dirtbag aside.

Blaster waited a moment for a brief pause. Why was it that Optimus Prime seem to has a constant entourage firing questions? Oh well, his moment came and he took it. "Hey Grimlock! Count me in for Tagan Heights. The Decepticons just took the place, so they haven't fortified their position all that well. Perfect time to get their new comm encryption methods."

Autobase Prime ~ Command Center

"It.. it wasn't our finest cycle, to put it mildly.." Magnus began, turning back to face Optimus Prime "..The base had been rocked by several explosions just before I arrived, all done at the hands of a Decepticon infiltrator, the most damaging of which took out the primary power generators, reducing the base to backup power. Needless to say, this was only the start, soon after, while we were still attempting to correct what the infiltrator, the 'Cons launched their assault.."

The City Commander stopped briefly as he heard more questions asked of the Matrix Carrier, but quickly resumed, determined to finish his report "..It became abundantly clear in a very short space of time, that this was not a battle that we could win. With the base defences not at full strength, and the sheer number of 'Cons attacking us, I knew the best we could do was delay them while the base was evacuated. To that end, I had Trailbreaker get all the non-combatants, injured and anyone else not designed to fight, and head for the safety of Iacon, I myself took what few soldiers we had and engaged the 'Cons, but we were hopelessly outnumbered, both on the ground and in the air.."

"..They had deployed a new kind of aerial drone from what I saw, though I was somewhat preoccupied by Scorponok, Quake, Ruckus and Roadblock, who was sporting some kind of new technology, so I can't tell you much about what the new drone is capable of. The few we had fought with exemplary courage and determination, especially Stormfire and Strafe, who marshalled the air forces with great skill against quite overwhelming odds, and were most successful in providing cover for the retreat.."

Pausing once more as he tried to sum up a conclusion, Magnus couldn't shake the feeling that he could have done more, he could have done better "..The retreat, I believe, was a success, not a total one as we had to leave many injured and fallen behind, but.. It could have been worse, much worse, especially if not for the actions of the few"

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Autobase Prime ~ Medbay

"How the Pit did you take this much damage and still make it here?" Ratchet mumbled to himself, referring to Stormfire, his patient who he was wrist deep in presently, trying to repair what damage the Decepticons had inflicted on him. As he continued making rapid, yet skilled progress, the CMO's attention was drawn to Mirage, the spy done with his CR stint, and seemingly had something on his thoughts "Eh? Roadbuster? He's over there, currently on my 'To Fix' list, stubborn slaghead finally met his match by the looks of things.."

Ratchet began in reply as he reached over for another hydro-spanner, the previous one somewhere on the floor underneath the table "..So to answer you're question, no, he ain't exactly in a condition to have a chat with you right at this moment. If you can hang around and give me a klik while I finish off with this one, I'm sure I can fix the big lump enough for you to have a word with him, what's so important anyway?" Ratchet inquired, slightly curious as to what exactly put Roadbuster in his Medbay in stasis lock.

Command Centre, Autobase Prime

"You're right Trialbreaker," Rollbar said, "I should probably word it better...words aren't my strong suite though, I'll just get a Bot who is good with them to tell me how to say what I did. Need to make sure people know precisely how hard the burden of command is, you know?"

Autobase Prime- Main Medical Bay

Things seemed pretty out of her hands here.
Truthfully this wasn't the time to sit on one's hands. Things happen fast after a loss. Faster after multiple losses.
"I'm going to report to the command center." She says with some finality before she exits the medical bay letting the medics do their thing, and heads for the Command center where her wisdom might be put to better use. Someone might need her somewhere. She might even be key to something for all she knew.

Autobase Prime Command Center

She arrives at the command center saluting her superiors, which was probably close to everyone in the room since she was a rank and file, still she maintained confidence. "Road Rage reporting for Duty."
Somehow she got the impression she was late for the big decisions. It didn't matter, she hoped.

Wow, so the Dinobots were indeed back. She's always glad to see more allies. To regain what was lost, and bounce back from the rest the Autobots needed all the help they could get.

Autobase Prime Command Center

Ironhide entered the command center and immediately saw both Swoop and Grimlock.

'Woah! What the frag happened to them!' He thought, surprised at their new configurations they had acquired. 'Guess I'll try and find out the whole story from them later' He thought as he walked towards Swoop.

"Hey there Swoop, old buddy. Don't suppose I'd be one of those others, would I?" Ironhide asked.

Autobase Prime - Command Centre

There will be minimal target defences if we act quickly, and the Decepticons will be effecting repairs to the base ill prepared to counter such a short swift attack.

Smokescreen wasn’t surprised that no one had yet commented on his plan, Grimlock had a way of hogging the limelight, neither was he unprepared for his name being included on the list that the Dinobot had requested. Trust Grimlock to stick to the tried and tested, whilst that was alright for some, there were times when plans needed to head in a different direction, and now Smokescreen thought was one of those times. The Autobots had to hit back now, not when Grimlock was set up in Uraya. Smokescreen new there was a time for protocol, this wasn’t such an occasion, Prime had to be aware of what a swift counter attack could do. Smokescreen crossed the room to Prime and all but pressed the data pad containing the plans into the supreme commanders hands. Quietly he spoke to Prime so that no-one else would here;

‘Prime we have to move now, by the time Grimlock’s ready it’ll be to late, I’ll try and keep in contact, but you know how annoyed Grimlock gets when he thinks there’s subversion in the ranks.’

Smokescreen had done what he needed to do, now he just had to watch, to busy himself he continued to develop several very experimental idea’s which had some interesting potential.

Autobase Prime - Main Medbay

"Er...yes." Swerve might have said what Perceptor was thinking, more or less, but the Scientist didn't want it public just how he felt. "Any, the raw resins and alloy converter should still be in my lab, we should be done in a matter of kliks."
Perceptor led the way toward the labs, a route which took them through the commanded centre.

Command Centre

To see almost 2 dozen Autobots in the command centre, including almost all of the command structure, was a little disconcerting to say the least. My, we have struck a bad spot if a meeting like this is required. Some of these mechs aren't even repaired...Oh bother, The Dynobots. Best to stay away from them entirely.
Perceptor then began to excuse himself, trying to squeeze between Rollbar and Ironhide while staying out of Grimlock's field of vision.

Autobase Prime-Main Medbay

Swerve watched as Perceptor left the medbay. Swerve then followed him through the corridors.

Command Center

As Swerve followed Perceptor, he noticed the that most if not all of the higher ups were in one place. He even saw the Dinobots which always made him nervous. Thankfully he was too quick for them to step on but if they ever did, there wouldn't be much left of Swerve.

Good thing the Cons don't know that all of the higher ups are in one very small location right now. If they did, this would be a 'prime' target right now for them to bomb. There would be some major confusion if most of these mechs went down for any length of time. I'm not even sure who I would follow if this entire room would suddenly collapse taking everyone in here with it for a few megacycles. Let's just hope something like that won't ever happen. If it does, it will be our dumb fault.

One mech did catch Swerve's attention and that was Rollbar. It been a while since he seen that mech.