The Energon Pub

Autobase Tau ~ Perimeter

"Yes! Many objections!" said Searchlight to Roadbuster, "The Stunticons are designed for fighting, we're designed for sneaky stuff. One on one combat is not a good thing,"
"Hate to say it but I agree with Searchlight," said Freeway, "But if you have a way of evening the odds say 2 Stunties versus us 3 then I'm listening,"

Autobase Tau
'Fleeing' isn't quite the proper word. She's going where her talents are more useful rather than leaving the battlefield as 'fleeing' might imply.
The Sweeps were barely keeping the flying Autobots busy. Out Gunned indeed. The turret system was ripping apart more Decepticons than the Sweeps were destroying Autobots. Not to mention that the turrets took out a sizable number of sweeps as it is.
That really irritated her. With all the firepower pumped into those base generators they were still seemingly fully functional. Especially powering those turrets. What a waste of energon! Next time she'll project her heavy firepower on the Autobots themselves than wasting them on the base.
Besides, if the Decepticons did win, and occupy the base, there'd be less repairs needed.
The Decepticons might be out gunning, but it didn't seem to be doing any good with Quake being battered down, Ruckus had been mauled heavily, and Wildrider almost as bad off, and how many sweeps were downed? How many Autobots were in that condition who weren't having their numbers replaced with fresh bots?
At this rate, she didn't see the Decepticons as coming out ahead by much, if at all here. Those Glitch ridden Autobots might actually pull off a win! What a humiliating thought!
Especially as the Autobot reinforcements entered battle with who knows how many on tow.
The current Decepticon forces didn't seem to be enough at the moment. Of course she knew nothing of the call for the Autobot retreat. All she knew was more Decepticons were in danger than autobots.
Still, she'd stay and fight, and maybe be the last active Decepticon left on the field if she had any say.
But maybe she's thinking too much.
The heavy armored fembot hasn't sung yet, and she'll see this to the end.

Enough introspect.
She felt some relief as the turrets were more or less gone.
As Ultra Magnus put his plan in action she is hovering near Ruckus and trying to shield him from some attacks so he doesn't get his spark snuffed. The armor plates flew at her as she fired into the smoke, and it caught her mostly off guard.
She had her shield up, as almost always, but she were staggered as a plate hit the thruster system's joints on her skirt armor, and caused her to falter in her stance for a few astroseconds. Another armor chunk had lodged itself into her front skirt armor nearly lopping off a chunk. If it wasn't there she'd have pretty much lost her leg.
A larger piece finished breaking off her damaged shoulder armor causing her shield to fly up as it was attached to her arm more than the shoulder, and one more piece lodged into her delicate shoulder joint, harming her ability to use her shield arm effectively and causing some energon bleed, and a weakened structure overall. It was nearly lopped off all together.
2 limbs on the same side were virtually unable to move now.
She landed, then hopped back landing next to Ruckus half turning from Ultra Magnus and swiveling her large side thruster (Deactivated, naturally so he isn't blowtorched.) offering some cover trying to minimize future damage to them both. She uses her head mounted needler guns to spray the smoke to make sure Ultra Magnus is still there, and try to figure out where he is as the projectiles cut into the smoke and hoped to plink him using the impacts to feel out the area, sorta. Unless his whirling armor defense had some of his delicate systems vulnerable now and she got lucky and hit them, the projectiles would likely do next to no damage to his thick hide.
She raises her arm mounted rifle, and fires into the smoke as well, but her accuracy is hampered until she can figure out where he is. She didn't know what good she'd do but she was going to try it.
Further she's unaware of his super defense mode. Her attacks might be wasted short of figuring out if the autobot is still there, and where he is.

Autobase Tau - Perimeter

Quake watched as the cloud of smoke started to rise from Ultra Magnus's location. For a moment, Quake said nothing only letting the acts that just occured sink into his computer banks, turning his plasma cannon a little to glance over at Scorponok. If Quake could show facial features they would translate to. "......????" In response to Ultra Magnus, shrugging off Quake and Scorponok's attack as if it was nothing. "That plasma shell had enough power to bring down there generators and he shrugged it off like it was a fly." Quake exclaimed while his tiny data banks processed how that could be. The large tank remained near Scorponok, Quakes plasma cannon had alot of smoke leaking from the end of the barrel. Quake was starting to take a great disliking to Ultra Magnus. Quake looked tiny compared to Scorponok, however; almost like an ant in comparison.

Quake did not fire for the moment, the tank simply remained by Scorponok, the other Autobots had ceased firing at him for some reason, infact they seemed to have stopped firing all together.

Skies above Autobase Tau

Stormfire fired two shots at the sweep in front of him, causing the drone to enter evasive manoeuvres, breaking the target lock he’d had on another bot. Ultra Magnus message came through, which left Stormfire in a distressing position. Many of his flyers were downed and damaged; leaving them up here with the sweeps would result in the vast majority of the flying Autobots being destroyed. On the other hand if he ordered them off the field, the remaining forces would be insufficient to hold the Decepticons from the tunnels. Stormfire realised that he had to keep most of his force here, but if he moved them towards the tunnels, the sweeps would guess the plan. He had to lure them out into the open, where his air force would be decimated. Could he do that?



No, he thought, I don’t need you now I will not let you out. Quickly Stormfire put his plan into action.

‘Any Autobot flyer with severe damage is to retreat from the field immediately. I want all Autobot bombers to make for Iacon, but once out of range, swing round and take up defensive positions over the tunnels, ready a weapons barrage to cover our escape and keep those tunnels free of Decepticon activity, prepare missiles, lasers even grenades, I don’t care. All remaining air forces move as far from the tunnels as possible draw the sweeps away. Formations of two, keep each other alive.’

As the Autobots began to move to their positions Stormfire flew straight towards a squadron of the sweeps guns blazing, with a good third of the remaining flyers leaving the field, Stormfire knew he had all but sealed the others fate.

Autobase Tau - Perimeter

"Sweet Primus inna Smelter!" Ruckus cursed as Shrike touched down in front of him. What was wrong with some of these 'Cons? Any rookie with two functioning neurocircuits to rub together knew you didn't put your own well-being on the line for a damaged teammate like that. It was that kind of noble nonsense that made the Autobots a bunch of puling weaklings.

Not that he didn't appreciate the show of camaraderie, but the numbers didn't lie. One deactivated soldier was less a drain on the unit's overall combat effectiveness than two. He wasn't prepared to be a detriment to the cause just because he'd been knocked around a little.

On the upside, it looked like his vocalizer was working properly again.

"Outta the way, femme!" he ordered roughly. "I can take care of myself. You just worry about lookin' after yer own pretty lil' aft, yeah?"

Crawling awkwardly from behind Shrike, the Triggercon watched Ultra Magnus pitch some kind of fit with bemusement. It was a cute little display, with smoke effects and flashing lights, but Ruckus wasn't inclined to be all that impressed. "Lemme add some fireworks to yer show, Auotobot."

Slouching forward, he launched another pair of rockets into the cloud of glowing smoke. A positive lock wasn't really necessary, since each of them had a blast radius of some seven hundred feet or more. Even if he didn't score a direct hit, the detonation was likely to rattle a few processors.

Autobase Tau ~ Perimeter

"Sneaky is overrated..." Roadbuster replied as Searchlight voiced his objections to the proposal of engaging the 3 Stunticons "..and not exactly an option in a battle like this. But I do see your point, you guys aren't built for a direct attack.." Roadbuster continued, turning to look down at the 3 Stunticons, trying to work out how to make this more even.

"Hmm, ok, ok, how about this. Looks like Wildrider there has already taken some damage, the other 2 look to be in pretty good condition, do you 2 have any objections to double teaming one of them down there, while I take on the other 2? Surely with your wealth of sneaky talents, you can take on just one Stunticon of your choosing?"

Autobase Tau ~ Perimeter

Motormaster barreled past fallen Panzer and his own goon squad - with Roadblock and the Autobots the ground forces commander was fighting still on his sights.

"What the slag you are standing here for?! There's plenty of 'bots still left! The day is far from finished!" The black and grey Decepticon roared before having to transform again due to the ground battered by the Autobase's autocannons.

"Okay! Okay! Coming!" Breakdown groaned and run after Motormaster, not wanting to get on the bad side of his sadistic commanding officer.

"Heh, let's leave that bot bleed to statislock Wildrider. We can always finish him off after playing with him a bit later." Drag Strip suggested, flashing an evil grin before taking off after Motormaster and Breakdown who were already flying low towards the battle raging near Roadblock and Scorponok.

Autobase Tau - Perimeter

"I've got one, too, ya stupid piece o' pigenoid waste," came a growling, drawling voice as Roadbuster asked if there were any objections to his plan. The voice came from an enormous six-wheeled tank that had rolled into view of Roadbuster and the others with him. Perhaps one of them would recognize Roadblock's distinctive drawl, but certainly they would not realize what the six-wheeled tank really was. Before too much time could be spent pondering, the tank's turret swung into line with Roadbuster and began spitting destruction from the twin shatter cannons mounted upon it.

"How's this fer a plan, slagger: ya die like the weaklin' Autobot ya are, an' then we use yer corpse fer a doormat at our new base in the Tagan Heights. Any objections?"

Withering fire poured from the massive tank's weapons, not leaving much room for a response.


As Hot Rod and Blurr charged in firing, Roadblock turned to face this new assault.

"Great, more of ya," he chuckled. "Lemme see how far I can run up my kill total fer this one."

Plasma blasts erupted from the weapons the Pretender shell carried. Not far from where Roadblock blasted away at Hot Rod and Blurr, Ultra Magnus pulled his little stunt, putting out a lot of shrapnel and fireworks but having precious little effect on a Transformer as heavily armored as the ground forces commander. It appeared that Magnus had blown off his exterior armor with some sort of last-ditch, self-defense charge.

"Not a bad trick, Magnus!" Roadblock bellowed across the field. "Sheddin' yer armor like that. But I kin do ya one better, ol' son!"

With that, the synthoplasmic Pretender shell's backside folded open in grotesque fashion, allowing the inner robot that was Roadblock to step out. The shell continued focusing its murderous attentions on Hot Rod and Blurr, while the inner robot transformed into half-track tank mode and rumbled toward Magnus' and Scorponok's position, firing rust bombs from his twin launchers at Magnus.

Autobase Tau - Perimeter

Quake had taken time to let his plasma cannon cool down, the smoke started to sizzle less from the end of his barrel, taking the precious time needed to recharge as he started load more plasma shells into his tank cannon. Quake then found Jedishen near Ultra Magnus. "Hey..." Quake uttered from his tank mode to himself. "Thats the Autoscrap heap that sucker blasted me while I wasn't looking!" Quake exclaimed with extreme anger. "Here you go Autobot! Pay back sucks!" Quake expressed as a loud thundering blast came from his plasma cannon, firing his plasma cannon at Jedishen to pay him back for earlier. "Take that punk!" Quake exclaimed as smoke trailed from his plasma cannon again.

Quakes tracks started to turn and he started to move in closer, heading towards Jedishen and Ultra Magnus while they were taking fire. Quake was only getting in better postion to blast them straight to primus, he had already fired once and now he was targetting Jedishen and Ultra Magnus again, preparing to deliver anther strike to them both. "I got you now." Quake expressed. From inside the armored tank Quake was lining up his targets through his view sensor, locking his cross-hairs straight on Ultra Magnus, preparing to fire.

Autobase Tau--Perimeter

The only thing that really snapped Wildrider out of one psychotic episode and on to the next was the grating sound of Motormaster's voice. His processors forced themselves in to brief periods of lucidity just long enough to ensure his continued self-preservation, otherwise he would likely become another grease stain on the Stunticon commander's wheel. He sometimes felt that way regardless.

"Yeah, he ain't goin' nowhere. Let him rust," Wildrider chuckles, before following Drag Strip as he, in turn, followed after Breakdown and Motormaster.

He hoped the Stunticon Commander was right. He was just starting to get a fresh taste for oil. He needed to satiate his urge to rip it from some Autobot's pump and spray it in their face.

Autobase Tau ~ Perimeter

"What the?" was about all that could run through Roadbuster's thoughts before the enormous tank opened fire on him. The grinding voice sounded familiar, but there was no time to try and work out why, as the Wrecker was struck full on his left side by the fire from the twin shatter cannons mounted atop the 6 wheeled monstrosity, sending him flying backwards through a half demolished section of wall that, until recently, had made up part of the Autobase defenses, and as he lay there, more fire pounded into him and the wall, bringing it crashing down around him.

The left side of his torso had taken a massive hit, as had his left arm and the top of his leg, whatever armor that hadn't been blown clean off, was dented beyond repair. His vision blurred for a moment as his systems tried to balance themselves out after such a colossal impact, and there was an audible grinding noise as the Wrecker began to try and get back to his feet "Yup, that smarts a bit" He thought to himself as he struggled to get back to a sitting position, pushing broken lumps of concrete and twisted metal off of his body.

The grinding noise got louder as Roadbuster finally got free of most of the debris that had covered him, and could now see his attacker, still in tank mode, shatter cannons smoking and pointing right at him. Things had gotten ugly in a hurry. From planning an attack on the Stunticons, the Wrecker was now face to face with an as yet unknown foe, who seemingly possessed more than significant firepower, still, it could be worse, he could have been on downtime with nothing to do.

This was no fight for the Throttlebots, it was bad enough he had led them on a pointless hunt and dragged them into clearing up his mess, when they could of, and should of, been back at the base when the Decepticons attacked, in better position to assist in the defense. No, he'd already let them down enough. Opening up a secure link to the 2 Throttlebots, Roadbuster's voice was calm and even as he spoke.

>>Searchlight, Freeway, listen to me. I don't care if you've got any objections this time, just get the pit out of here and back to the base. The nearest tunnel entrance is about 4 clicks east of our position, you can't miss it, just follow the others who are falling back and make sure you radio Chase and fill him in while you're at it<<

The Wrecker closed off the link as he struggled back to his feet, optics set firmly on Roadblock's tank, before transforming into his alt mode and setting his sights firmly on the 6 wheeled tank, readying his linear blaster cannon for attack. He had heard the taunts said to him just before he was attacked, but there were to be no verbal objections offered, just 2 in the shape of 2 shots from his linear cannon, not taking any real time to be specific in his targeting, just long enough to make sure that both shots were heading for the tank.

Autobase Tau-Perimeter


Panzer layed there, paralyzed, his body was broken.

Damn Decepticons got me while I wasn't looking! Can't move, scrap. Can't remember the last time I needed a medic.

He grimaced as he activated his radio.

"Hey this is Panzer, Autobot Warrior, Rank 5. Requesting medical attention, my cooridinates will be transmitted with this signal. Please hurry before the Con medics get here and use me for salvage!"

Autobase Tau ~ Perimeter

Scorponok stood silently as Ultra Magnus seemingly exploded. The bits of shrapnel and armor hurtled through the air. The parts that struck the giant Decepticon simply bounced off his heavy armor. He stared at the now smoke filled spot where Magnus had been standing for a few seconds longer, his face unmoving and set like stone. Ultra Magnus’s stunt had annoyed him, but it hadn’t enraged him. The stunt had basically been and admission of defeat, that the Autobots could not hold the Heights. It was an admission he was more than willing to accept.

Still, there was no reason to simply allow the Autobot commander to escape. The general shifted once more into his scorpion mode, allowing him to bring his vast arsenal to bear. He opened fire, saturating the smoke covered area with laser fire. Ultra Magnus might be able to still escape, but he was going to make sure he didn’t do so without injury.

Autobase Tau - Perimeter

Roadblock's vehicle shell was relatively nimble for a large construct, but it was exactly the sort of target that Roadbuster's linear blaster cannon was designed to hit - a big target. The massive blasts impacted against the left rear hull of the vehicle shell, doing significant damage and flattening one of the Cybertronium-belted tires.

Meanwhile, on the other edge of the Perimeter, Roadblock's inner robot and humanoid shell both suffered a momentary flood of pain as the vehicle shell absorbed the damage. The inner robot's assault on Magnus abated for a few seconds, as did the humanoid shell's assault on Hot Rod and Blurr. But with a collective snarl, the three components that comprised the Decepticon ground forces commander regained composure and continued their attacks.

"I'll admit it, yer pretty hard fer an Autobot," came Roadblock's voice booming from the external speakers of the vehicle shell, "but yer side lost this cycle, boy. Accept it an' die already like the rest o' yer pals."

The twin shatter cannons erupted once more, sending supercharged protons arcing at Roadbuster.


He saw Panzer go down amid the Stunticon's fire, but Mirage did not stop and turn to aid his 'fellow' Autobot, despite receiving the distress call on the general combat frequency. He had more important things to do, and besides, hauling wounded was hardly an optimal use of his capabilities. Nevertheless, there was no need to make another enemy among his supposed allies. He opened a comm channel to the Throttlebots and wielded his authority as a relatively high-ranking Autobot - something he rarely did.

>>"Searchlight, Freeway, withdraw Panzer to the tunnels on your way out of the killing zone," the spy commanded. "Do not leave without him."<<

Turning hard to circle back into the thick of things, the sleek white and blue racer headed back to where Roadblock's Pretender shell was engaged with Hot Rod and Blur. Transforming to robot mode once more, he began laying down suppressive fire as best he could with his hunting rifle. He did not expect to do much damage, but he had to get a better look at whatever it was that had led the charge on Autobase Tau.

Perimeter, Autobase Tau

said Searchlight who scampered over to Panzer and tried to help him along.
Freeway paused for a moment and tossed three objects over at Roadbuster. They landed by him and were three grenades, as yet unarmed, with that Freeway ran over to Searchlight to help Panzer,

Hill overlooking Autobase Tau

replied Chase no least bit daunted,

Autobase Tau - Perimeter

Motormaster had expected to get into the middle of some fire fight when he decided seek out Roadblock - but he hadn't expected to run to Mirage again. Yet, there the Autobot was, somewhat away from Hot Rod and Blurr.

"You again? And here I thought you bolted out!" Motormaster hollered, grinning diabolically and pretty much ignoring the two other Autobots.

"Don't know about ye but I am ready to continue where we left this! Slag em' boys before Roadblock gets all the fun!"

Abiding his own command Motormaster set his atom-smasher rifle on burst fire setting and let the hell loose with Breakdown and Drag Strip giving him and Roadblock some fire support.

Autobase Tau – Perimeter

“Whoa! What the frag is that?”

Hot Rod ducked back under the cover of the debris when Roadblock’s shell began to pour plasma bursts in he and Blurr’s direction. Gotta somehow get around this guy. Blurr. He could make it, couldn’t he? It’s worth a try.

“Hey Blurr. Can you take this charge and plant it on that thing while I cover you?”

“SureHotrod,I’msureIcan.Justbesuretolayinthatcoverfireheavy.”

In the blink of an optic the blue cybertronian made his way toward Roadblock’s shell. Hot Rod began to fire in the humanoid shell’s direction when suddenly it seemed to halt, but only for a moment. The halt gave Blurr enough time to plant the high powered charge on the shell’s armor. Within half a breem the shell would be scrap metal. Perfect.

After planting the charge, Blurr was able to make it to some cover just to the east of Hot Rod’s position. As soon as he was safe, the messenger began to fire on Roadblock’s outer shell once again.

Autobase Tau ~ Perimeter

That was a sound he couldn't hear enough of: Linear Cannon fire meeting Decepticon armor. Roadbuster wasn't wasting any time though, he continued his slow advance towards Roadblock's vehicle shell, that seemed to have been rocked from the impact of his attack, but not for long.

Yet more taunts spewed forth from the tank, and again, they were followed up by more fire from the shatter cannons mounted atop his foe. There was no point in trying to avoid the fire, it wasn't really a viable option with Roadbuster's bulky makeup, the only thing the Wrecker could do was to make sure he took the fire front on, where his armor was strongest, and where it couldn't damage his wheels.

Bracing himself as best he could, Roadbuster was buffeted by the supercharged protons as they hit home, each hit mounting up as the damage to his armor increased "Just, ugh, gotta hold on.." The Wrecker thought to himself as he waited for the attack to end and the time he could launch a counter attack. As the fire tapered off, Roadbuster's systems were reporting significant damage to his armor, but, being as obstinate as he was, it wasn't bad enough for him to even consider retreating.

Lining up the now less mobile tank, Roadbuster went to attack again with his Linear Cannon, but instead of hearing the sound of his weapon unleashing fire, he was greeted with an internal warning, informing him that his Cannon was unresponsive, seemingly damaged in Roadblock's assault. This wasn't what he needed, his Linear Cannon was his most powerful weapon, and without it, taking on the now 5 wheeled monstrosity just became that much more difficult.

He couldn't waste time, transforming back into his robot mode, Roadbuster allowed his shrapnel cannon to begin getting a lock on the tank, while he moved over to collect the 3 greandes left for him by Freeway. He had heard the Throttlebot's instructions as to how to use them, but had been unable to reply or thank him for his assistance, he'd have to save that for later.

Picking them up, Roadbuster turned to look back at his attacker, still not choosing to reply with words, as his shrapnel cannon opened fire as he began moving to his left, scanning his enemy for his weakest points, his wheels looking like a good target, as were the twin shatter cannons, if the Wrecker could take those out, it could swing the fight back in his favor, but he had to pick his time.

Stormfire realised that the Autobot air defence was finished. A truly insignificant number of bots still remained on the battlefield. The sweeps had suffered from the courageous work of the Autobots, but ultimately it was meaningless. Stormfire finally grasped that there was no way he could save these bots. There were to many sweeps, they were all going to die. Stormfire realised that all the other bots still in the air had probably come to the same conclusion, but still they fought on in an effort to make the Decepticon victory as pyrrhic as possible.

‘Magnus, we can’t hold the sweeps any longer, get everyone out now! The Decepticons’ total control of the air is immanent.’

Yet whilst this battle had been suicidal for the Autobots from the outset, valuable insights had been gained. Information on Sweep weaponry, accuracy, manoeuvrability, and reaction times had been logged. More importantly the drone priority list had been worked out. Stormfire knew what the drones would target when given a choice; he knew aerial Autobots came first, even if they were numerically insignificant.

Stormfire shot another drone out of the sky and scanned the ground; he saw the smoke where Magnus had been standing and the Decepticons pouring fire into the smoke. Stormfire knew Magnus had to escape; he was the most important bot in Tagan. Signalling to two of the remaining flyers, Stormfire dropped below the main combat level and quickly began to acquire and fire at targets, missiles heading out to Roadblock Breakdown Drag Strip and Quake. Stormfire didn’t care if the missile hit or not, it should give the Autobots who were engaged a chance to retreat. Stormfire braced himself as he hurled himself once more into the devastating melee in the skies.

((OCC: sorry guys RL prevented me from posting))

Autobase Tau - Perimeter

Strafe wasn't overly fond of getting in troubble before he even go to a battle but as it was hi systems hadn't compleatly recovered from his last round of combat so he's had to allow his self-repair to fix up the little kinks before he could finnally get out on the battlefield.

Finnally jetting into the air Strafe radioed Stormfire >>Sorry about being late; I had a minor system's glitch. Anything I can do to help?<< Whilst not exactly at full strength Strafe was more than capable of helping out where he could.

Autobase Tau--Perimeter

Wildrider had seen something that looked like an Autobot and fired. He hadn't really taken time to aim, but that wasn't priority anyway. Shortly thereafter, Motormaster had given them the command.

"Slag yeah!"

The Stunticon Terrorist adds his own weapon's fire to that of the other Stunticons. If he was going to work together with this bunch of lunatics, as if he were one to complain, then at least it was in something as enjoyable as cooperative devastation.

Autobase Tau - Perimeter

Quake had been busy, focusing the brunt of his attacks on Ultra Magnus until Stormfire decided to make his presence known. Quake was busy listening to the Stunticons try to act tough, amatures at best, Quake concluded. Stomrfire fired a area spread at multiple targets in the area. A screaming missle struck the side Quakes titanium armor, causing him to do a 360 spin, as the massive tank spun out in a circle.

Quakes rear armor had a massive black dent that sizzled from the impact of the missle. Quake turned his massive plasma cannon around to target Stormfire in the air. "Come on down Autobot!" Quake exclaimed while he opened fire, as a fire spark lit his plasma cannon and he fired a high explosive plasma shell at Stormfire in the air.

Skies over Tagan

Quake’s attack had about as much chance of hitting Stormfire in the dogfight above Tagan as it had hitting any other mech in the sky. It missed Stormfire, now a considerable distance away from where the shot had been aimed, and slammed instead into another Autobot, the force of the explosion causing the doomed bot to slam into a sweep, and with a sickening crunch they began to fall to the surface. Quake featured little in Stormfire’s thoughts, he had to keep the sweeps occupied, not the ground forces. A comm. message came through to Stormfire; the bomber units were entrenched and ready to launch their final strike as and when the Autobots had retreated. The ground battle looked to be in its final stages, which was lucky, as the air battle was drawing to a swift conclusion. Strafe’s message was welcome relief for Stormfire; an ally of such skill was sorely needed.

‘Strafe, two things, protect our bots’ six, and don’t get slagged, other than that welcome to the sky.’

Stormfire dove after a sweep, coming from above firing full at the top of the unsuspecting mech, laser fire punctured the top of the drone and ignited its energon stores causing it to detonate, Stormfire had little time to celebrate, another Sweep had a lock on him. As he banked to avoid the laser fire. Stormfire watched another Autobot blasted out of the sky. Without re-enforcements, this battle was over for the Autobot forces

Autobase Tau
She takes the time do apply her shield to the hard point on her other arm, hand equipping the rifle.

"Quit your complaining, and shoot at an autobot!" she replied to Ruckus in a drill sergeant like tone. "Incase you hadn't noticed, that bot ahead of us took fire from heavy hitters and is still fighting so we need all the firepower we can get and your weapons are useless if you're not firing them!" she continued while firing at the last known location of the unusually durable Ultra Magnus. She let Ruckus keep what ego and pride he might have and moved away from him.

Noble, huh? Maybe, but 2 wounded units can usually deliver more firepower than 1 live unit and 1 disabled unit. Especially since he had more firepower at the moment than she did. Plus letting the Autobots whittle away their numbers won't win this war because sooner or later there won't be anyone left to fight the Autobots.
The Autobots haven't been a thorn in the Decepticon side by leaving their comrades to get slagged and snuffed either.

Still, the Autobots seemed to be pulling back. Flying units were headed off. There was less and less oncoming fire.

Her thrusters ignite again, and she points them at the smoke made by Ultra Magnus using the thrust generated to try and blow away the smoke while using the blades on her feet as an anchor. Blast! That shrapnel damaged an articulation servo! she noticed one thruster wasn't moving as well as the other. It didn't matter to her though. As long as she could try to take down an autobot on the battlefield she certainly would try.

She was certainly glad she was was not in Scorponok's line of fire seeing the impressive warlord wail on the last known locale of the autobot. His might helped her realize why the Autobots were retreating.

There are blasts nearby from missiles from the sky, but not close enough to pose a threat.

Autobase Tau - Perimeter

Too late, Roadblock realized what Blurr had done. It was a clever trick, taking advantage of all the distractions on the battlefield to slip past and plant an explosive charge. The Pretender shell swung one hand back, ceasing its plasma fire, and groped for the charge. Just as its hand closed around the device, an explosion rocked the field. The synthoplasmic shell prevented its own destruction, but lost a hand in the process. Its enraged roar echoed across the field, as loud as the explosion that had caused it.

Nearby, the inner robot that was the true Roadblock fell to one knee. Snarling out a string of curses around a mouthful of fouled transmission fluid, the Decepticon stood once more, terrible anger welling up in his already frightening crimson optics.

"That's it. Bring it, Autobots. Bring it, damn ya, an' I'll send all of ya to the Pit myself!" He kept up the fire on Ultra Magnus with his twin rust-bomb launcher, and the Pretender shell resumed firing on Blurr and Hot Rod. It would not be fooled twice by such a trick.


The enormous Pretender tank halted in its slow, steady advance for a moment as Blurr's gambit paid off, at least momentarily. Roadbuster's shrapnel cannon had no trouble locking onto such a large target and pelting it with razor-sharp metal fragments. The weapon had little initial impact on the tank's thick hide, but the sheer volume of fire was taking its toll. Roadblock's Autobot counterpart was no joke when it came to a slugging match.

Regaining his composure, Roadblock went on the offensive once more. Twin shatter cannons continuing to lay down a withering storm of brutal firepower, the tank's dozer blade raised up slightly and the numerous acetylene cutting torches mounted on the vehicle flared to life with malevolent white flame.

"I'm gonna cut ya in two, ya stubborn son of a scraplet," Roadblock snarled at the Autobot ground assault commander. The Pretender tank rumbled forward, its dozer blade and torches prepared to carry out its fearsome master's promise.


Mirage's relatively comfortable position behind some cover on the battlefield was turned into a fiery hellhole as Motormaster and his Stunticons opened up with their weaponry. His thin armor was pelted with debris and shrapnel as the massed Decepticon fire cut the air all around him. Still, he lingered a moment longer.

What in the Pit is all that?

His keen senses had allowed him to notice that Roadblock - the Decepticon he recognized as the infamous ground forces commander - had emerged from within the larger black and purple monstrosity that had initially plowed through Autobase Tau's defenses with the nearly as strange new airborne drones. The spy had also noticed some sort of huge six-wheeled tank from whose external speakers the distinctive voice of the ground forces commander was wreaking havoc with the Autobot's own ground assault commander, Roadbuster.

Whatever these two constructs that accompanied Roadblock were, they were powerful. That much was for certain.

Perhaps remotely controlled drones of some new design, like the others, but more advanced? His train of thought was interrupted by more Stunticon fire. Well. Obviously, I'm not meant to get a closer look at this time. But...this merits further investigation.

Transforming into racer mode once more, Mirage made a beeline for a hidden entrance into one of the tunnels that led from the Tagan Heights into the safer confines of Autobot-held Iacon. I suppose I'm sorry, Magnus...but now is hardly the time to stay and fight...and die in some ridiculous bit of last-stand heroics.

He supposed that the city commander, if he had any sort of sense - which Mirage was not sure he had, come to think of it - would soon withdraw as well, now that the wounded had been pulled back.

Autobase Tau was falling, and nothing short of divine intervention would change that. Not being the sort of Transformer to put stock in hokey religions, Mirage knew the cycle's outcome had been decided. There was nothing to do but live to live another day.