The Energon Pub

Temporary Aid Station-Middle of the field

Hot Spot kept his sensors on the surroundings as he finished his temporary wall for the aid station. As looked up from piling on the last body, he saw first hand the stone golems and now fire birds. The damage they both have caused irritated him and the ability they have at re-forming. He then heard Prowl's orders which made sense to him. Out of most of the troops here, Hot Spot was probably one of the very few who might have the firepower to melt the golem and quench the fire birds. It seems his repair station is going to have to wait.

After a couple of nanoclicks, he heard the foot steps of one of the golems coming in from behind him and the strong breeze of his club. He barely gotten out of his new walled area as the club came down smashing over half of what he just got built. The remains were six meters below him now with metal and earth melded together from the sheer weight of the club and strength of his new opponent. Hot Spot faced his foe and readied his hose for maximum burst. The water came out at 100 PSI and it hit the golem in the chest. For a few moments the golem continued to march forward and the water sprayed everywhere. Then the center started to give away and the water dug on through the chest area. The golem collapsed under its own weight shattering along the way. Hot Spot knew there was a high chance of it rebuilding itself and as he watched this one took a bit longer than he had observed but it did gather itself together after forming the center with dry rock instead of the wet mud rock he made. Instead of retreating Hot Spot quickly changed over to his flame attack and fired upon the golem and this time in the legs. They melted from the extreme heat which made the golem fall towards Hot Spot. He back away quickly as it tumbled towards him. This time he didn't wait for it to reform as he transformed and sped towards Prowl's location.

>>Prowl, I agree with your idea of melting these stone ones. I tried my water hose and was able to dissolve the center but it reformed with dry materials. Then I went on the hot side at its legs and melted them. I'm not sticking around to see if it reforms but betting it does just a bit slower.<<

Hot Spot closed the line to Prowl and opened up one to his Protectobots and Ratchet.

>>My fellow Protectobots and Ratchet, I'm abandoning the temporary repair bay idea. Take all wounded to the shuttles. By no means does this oblige either First Aid or Ratchet to fix them but still need a somewhat safe location.<<

After that message was sent, he finally realized he had a message from Blades.

>>Sorry for not getting back to you earlier, Blades, but I had my own golem to deal with down here. Do what you can without endangering yourself or the injured as much as possible. Most of us don't have the right stuff to handle these new creatures.<<


In The Skies

Skydive was glad Silverbolt got a proper direction instead of following Screamer blindly. The aerial attacks were worthless against the Fallen. Now they have the stone golems to deal with and fire birds. Air Raid would probably be enjoying the challenge the fire birds were giving them in their flying abilities. The major annoying thing with this flying challenge is their enemies aren't staying down for long. The showing of Jetfire was a nice sight for Skydive considering that mech's firepower. He then received the message from Prowl. An idea came to his mind from Prowl's message.

>>Commander Silverbolt and Jetfire, may I suggest a slight modification to Commander Prowl's idea? Since we have the fire birds up here, maybe we should use them against the golems. If we can get the fire birds to run into the golems, we may do what the humans call getting two birds with a single stone.<<

(OOC: Con postings will be later.)

Australia--Uluru

>>Landgrab? Wow, that’s a voice I never thought I’d be glad to hear. How did a mech like you get caught up in the battle like this? ...I wish I knew where I’d been, but judging by the remains of Crueljaw here, I think I got off lightly. Any chance you could fill me in on what this Fallen guy wants with us? I’m about to rejoin Shockwave and he’s not exactly known for his detailed plot exposition...<<

Landgrab had been doing a lot of running. And shooting. But more running than shooting. By Primus he was still alive. He could hardly believe it. But the likelihood of that continuing to be the case was decreasing with every passing astrosecond.

Now on top of the rock guys, there were fire bird things and huge Constructicons! The huge Constructicon, at least, was intent on smashing the rock things and not him, so that was something.

>>"I know! I can't believe I'm fighting the Fallen! Well..you know, kinda. I mean, he's really far from me. But, umm, yeah...mass extinction is what I heard. He wants us all dead. That's what I heard some Seekers talking about in the bounce chamber before we came down here."<<

Australia--Uluru- The Skies

Fireflight was glad the bombing run was called off. The appearance of a giant Constructicon, stone golems, and now fire birds really made Fireflight want to fly off in a safe distance to take it all in with his scanners. With so much happening at once, the fight is almost turning into chaos. An idea came to his mind and one which usually comes out of Skydive's cranium.

>>Silverbolt, may I be so bold for a couple of us to help the huge Construction out with his group and at the same time get as many scans of it for future use?<<

Before he could wait for a response, one of the fire birds was on his tail. Fireflight maneuvered the best he could but still had the thing right behind him. A flame burst came from its mouth which made Fireflight dodge to the right. The fire hit the bottom of his left wing cinching it some.

"Ouch, I wonder if this is what my fire fog missiles feel like."

Before he knew it, there was another fire bird coming for him but this time at his front. He decided to do one of the old maneuvers the Aerialbots were known for and dove at a twenty degree angle as the two birds collided. The damage to his left wing made it hard for him to keep the dive straight. He lost control and went into a roll. At the very last astrosecond, he was able to transform and crash in robot mode rolling along the ground for several meters. When he got up, his stabilizers took too long to readjust and he fell face first back onto the ground. This time he waited a click before getting to his feet. When he did, he noticed several new dents and a few loose wires. As he took a few steps, several gears creaked or refused to move. He opened up the private Aerialbot channel.

>>Guys, I might be out of the flying business until my systems repair themselves.<<


Ayer Rock

When the Fallen opened up the cracks, the stasis locked forms of Battletrap fell through one taking more damage until he landed on the base away from the fire tornadoes. To most mechs, Battletrap would pass for a pile of scrap of two Transformers. He was still alive, technically, but by no means going to get up any orn soon on his own.

Far Back

Octane couldn't stand it anymore. With the appearance of the stone golems and fire birds, he had to get into the mix. He would leave the Fallen to the higher ups as planned but he wanted a piece of the stone golems. The fire birds kept him from taking to the air since he remembered how slow and less agile in the air especially compared to the Seekers or even his Triplechanger brethren. Instead he transformed into his tanker truck mode and went in with ramming speed. He hit the leg of the closest stone golem only to be kicked away moments after the golem regained his balance. Octane flew several meters and landed hard rolling over twice. Once he stopped, he transformed back into his robot mode.

"Okay, that wasn't the most intelligent idea I had. The energon inside felt like it was going to slosh right out of me. I'm lucky nothing cracked open. Next time I leave the head long ramming to the likes of Motormaster since he enjoys the headaches more than I do."

>>'Train, Blitzy, are you two having any luck with the stone golems or Fallen? I tried one of Motormaster's tricks of ramming a leg and it didn't go well. How the idiot Stunticon does it without having cranium damage is beyond me. I'm hoping this fight isn't all for naught.<<

Australia – Autobot Shuttle Longevity – Combat Casualty Care Unit

Blindside was barely aware of it at first when First Aid began drilling into the side of Veneer's head. It was when the nurse stopped convulsing did the tactician manage to turn his attention fully to the medic. He stood up straight, removing his arms from Veneer's body and turned his head toward First Aid with a rather empty expression on his face. First Aid addressed Howl first. Then to him.

"Side…"

Blindside angled his optical sockets down at the doctor in acknowledgement.

“Vee’s stable. But he’s hurt real bad. The…the trauma to his head…it caused several, if not all, of the energon lines feeding his cranium to tear or rupture or fray which, in turn, cause a large amount of fluid to fill the cavity. That buildup is what caused his seizure." Aid looked back at the now still nurse. “He’s going to need surgery…" Aid looked back at Blindside. “But I can’t do it. And Ratchet…" First Aid seemed a bit embarrassed but it would have to be said. “Ratchet can’t do it either. He just doesn’t trust his hands anymore."

“I understand,” Blindside said without hint of emotion.

“The surgery’s delicate and, well…" First Aid shrugged. “Axle was a surgeon back on Cybertron….before the war started. He specialized in the Trinity Organs." Slowly he reached out and placed his fingertips on the blind mech’s arm. “I’ll call him. See where he’s at." With his free hand Aid gestured to the side of Vee’s slab. “If you want you can stay with him…alone. If you want."

Blindside slowly tilted his head down to consider First Aid's hand on his arm. He placed his hand on top of Aid's and gently removed it from his arm. “Thank you, First Aid, but I should really get to a CR chamber.” With that, Blindside turned slowly and hobbled out of the room, giving a passing glance to Bluestreak as he passed the chatterbot.

“I apologize for my earlier behavior. I let my emotions get away from me. But be aware that Howlstrike is my friend and a comrade to both of us. I suggest you treat him as such,” Blindside issued a sigh that seemed to contain an orn's worth of exhaustion. He walked forward on unsteady feet to one of the CR chambers, casting a glance back at Howl. “Let's hurry up and get back into the action, huh?”

Blindside admitted himself into the CR chamber, collapsing against the chamber's rear wall as it sealed shut and the nanites went to work repairing his damaged frame.

Australia – Top of Ayer's Rock

“Not petrified, Weirdwolf," Razorclaw responded to the wolf-former as he pushed himself up to a kneeling position. “Just stunned. I needed time to reboot the systems affected by the power surge. I’m all right now, but we need to avoid the power of the Fallen’s staff. It will take you down hard and keep you there."

“Well it is that you are mobile...” Weirdwolf growled out between grit dental plates. “And counsel well given.”

“You protected me? That was unnecessary, but I thank you."

Razorclaw offered a hand up to Weirdwolf. The tracker reached out to take it, but another one of those fire birds shrieked and soared at them. Razorclaw blasted it with his concussion blaster, dispering the flames that formed it, but Weirdwolf knew it would not stay dispersed for very long. “Let’s go, Weirdwolf! We need to move now."

The wolf-former grabbed Razorclaw's extended hand and heaved himself to his feet despite the protests of his super heated back. “Unnecessary? Commander of all Decepticons you are. Wellbeing safeguarded, Decepticons safeguarded. Too many would take advantage of a weakened king of beasts,” Weirdwolf explained almost indignantly to Razorclaw. “Such pain I do not endure without cause.”

Having listened to Razorclaw's transmission, Weirdwolf set about to do just that. Deal with these accursed fire birds. A sudden idea struck the tracker as he considered ways to defeat both elemental golems. Drawing out his photon pistol, Weirdwolf jogged to the edge of the rock and looked down at the rock lords below. Lining up his shot, he fired at a rock lord. The photon charge connected and burst radiantly against the colossus. One of the fire birds took note and swooped down to attack the light, perhaps thinking it the gleam of metal. As the fire bird connected with the rock lord, it disappeared and a large section of the rock lord became glass.

From this vantage, Weirdwolf could not drive the rock lords to the fiery maelstroms, but he could lure the accursed fire birds into the sandstone giants. He could rely on his sixth sense to alert him to oncoming danger and his quick reflexes to remove himself from harm's way.

“What course left to us is there if the Autobots fail, Predacon lord?” Weirdwolf asked Razorclaw, “Consider this now we should before time runs short and forces a rash decision.”

Australia - Uluru



With Silverbolt returning to his duties in the air and elsewhere on the battlefield, that left the mnemosurgeon as the last line of defense to shield against Axle. With both his pistols in hand, Chromedome did all he could to stop the approaching rock golems, firing at them until they crumbled to the Earth was at least something, but it wasn't enough. No, the rock golems would simply rebuild themselves shortly after dropping. One of them got close enough to swing, but his sluggish actions still weren't fast enough to hit Chromedome and his average reflexes. Rolling to evade the attack, Chromedome looked up to notice the Rock lord take an interest in Axle's procedures, yanking his sword-like weapon from the ground and lurching towards the medic.

"No no no, I'm over here!" Chromedome taunted as he fired upon the golem to get its attention, "Leave them alone, I'm the one you want!!" His blasts continued to bounce off the golem before off stray bolt of laserfire connected to the side of what I guess you could call the protrusion for a head it possessed. The demonic deity of the Fallen's will let out an distinguishable gurgle of a noise and turned back to face the mnemosurgeon, bringing up its primitive rock-weapon up behind its head. Not holding back, Chromedome continued to unleash several dozens of laser rounds into the chest cavity of the rocky beast.

"Chromedome! We have to go! Now!" Axle had called out to the battle-active mnemosurgeon, “I need you to carry Hex back to the ship!"

"Alright, I'm on it!" Chromedome yelled back as he holstered both of his pistols and made a dash towards Hex's side and hoisted him up over his shoulder. By the Institute did he wish he was gifted with the strength to carry another around with great ease without totally slowing his progress down. Still, he did the best he could do given the situation.

As he stumbled with the conscienceless mech slung over his shoulder, another rock lord took notice of their vulnerability and began making a bee-line towards the medic and mnemosurgeon's direction.

"Oh scrap... We've gotta hurry Ax'!" Chromedome hollered as he did his best to pick up his slower pace, taking notice of the rock-lord closing in on them as he peered over his shoulder. He couldn't stop and kill this thing, not without getting himself or even Hex injured. In a moment of panic, the tan and white Autobot shifted to his alt mode, leaving Hex to simply drop upon the roof of his cybertronian car mode. Chromedome's dual pistols converted into roof-mounted laser cannons and extended from the opening in his canopy. The cannons swiveled around and the automatic targeting systems locked onto the golem. Soon his cannons erupted into a frenzy of red-hot laser fire scorching from both barrels and connected with the Rock-lord trailing him.



The sight of Devastator was just the variable Getaway needed to draw Blitzwing's attention away from the trio of Autobots. With the barrel of his tank mode acting as Blitzwing's "eyes", Getaway grabbed hold of both Skids' and Chameleon's wrist joints and began to sneak away from the distracted Triplechangers.

"By the Primes..." The Decepticon commando muttered aloud as Devastator's massive presence became all but too well known on the battlefield. "Is that? Are those the Constructicons??" He asked to no one in particular. His barrel swiveled to find Getaway living up to his namesake and well, getting away.

"HEY! Why you little slag-" Blitzwing was cut off as the rumbling from the rock lord's formation caught his attention. "GYAH! Just when I had his in my sights! Frag this, we can deal with the Autoscum later. Place on tab on them, Octane, we'll be sure to deal with those three once we through with this fine new mess!" Taking aim with his tank mode's cannon, Blitzwing fired off a explosive round towards a few rock golems, decimating one of them with a direct impact and peppering a few other with the shrapnel from the explosion.

"That was too close!" Getaway exclaimed as he took the two other Autobots into a dug out trench. "Didja see that thing? Looked like a Mega-Constructicon!" Getaway peered over the ledge of the trench to see the battle beginning to further erupt into much more chaotic mess now that it was becoming cluttered with demonic rock lords and birds made entirely of fire flying overhead.

>>”Attention, everyone! This is Prowl! As you know by now these rock lords can reform no matter how many times we knock them down. Therefore, we must leave nothing left to reform. Our best option is to try and push them back towards the fire tornadoes and force them into those swirling infernos. With any luck, the intense hellfire will turn their sandstone bodies into solid glass! I don’t care how you all do it. Just work together and make it happen!"<<

"Well there's a thought." The escape artist commented as he looked over towards his fellow Corpsman, "Any idea how we should approach this?"

Top of Ayer's Rock

"AARRRRRGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Shrieked Warwolf in pain as this former tutor dismembered his arm from his shoulder in order to save himself from the effects of cosmic rust. He cupped the open wound and rolled on his side, only to watch as his arm slowly disintegrated in upon itself.

"Argh...Wha-What are we to do now?" He asked looking up to Flamewar, grunting in pain as he slowly tried to rise to his feet.

>>”Actually, Springer, we do have an idea which I have already commed Magnus about. We need to get through to Hot Rod who is apparently still in there somewhere. Hopefully, he’ll be able to weaken the Fallen enough to help us break though. In the meantime, focus your attacks on the golems. Understood?"<<

"Oh that is just rich." Springer scoffed as his latest comm with Prowl had just closed with him issuing orders to focus on the rock lords down below. "Brainiacs come up with an idea, and we're called away from the action." Normally Springer would love to jump at the chance to destroy waves upon waves of enemies, Decepticons or not, but he didn't risk his wrecking crew and himself to get to the top of this Primus-forsaken mountaintop just so they could go sliding back off of it. No, not today... Prowl may be a voice Springer didn't care to follow, but his plan was sound. Hot Rod was in there somewhere, and hopefully he could do what he could to help get through to the young Autobot.

Leaping up from behind his cover, the green and yellow warrior rushed along to Magnus' side to provide any sort of assistance, only to stop and find himself marveling at Scoop's shield. Magnus began unloading a massive payload of firepower before Springer had the chance to begin his attempt to try and contact Hot Rod from beyond the Fallen's grip. Not wasting anytime, Springer followed in Magnus' attack and began firing upon the shield with his laser rifle.

Base of Ayers Rock

The battlefield was becoming more and more convoluted. Where there had once been seemingly established fronts and combat zones had devolved into a morass of corpses, spent shell casings and desperately struggling soldiers trying to cope with the catastrophe in which they found themselves embroiled. Roars of the tempest that raged towards the middle of the massive monolith's edifice, obscuring the summit and the renewed engagement that was kindling there, drowned out much of the combat din that set upon the dried stream beds and rocky embankments that surrounded the monument.

Nova Strike maintained the data transfer linkage a few moments longer than had been necessary, not only to ensure that Prowl had received the requisite information but so too had Shockwave the Decepticon Military Scientist and Tactical Officer. There had been other reasons for leaving the link open. Being accustomed to operations behind enemy lines, typically for cycles at a time mapping defenses or other dangerous missions that could not be accomplished by spy or scout, Nova Strike was always on the hunt for a competitive advantage. He did not know exactly what it was that he was listening in for... but the data that would be recorded from the link could be analyzed later. Perhaps it would be some subsonic underlay frequency that piggy backed the reception codes or something to that end. Still, the link extension lasted only for a few micro seconds and though data was recorded Nova was still not in the best position to analyze it.

Nova Strike cycled through his data logs and filed the recent transmissions and records into the required sub sections for further analysis. He then switched his attention to the northern face of the red sandstone monolith, stained violet in the violent ash and flames that danced around its base. Instinctively his right hand crept to his hip and pressed the latch embedded behind a piece of reinforced armor plating. Swiftly the holster covers pealed back and the high energy blaster was released from its intricate titanium frame. A second was spared as his internal systems began diagnostics and power checks to the hand held weapon. Once the signals received pegged the systems as green, Nova Strike wrapped his hand around the handle of the gun and pulled it clear. The process was repeated for the left side almost immediately.

As he pulled himself from a low crouch a piercing signal came over the open comm channels linking the Cybertronian Forces. Nova Strike resisted the urge to extradite himself from the channel, but thought better of it. For his reward, or lack there of, Prowl made a simple recommendation to the allied forces. Force the Rock Titans back into the flaming pit from whence they came.

The ranger pushed himself further to standing and entered into a low run towards the nearest silhouette that was lumbering toward the defensive line. Nova jumped over the smoldering ruin of a pair of fused vehicon corpses, unavoidably leaving his mark on the burnt out brain case of the top most half of the vehicon. He was forced to use the edge of the excavated trench to remove the remains from his foot before he entered into his mad dash.

Nova skidded to a stop, before he hurdled over the rim of a blast crater. His guns were leveled off almost immediately as his sensors actively pinged Getaway, Chameleon, Skids and Blitzwing. The Rock Titan adjusted course, exposing a rather appealing broadside image of its knees. Six bursts from each hand held weapon ate at the stone knee joints of the titan. Fractures and snapping rock soon exploded in a resounding echo. Slowly the joint began to buckle and more and more of the rock began to give way to the stresses put upon the joint until finally the left knee gave way completely with a spray of rock and dust heading towards the others. The rest of the body began to teeter off balanced before a sudden impact from a source that Nova Strike could not see, sent the behemoth reeling backwards... its head landing in the base of the fire storm.

The ranger sized up the damaged rock hulk. He shifted power from his movement batteries and life support into his main shoulder cannon's battery. As the charge began to take hold, a brief if not unusual request came over the comm on a secured encryption line. Nova stopped the transfer of power for a moment as he rebooted his encryption subroutines. Soon the missive from Silverbolt was decoded and translated. As to why the Aerialbot Commander wanted such scans was decidedly unclear, particularly given the five story flying fire balls with wings currently dogging the flier and his minions. "Topographical Scans Silverbolt? I've got those already. Prepare for rapid file transfer. Be warned commander, the data package isn't going to be easy to absorb when you decompress it."

Nova Strike compressed the requested files and dispatched them in the same manner he had between Shockwave and Prowl. Though the transfer was more linear in terms of between two separate points, the topographical map and sensor readings... mineral composition and electromagnetic strata... It was a large and daunting amount of information. As the upload was completed, Nova Strike resumed refocusing power to his main cannon. The headless rock titan drug its right arm into the dirt in an attempt to gain some purchase in footing. The ranger re-positioned and fired a powerful scarlet lance of energy in concert with other bursts of power straight into the monster's rock soft chest.

Australia- Skies over Uluru

>>You assume too much, Bitstream. As I said before, you need to prove to me that you can fulfill your side. Bring me Sixshot’s spark or no deal. If that requires deactivating him through his brain module then I suggest you do so. Personally, I think you overestimate your abilities as I calculate only a 5% chance of your success in that endeavor. However, if you happen to fall within that percentage and succeed then I will be happy to admit my mistake. As for your other option, if you wish for me to get the code from Starscream then I don’t really need you as I can use the code on Sixshot, myself, once I have it. Therefore, you become irrelevant in this equation, don’t you? I mean, what help would you be providing me if I do all the work and take out both Sixshot and Starscream?<<

At long last, Prowl overstepped himself. He'd given Bitstream a weapon to utilize at last. Mingled in his condescension and -admittedly accurate- criticisms, Prowl overplayed his hand.

"You want to take the code from Starscream? Then do it, Autobot," Bitstream replied, trying his best to sound cool and confident. "I can just undo the command code if need be, and you'll break our precious truce for nothing. You don't want my help, fine; I'll just give you a taste of what I can do. I doubt Sixshot will mind causing a little... collateral damage."

Bitstream cut off his comms and turned his attention to Sixshot, still engaged in battle. He moved to a holding pattern in his flight, maintaining visual contact and line of sight with Sixshot before sending a new comm signal to the Phase Sixer.

Bitstream began with what he knew. "Reset. Pi-orion..." He then cut off his comms and turned to his onboard computer. "Diagnostic. Sixshot's circuits."

His HUD displayed the info. While Sixshot didn't visibly react to the command code, his internal mechanisms had responded to the signal, gears shifting between brain module and T-cog to start stasis lock, only to abruptly abort. It was hard to tell more than that, given how little information got through Sixshot's dense carbon armature, but Bitstream recognized the starting point, and decided to send a new message.

"Sixshot," Bitstream began, opening a private comm line. "I've just picked up an Autobot communique: it seems their strategist is going to try and muscle the voice command from Starscream once the battle's over and turn you off."

Now he turned devious, but did his best to avoid gloating. "Still think I have nothing to offer?"

-

Top of Ayer's Rock

Nightweaver fired his thrusters, jumping to the side of the strange fiery vortex rustling over the rock. This Fallen's weather effects were certainly impressive (and searing), but it only furthered the Seeker's need to engage the deity.

"Can you hear me, Fallen?" Nightweaver asked over wide comm. "I am your death made manifest. Come taste my blade, if you're willing to stop hiding behind magic tricks."

Nightweaver stood at the edge of the barrier, poking his battle blade against it.

"Your defeat is inevitable," Nightweaver continued. "Face me and get an honorable death."

It was pointless bluster, but it made him feel better. Feel bigger... greater than he was. It helped him keep walking towards his certain demise.

And there was Sixshot too... wasn't he supposed to help Bitstream do... something?

Well, there were certainly worse allies to have in challenging the Fallen. Maybe he could put Bitstream's plan in use alongside his own...

Australia - Uluru

The flash of light that accompanied Crueljaw's entrance onto the battlefield was an insignificant part as Crueljaw took in the sheer spectacle of the battle. In the air flaming avian creatures duelled with Seekers and Aerialbots while on the ground Stone golem's fought with the cream de la cream of the Autobot and Decepticon forces that had been further augmented by the arrival of What looked like a strange amalgamation of Constructicon parts as one huge Constructicon and the walking engine of destruction only known six changer in existence Sixshot. It looked like he'd been a couple rounds with the Fallen already and was going back for a couple more rounds.

Crueljaw unlimbered his shotgun and started to stalk forward blasting any of the golems that got too close to him Crueljaw spotted several familiar forms. Landgrab could be seen standing around as normal two golems approached him from behind. From his wrist locker his plasma sword ejected within seconds it was lit and in his grasp. His plasma blade cut through the creatures with ease he didn't even look at Landgrab he was already hunting for the runt as he spoke "You know you should really watch your back ya big lug now where did the runt go?"

More Golems where appearing from the ground nearby a couple of blasts from his shotgun put them down again. Much to his frustration they were soon reforming the ones that he'd put down with his plasma sword had stayed down. "So flames do more damage to these golems time for that up close and personal approach"

Crueljaw thundered forward he shoulder barged one to the ground as he slashed at another with a his sword cleaving it in two. He slammed his foot down on the second too keep it down he executed a simple execution stroke a well practiced up and down motion with his sword to finish the second off.

Opening up a comm channel he tried to reach Psychout

"Hey Runt where are you hiding and what the slag did you do to my leg"

Australia - Uluru

Psychout, seconds away from landing on Shockwaves position, saw his commander in deep conversation with, ugh, Prowl, and thought better of landing. He quickly realised that he was not needed and although he could easily listen in on the conversation, there was little point – it’s not like Shockwave would need his help if Prowl turned nasty. He sent a brief message to his cyclopean commander and decided to take the initiative.

<<Commander Shockwave, the remainder of my team are finally inbound. I will rendezvous with them and secure a cordon around this position, unless you have alternate orders?>>

Being the furthest thing you could imagine from a combat-class mech, he altered his course towards Landgrab, who was holding his own, albeit reluctantly, only a short distance away to give the big guy some ranged support. He was surrounded by what his databanks identified as Golems, slow moving but very strong creatures and whilst 'Grabs had it covered; he was in danger of being overrun by perambulent chunks of dirt. It had been an age since Psych had had the opportunity to use his sniper rifle, and it appeared now was the perfect time.

Picking a rocky outcrop he dropped into cover, unlocking his integrated sniper rifle as he landed. From his cover he could see many of his Autobot enemies filling the skies and partaking in battles of their own, but has be passed over Ultra Magnus atop Uluru he felt a pulse down his metallic spine... "...Just one shot." a unbidden voice inside him whispered. That's all it would need. You could turn the war effort for Megatron, tip the balance in our favour... He felt himself unconsciously move the crosshair of his depleted uranium sniper back to the top of the giant red rock, flicking from target to target on the way. He lingered for a second longer than he needed to on Magnus, and for the merest instance it felt as though he was the co-pilot in his own chasis, as the scope lined up on the back of his head and his unbidden finger begin to deliicately squeeze the trigger... But wait! That wasn't right. We're not here to fight them... "YET!!"

He snapped back into control. !NO! Do it! Now! Take the..." He blinked, hard, to clear his thoughts. Psychout had been vaguely aware there was something else in here as well as him, and had been since his downloading of the web back in North America, but some how it has got free thanks to his recent trip into stasis. Purging it would take time though, his cassette-type storage memory banks were near infinite, and so for now he was forced to ignore it. I'll get that checked by ‘Practice when this is over he thought, thankful to be in control of himself once more. Leaving the giant White and blue mech to fight another day, he spun round and took aim on Landgrab instead. The large ‘con was moving at a speed that, to him at least, appeared to be that of an asthmatic tectonic plate and was being pursued by a group of these stone monstrosities who were only moving slightly slower. Sharkticons in a barrel... he chuckled and squeezed the trigger

Depleted Uranium is a radioactive by-product that corrodes on a sub-atomic level, metal, flesh and even stone, and his distilled version of it was designed to work quickly. Delivered 3000 feet-per-second by a high calibre sniper rifle meant that it was effectively deadly for almost anyone here, except maybe that giant Constructicon over there, and even then it would likely melt a big hole in anyone who wasn’t Mixmaster.

<<Landgrab?>> he transmitted nonchalantly but belatedly <<...you might wanna duck>> and absorbing the recoil from the first shot moved the barrel an imperceptible fraction of a millimetre and fired again.

All Landgrab would have heard in the whoosh of a bullet travelling just below the sound barrier milimneters from his cheek, and the impact of isotope on carbon behind him. The first Golem approaching the big guy took a bullet right between where Psychout figured it eyes would have been. It didn’t stop immediately – after all, Golem don’t rely on brains to function – but it did however rely on its arms and legs to move, and they were now melting away as the distilled depleted uranium did its job sub-atomically. A second Golem took his bullet to the throat and began to decay from the chest outwards. It wasn’t pretty, but it sure was hypnotic. Psychout was temporarily lost in the beauty of it all when his crosshair-view was spoiled by the backend of an arrival he knew all too well.

Crueljaw wrote:"Hey Runt where are you hiding and what the slag did you do to my leg"

Ah crap. So much for the elegance of ranged warfare he thought whilst Crueljaw began to wail on anything he could see in front of him. He responded to his oldest friends typically abrupt statement.

<<Crueljaw? And where in the pit have you been?! You’re late. Well, the rest of you is anyway, we already have the useful part of you stashed in a ditch. Wait there, I'll be over shortly>>

Heh. Shortly. Giving up on the long-range game for now, subtlety was impossible when 'Jaws was around, he packed away his rifle and took off towards the rest of his team. The gang is back together, let the fun commence...

Australia - Uluru

Groove and Streetwise tried their best to drive around looking for the injured with everything going on. The wind, sand, glass mixture was not helping. Dodging stone golems and fire birds made them wonder if they were in an obstacle course with the Stunticons.

Groove made his way to the back of Ayer's Rock somehow and on his scouting mission he saw what looked like Blast Off laying down in stasis locked. He transformed and examined the Combaticon.

"Looks like you couldn't get high enough for the Fallen's blast. You probably going to remember this crash landing for a long while to come. It probably be bad if I left you here to collect dust and might actually do some good with your unit if they saw me dragging your chassis away from this mess."

Groove put himself underneath Blast Off and transformed into his alt mode. He sent out a cable around Blast Off in order to hold him there while he went to the location. After a few meters, he received the change of location and Groove altered his course.

Streetwise found himself driving around and spotted a group of Autobots trying to get themselves to safety.

"Chromedone, Ax, is that Hex you have? Do you all need assistance in getting him back to the main shuttles? Is he still out from the fight? Things have went from crazy to pure chaos here. Let us hope Ultra Magnus and the other can find a way to take down the Fallen without doing critical damage to Hot Rod."

Australia--Uluru-Top of Ayer's Rock

Fire. Dodge. Fire fire. Dodge.

Man, this was great! A battle just like the good ol' days. Well, trading supernatural mumbo jumbo for Decepticons, but it still worked for Sandstorm.

"Hot Spot and Inferno would be handy right about now!" Sandstorm said as another of the firebirds bore down directly on him, blasting superheated flames all over him and sending his thermo-sensors six-degrees of wonky as he quickly dodged to get out of the way before the slagging thing turned him into a pile of, well, slag. On the ground in front of him, he noticed a shadow looming over him and starting to spread. He wipped around, ready to blast the attacker in the face.

"-YOU!" Sandstorm said, his digits on the triggers, a microsecond away from firing. Broadside! "Geez, slowaft! Where the slag have you been!?"

With a grin he punched his fellow triple-changer in the chest and turned back to deal with the real threats.

"Oh that is just rich. Brainiacs come up with an idea, and we're called away from the action."

"Wait, huh? What?"

But Sandstorm quickly caught on to what Springer was doing and followed suit, adding his firepower to Springer's.

"So what's the plan!? This shield ain't gonna give any time soon."
___

Australia--Uluru

It was obvious that Blitzwing's attention was just as captured by the giant Constructicon's presence as Astrotrain had been. Primus. Where had they been stashing away that little gem of an idea all this time? Astrotrain wouldn't deny being more than a little envious.

"HEY! Why you little slag-GYAH! Just when I had his in my sights! Frag this, we can deal with the Autoscum later. Place on tab on them, Octane, we'll be sure to deal with those three once we through with this fine new mess!"

"Ha! I bet Octane's got other-"

>>'Train, Blitzy, are you two having any luck with the stone golems or Fallen? I tried one of Motormaster's tricks of ramming a leg and it didn't go well. How the idiot Stunticon does it without having cranium damage is beyond me. I'm hoping this fight isn't all for naught.<<

"Well, speak of the devil..." the triple-changer muttered before flipping over to his comm.

>>"Not much,"<< Astrotrain commed back as he smashed one of the golems over the top of its head with his rifle as another started to bearhug him from behind. He flipped the golem over his back and on to the ground where he proceeded to start smashing its head and chest with his weapon.

>>"The slagging things. Don't. Stay. Down!"<<

Australia - Uluru

The midst of battle Sideswipe was having the time of his life the rifle in his right hand was blazing at a pair of golems. While the one he was currently stood on the back of was bucking and swaying in an attempt to dislodge the red warrior.

"Easy big fella you'll be rid of me soon"

His left hand remodelled itself into a Pile driver he then plunged it into the back of the golem's head with all the force he could muster destroying the top of the body. Kicking off the ruined golem as it started to tumble he fired his shoulder launcher the warhead slammed into a firebird that was on an attack run. The Fire bird wasn't hurt but it did tumble into a pack of golems creating glass statues

"Well what do you know chemistry 101 works"

A huge blast off to his right from Novastrike got his attention Sideswipe was soon rushing into the breach created.

"Flashy show kid what do you do for an encore whistle the pax cybertrionia out your exhaust port?"
Sideswipe quipped
_________________________

To say that Broadside was relieved to find Sandstorm in the middle of this storm was an understatement. "What can I say I took a wrong turn at Sidney" retorted the huge triple changer as his friend punched him in the chest

The arrayed bots around him started unloading on the shield that was in front of them Broadside dragged his rifle around and added to the fusillade. His axe was in his other hand just in case the golems got too close to him or his fellow wreckers.

"So what's the plan!? This shield ain't gonna give any time soon."

Broadside was curious about this plan but didn't give voice to it he did however give another idea voice.

"Ultra Magnus how about getting that big green goliath over here to punch this shield of the fallen?"

The huge triple changer hoped to get involved in the fight with the fallen just to see what it would be like to fight a demi god. Even if it meant his end it'd be worth it.

Austrailia--Uluru

"You know you should really watch your back ya big lug now where did the runt go?"

Landgrab had stopped hesitantly and turned to look behind him at the now fallen earth elementals that had been taken down by Crueljaw's blade.

"Uh...r-right, of course. I-I'll do that," Landgrab stammered. It wasn't exactly the first time his battlefield tactics, such as they were, had been corrected in the field, but he still pretty much glitched a fuse every time it happened.

You're not cut out for this. You're never gonna be good enough, the mobile repair platform sighed to himself. I should just transform and sit here.

He really didn't have time to wallow in self-doubt though. It was clear that Crueljaw was on the hunt for Psychout and Landgrab certainly had no objections. Granted, he never really had objections to anything. And so when Crueljaw took off, Landgrab did his best to keep up. Which was to say he was straggling behind awfully.

Keep up. Keep up. Keep up...

>>Landgrab?...you might wanna duck<<

Before he even processed who the voice was, he obeyed the command and ducked, a shot rushing right past where his head had been only a moment before and slamming into another one of the creepy golems. One of those nice occasions when unquestioning obedience paid off. Landgrab looked at the blasted creature, mouthing a silent "whoa" even as he staggered, continuing to follow Crueljaw as they ran to meet up with Psychout.

>>"That was pretty sweet,"<< Landgrab commed back.

Australia - Autobot Shuttle Longevity - Combat Casualty Care Unit

Howlstrike watched as Blindside finally moved to the opposite side of the med berth and secured the straps, his hands shaking in the process. The disabled mech was clearly upset and it was affecting him physically. It was either that or his injuries were the real culprit. Perhaps it was even a combination of the two. It mattered little now as the sightless tactician thankfully got himself under control enough to do what needed to be done.

In the meantime, First Aid had stepped away and retrieved the supplies that he required before returning to the head of the medical slab where he quickly went to work. All the while, Blindside was muttering to himself about how this wasn’t supposed to happen. Veneer was supposed to be safe here. Howlstrike remained quiet even though he wanted to say something to his new friend. No where and no one was safe when dealing with a demigod of legend and his heralds of destruction. The agents of chaos knew no bounds and even a mere nurse could, and had in this case, become the target of their inner most desire for torture and mayhem.

Howlstrike observed with great interest as First Aid drilled into what was left of Veneer’s cranium and then placed a tube for drainage into the hole. It was all a gory sight to behold, but it did not affect the former Predacon. He had seen so much energon shed on the battlefield that he had become immune to it. While some mechs would purge their tanks, Howl would only stand in silence with a stoic expression across his visage.

Once the procedure was finally done, Veneer stopped convulsing. Moments later, First Aid gently touched Howlstrike on his elbow, telling him know that he could let go of the nurse now and thanking him for his assistance. “No problem, doc,” the tracker responded as he released his grip on Veneer and took a step back from the med berth. Howl then listened as the Protectobot explained to Blindside what had caused the convulsions and what still needed to be done. Surgery was required and only Axle was capable of doing it. Aid had said that the sightless mech could stay, but Blindside refused, citing his need for a CR chamber.

“I’m in need of one, as well,” Howlstrike admitted to First Aid before turning around to follow Blindside out of the room. Both mechs paused for a moment near Bluestreak as the tactician apologized to the gunner for his previous outburst, wanting him to treat Howl as a friend and comrade and not as a former Predacon or potential traitor. The hunter was a bit surprised at the compassion Blindside had for him. Perhaps Kup wasn’t the only one to see Howl’s true value as a member of the Autobots. Blindside then told the tracker that they should hurry up and get back into action. “Right behind you, ‘Side.”
_________

From his med berth, Bluestreak had only been able to watch part of the procedure that First Aid performed on Veneer’s head. It was too graphic for the gunner to watch the whole thing, turning his own head away from the gory proceedings. As it was he felt as though he was going to purge his tanks. Howlstrike, of course, showed no emotion as the drill bore deep into the nurse’s cranium. Typical Predacon. Howl had probably eaten mechs like Veneer alive when he was still on the opposing side. Now the beast wanted to be treated as though none of those horrors he was responsible for ever happened? Some might give him a second chance, but ‘Streak wasn’t so sure the tracker could be trusted.

After everything was said and done, Bluestreak turned back to see that Blindside was now approaching him. Much to the chatterbot’s surprise, the disabled mech apologized for his earlier outburst, adding that he wanted Blue to treat Howlstrike with respect just like any other Autobot. The gunner groaned inwardly at the thought, but nodded outwardly, giving the tactician an agreeable smile. “Sure thing, Blindside, and I’m sorry, too. I’m grad your friend is doing better. I’m sure once Axle gets here, everything will be fine. He’s a good surgeon, you know. He’ll have Veneer up and at ‘em in no time. You’ll see!”

Bluestreak’s babbling trailed off as Blindside moved away and entered a CR chamber. It was then that the gunner noticed Howlstrike hovering over him, a stern visage glaring down at him. The former Predacon said nothing. Sometimes, a look alone spoke volumes. “Yeah, sorry about before, Howl. No hard feelings?”

“Hmmm...indeed,” Howlstrike replied as he turned his attention over to a nearby CR chamber. Before he could take even one step towards it, he was stopped in his tracks as a hand grabbed a hold of his right forearm. Looking down, the tracker saw that Bluestreak had been the one to dare lay an actuator on him.

“Wait, Howl...” Bluestreak said as the hunter growled under his breath, his optics focused on the spot where the gunner was touching him. The black and silver mech quickly realized his mistake and let go of the tracker’s arm. “Oh....sorry! Heh. Gulp! It’s just that...well....since all the medics are pretty busy with other more important matters, would you be able to help me get into a CR chamber so my injuries could be repaired?”

“Oh, so now you need my help?” Howlstrike asked with a chuckle. “You sure you trust me? I mean, a former Predacon like myself might just program the chamber to disassemble you instead of fixing you.”

“You couldn’t do that,” Bluestreak peered up at the tracker, confidant in his statement. “The chambers are not designed to destroy, only to heal. So, yes, I trust you with this.”

Howlstrike let out another low growl along with a sigh. “I knew that.” The hunter paused for a moment before finally relenting to Bluestreak’s request. “Okay, fine! But it’ll be a bumpy ride.”

“Um, what do you mean by thaaaaaaattt!!!” Bluestreak exclaimed as Howlstrike suddenly grabbed a hold of the gunner by the front car bumper of his chest section and lifted him up with one arm. The hunter then carried the chatterbot swiftly over to a pair of empty CR chambers where Howl used his free arm to open one of them before tossing the black and silver mech into it. “Ouch! That fraggin’ hurt, Howl! Did you have to be so rough?! I said I was sorry before, didn’t you...”

“Hear you? Yes, Blue, we all heard you. Now, shut up and enjoy your nanite bath!” Howlstrike pushed a few buttons on the control panel and watched as the CR door slid shut in front of him, cutting the chatterbot off from any further complaints. “Finally, silence,” the former Predacon muttered before moving over to the other, unoccupied CR unit and setting the system for the usual repair cycle. The wolf-former then stepped inside, leaning back against the support slab as the door closed and the nanite-rich fluid began to fill his chamber. Soon, Howlstrike would be back in tip top shape, ready to help his new friend exact revenge on the one who had hurt Veneer.

((OOC: More to come.))

Australia – South of Ayer's Rock

In a flash of bright light, Darkfire materialized in the arid, blustery desert near Ayer's Rock, immediately buffeted by the sandstorm. Upon further inspection, it appeared as though some sort of rock monsters were wandering within it. From above, the burning shapes of something decidedly fiery soared in the skies above the rock. What on Earth had she gotten herself into now? Opening up a comm link to those she knew would be down here, Darkfire grumbled.

>>”Psychout, where are you?! Sheesh, wake up from a little CR nap and the whole world's gone to bits. Landgrab and Crueljaw close by?”<<

Darkfire scowled as she scanned the area once more, using the jet thrusters to get a little altitude to increase her search radius. That group of rock things were attacking...the triple changers...no...that one...Ah. There they were. Crueljaw was breaking everything as usual. Landgrab was following behind...hm? Sniper shot. Trace the trajectory...ah. A speck! That speck would be Psychout. But perhaps she should help deal with these rock lords first.

The assassin zipped over to them, maintain her flight in robot mode, it being quieter than her alternate mode. Her hands retracted, replaced by the nozzles to her flamethrowers. In another instant, she was covering the golems in molten chemicals. The golems took notice and batted at her, but all Darkfire had to do was fly up out of their range and keep blasting them with her flamethrowers. Eventually, one of the golems began to slow, becoming more translucent until he froze completely, now glass.

Retracting one of her flamethrowers, Darkfire drew out her particle beam rifle and fired at the glass golem's knee. It shattered and the rest of the golem soon toppled over, shattering as it hit the sand. It wasn't going to get up again. She flew over the titan that Psychout had disintegrated with his sniper shot and doused it with her flamethrower for good measure.

>>”Honestly, you people,”<< Darkfire growled to the whole team over the comms, >>”No finesse. How you get by is beyond me.”<<

Australia - Top of Ayers Rock

Razorclaw pulled Weirdwolf up to his feet with ease as the fire birds continued to roar by overhead. The wolf-former’s statement about safeguarding the Decepticon Commander from those who would take advantage of him in a weakened state did not fall on deaf audios. Indeed, the yellow tracker was correct in his assertion. While the issue of leadership had been resolved for the time being , it was far from over. There would be other usurpers to the throne along with those who had already been defeated. One defeat would not preclude another attempt. Both Shockwave and Thunderwing would have to be watched closely as both were scientists always looking for ways to improve their situation.

“Point made, Weirdwolf,” the Predacon lord replied with a nod as the wolf-former took aim at a golem and fired. The resulting light burst drew the attention of a fire bird which then dove down and slammed into the stone warrior, transforming part of it into glass. “Excellent idea, Weirdwolf. If only all of my warriors could think out of the box like you.” Just then the duo came under attack from another bird of flame. Razorclaw pulled out his gas launcher and unleashed several shots directly that the flying beast. The explosive capsules detonated inside the fire bird, dispersing the creature before it reformed again a good distance away.

Razorclaw then returned his attention to the tracker who had asked what the next course of action would be if the Autobots failed to get through to Hot Rod. “I already have another option available to us. It’s a last resort. Right now, the Thanatos is maneuvering into position directly overhead. If all else fails I will order us all out of harm’s way and direct an orbital strike from the warship’s primary weapons array. The Thanatos is far more powerful than anything we have in our personal arsenals. The Fallen’s shield should finally crack under its intensity. Thus, we will obliterate this entire area, taking out the Fallen for good....and maybe, if we’re lucky, some of the Autobots, as well.”

The last part of the Predacon lord’s statement was spoken in a low enough tone that only Weirdwolf could hear him. While it was advantageous to have the Autobots as their allies in this situation against the Fallen, it also presented a unique opportunity to kill two cyber-hawks with on laser beam. Of course, many of the Autobots would catch on to what was happening and escape the blast in time, but there would surely be those unable to rescue themselves. Regardless, some dead ‘Bots were better than none.

“YOU ARE NOTHING BEFORE DEVASTATOR!!!”

Razorclaw heard the booming vocals coming from just south of the mountain. The Predacon lord turned his attention in that direction, squinting his optics as he tried to look past the blowing sand and glass particles that obscured a good portion of his view. However, there it was, looming like a green silhouette in the storm. Having been so preoccupied with the Fallen, fissures and now fire birds, the lion-former had not yet taken notice of the enormous gestalt that bore a startling resemblance to the Constructicons. Attuning his scanners to the massive titan, Razorclaw was able to confirm that this Devastator was, indeed, the Constructicons combined into one giant warrior.

“Seems Scrapper has been hiding a few things from me this whole time,” the Predacon Commander growled under his breath. Clearly, this combiner was not intended to be an asset to Razorclaw and his regime. Otherwise, this technology would not have been kept a secret from him. No. This Devastator was clearly meant to put Scrapper and his crew in a commanding position within the empire. Whether they intended to actually dethrone Razorclaw had yet to be seen, but it would not be a surprise at all if that was the case.

Of course, another question was where did they get such tech? Monstructor was the last known attempt at combining and that had not gone too well. Had Shockwave developed this new combiner technology or had the Constructicons stolen it from somewhere. One way or another, Razorclaw was going to get to the bottom of this startling turn of events. In the meantime, this Devastator would hopefully prove useful in fighting the Fallen.

“It looks like I’m going to have a long talk with Scrapper once this battle is over with,” the Predacon lord muttered to himself as several more fire birds set their sights on him. Razorclaw ignited his foot thrusters and took to the skies again, opening fire with his gas launcher on the winged creatures from hell, itself.

Australia - Uluru

After the flash from their bounce sequence faded, Sunstreaker and Warpath soon found themselves immediately tossed into the scrap-storm this endeavor had escalated to. While Sunstreaker gawked at the sight of rock golems and fire birds sweeping and marching across the terrain, the Crimson tank-former was instantly struck with glee and excitement.

"WOW!! Talk about jumping right into the action!! BLAMO!!" Warpath cried as he wasted no time in shifting into his favored tank-form and treading towards the fight he had been craving. Sunstreaker on the other hand drew his weapon and activated his scanner, his HUD taking in and calculating the battle that had unfolded while he was aboard the Guardian.

While he was safely avoiding scratching his paint job, the yellow warrior had picked up the transceiver signal of his fellow warrior-mech and twin brother, Sideswipe. Following in Warpath's treaded-footsteps, Sunstreaker shifted into his Lamborghini alt mode and rocketed off towards his brother. As he closed in on the Crimson lambo-brother, he could fairly hear him mentioning something regarding chemistry.

"What would you know about chemistry?" The yellow warrior taunted as he reverted back to his robot mode and drew his pistol once again, taking aim and firing upon the nearest fire bird. "I thought you failed that class!"



"KAZOW!!" Warpath hollered as he fired a fresh shell from his tank turret, blasting apart the rock golem who unfortunately made it into the warrior's line of sight. "HA HA! Don't worry guys, the Calvary is here!! WA-BAM!!"

The tank-former soon found himself in front of the dugout Prowl and Blaster had taken shelter in to avoid the golems.

"Warpath reporting for duty, sir!" The tank-former exclaimed as he shifted back to his robot mode and gave a small and informal nod towards the military tactician. "We got a plan made yet or can I just keep blasting stuff? Hehe, BOOM!!"



Several violet bursts of concussive energy exited the Communication expert's rifle towards the oncoming wave of rock lords. His processor still burned from his latest attempt to read the Fallen's mind. Though Soundwave's attempt was unsuccessful overall, the presence of Hot Rod was the silver-lining this fruitless endeavor needed to hopefully tip the scales.

"Laserbeak, Buzzsaw; Return to defensive perimeters." The blue and white Decepticon radioed to his avian cassettes. Ratbat was no by no doubt procuring his own well being by the Autobot Shuttles, the massive bulk was a perfect hiding spot to avoid the raging sandstorm.

"Understood." The two vulture-like mechanoids responded in near unison as they both moved above Soundwave's position and circled overhead, firing away at the vast amount of fiery birds that plagued the airspace.

If we wish to further our assault, the extinguishing of those vortexes will be our key to scaling the mountainside.

The communications officer shifted his gaze to the sight of Shockwave firing into the crowd with his laser cannon alt mode while the Autobot strategist designated as Prowl plotted from the trench below. His mind traced over the battlefield until he could faintly hear a comm line shared between the Aerialbot commander and an Autobot ranger. He wasted no efforts in amplifying the signal, running and applying countermeasures as to not allow the Autobots learn he was tapping into their conversation.

"Topographical scans Silverbolt? ... Prepare for rapid file transfer ... Data package isn't going to be easy to absorb when you decompress it."

I beg to differ, Autobot. Soundwave internally processed as he flipped open a panel running along his forearm and pressed several keys located inside, instantly making himself a copy of the data burst while his internal processing computers unraveled the compressed data. The communication expert's chest lit up in a barrage of flashing data that spread itself along a grid-like pattern, opening displaying the raw data as it came to him.

"There...." Soundwave murmured as he closed his private worming-line and pointed his hand out towards the distance where he acquired his data. "Laserbeak; pursue the Aerialbot commander."

"Consider it done." Laserbeak squawked in compliance. Soundwave turned his attention to the rock formation Frenzy and Rumble stated they had taken refuge behind once the battle had escalated further. Before he could issue another order to his cassetticons, the sound of Shockwave's monotonous voice rang into his comm device.

>>"Imperative: Soundwave, extrapolate the missing content and identify the origin of this transmission."<<

Following the report from Shockwave, Soundwave immediately received the coding to a particular frequency the lithe purple Decepticon had taken a particular interest in.

"Squawkbox, Ravage, Overkill, Slugfest; rendezvous with Frenzy and Rumble." Soundwave ordered as he began to run encryption files and more proactive countermeasures to isolate and boost the signal he received. After a moment of fine tuning and constant playback, the Decepticon communications officer had what he needed.

>>"When the battle is over, the Autobots will be outnumbered and facing a combiner and a Phase Sixer. One of them I can disable for you. All I need in return is for you to eliminate the competition, and take out the Decepticon high command."

Interesting... This lowly seeker seems to have the capacity to control the system's sole Phase-Sixer, and he certainly had the confidence to toot his own horn at that. No only that but he's on an endeavor to wipe out most of the Decepticon high command. This one would need to be kept under further observation. Perhaps he may spill more information regarding his methods than he was able to pick up on.

>>"Shockwave; I have determined the identity of the signal's source. The seeker designated as; Bitstream, is the one responsible for sending the communication you managed to pick up. Further observation is currently underway."<<

"Buzzsaw; locate Bitstream, acquire all information you can on him. Keep me informed in anything regarding high command and/or Sixshot."

With his final cassetticon leaving his side, the Decepticon communications shifted his visor-covered stare back to the rock lords at hand. Primary tasks were already underway, now to continue on with this everlasting fight. His shoulder-mounted micro-rockets hissed out from their launcher and scattered across the battlefield, disintegrating rock golems into hundreds of tinier pebbles across the Australian outback.

Australia--Uluru

The purple space-gun hovered menacingly over the battlefield, a charred landscape and the atomized remnants of a pair of terran elementals already in his wake. No sooner had another of the creatures lined itself up in the Decepticon strategist's sights than he began preparing to unleash another torrent of massively destructive energy.

>>Commander Shockwave, the remainder of my team are finally inbound. I will rendezvous with them and secure a cordon around this position, unless you have alternate orders?<<

>>"Satisfactory,"<< Shockwave transmitted, before firing. The rock golem had lifted its arms and readied an unidentified projectile, but before it could be utilized, the creature found itself awash in destructive plasma, splintering it into countless pieces and subsequently destroying the pieces themselves as well as much of the ground on which the creature stood, sending the entire area up in a blaze.

It was then that Soundwave had got back to him regarding his previous imperative, and the results were incongruous to say the least.

>>"Shockwave; I have determined the identity of the signal's source. The seeker designated as; Bitstream, is the one responsible for sending the communication you managed to pick up. Further observation is currently underway."<<

A cursory analysis of the content of the message left the Decepticon strategist what the Seeker in question, identifier: Bitstream, ultimately hoped to accomplish via this gambit. Whatever it was, now was decidedly not the time to tolerate additional Decepticon infighting. Shockwave intended to see this action quelled and identified precisely the Cybertronian who could be most instrumental in doing so.

>>"Satisfactory, Soundwave. Imperative: forward the full content of that transmission to Starscream. Secondary imperative: it will be necessary for you to continue to isolate and amplify the psychological phenomena that you detected within the mind of the Fallen. Do whatever is required to aid the Autobots in facilitating a psychological break between the entity and the Autobot cavalier."<<

Shockwave then reestablished his previous link with Psychout and his subordinates.

>>"Imperative: utilize all resources to ensure Soundwave's continued functionality. Avoid direct engagement with the entity unless all other options are exhausted."<<

Australia - Cliff Face of Ayers Rock

Sixshot was unlike most Cybertronians on either side of the war. He was a phase sixer, one of Megatron’s elite warriors called upon to end entire worlds single-handedly. The sixchanger was comprised of super exotic and dense metals from the compacted core of a star along with a dark matter fission power cell. In fact, Sixshot was so powerful that the slagmaker was actually concerned about being overthrown and thus installed a protocol into him that could shut the STAG down once the appropriate code words were spoken. It was like having a leash on him, albeit a necessary one even though the sixchanger had no desire to rule the empire.

Unfortunately, Megatron was apparently not the only one to possess the code words as Sixshot was now under the actuator of Starscream. This was an even less ideal situation than before as the STAG was now forced to help the cowardly seeker with whatever he desired, which undoubtedly included claiming the throne for himself. Of course, there were others who were vying for a better position within the new Decepticon command structure, and wanted to see Starscream lose his control over the sixchanger. One such mech was Bitstream, who once again was trying to convince the STAG to allow him to remove the protocol from his circuits. Unfortunately, for the seeker in question he made the grave mistake of uttering the first part of the code words that could shut Sixshot down. This was something the phase sixer did not take well.

“You think I am concerned about Prowl?” Sixshot replied to Bitstream as the sixchanger forced himself back up to his feet. The phase sixer’s systems had finally rebooted, having been somewhat affected by the Fallen’s last attack. Most ordinary mechs would’ve been sent into immediate status lock from such a strike, but not Sixshot. He had been knocked down several times now by the fiery demigod and each time the STAG picked himself back up and reentered the fight, undaunted. However, now he had to once again deal with Bitstream and the seeker’s own plotting for whatever control he was looking to acquire.

“I highly doubt that Prowl will be able to procure the code words from Starscream,” Sixshot continued as he glared up at Bitstream. “The Seeker Commander may be cowardly, but he would never give up the advantage he now holds in the form of me!” The sixchanger could feel the gears within him shifting, attempting the very beginning stages of stasis. However, the process quickly aborted as Bitstream had not completed the code words. “You say you want to help me, but then you dare speak those words to me. Do you think I am stupid, Bitstream?!”

Sixshot ignited his foot thrusters and rocketed up into the sky, stopping directly in front of where Bitstream was hovering. The STAG pulled out one of his hypersonic concussion blasters and pointed it directly into the faceplate of the information engineer. “Listen to me, seeker! I will not say this again! I told you before not to waste my time! I do not trust you or your kind! How do I know that you will actually rid me of the code, a protocol imbedded in me by Megatron, himself? Are you really foolish enough to think it would be that easy to remove? You could make matters worse or simply change it so that I am then under your control. Substituting one slaggin’ seeker for another is not beneficial to me. And now you have the ball bearings to use a portion of those same words against me?!”

Sixshot paused for a moment as he pressed the end of his weapon further into Bitstream’s faceplate. “If you ever dare to threaten me like that again, I will pull this trigger and watch your cranium fly off its hinges. Is that clearly understood?!” The STAG tilted his head to one side as he watched for a reaction from Bitstream. “I’m going to take your silence as a yes.” Placing his weapon away, Sixshot hovered backwards in mid-air. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have another date with a demigod. Tootles.” The sixchanger gave a quick wave before transforming into his star fighter alt mode and rocketing back towards Ayers Rock.

Australia - Skies Near Ayers Rock

Approaching the mountain once again, Sixshot came under attack from one of the Fallen’s newly created fire birds. The winged beast shot balls of flame at the sixchanger who quickly avoided a direct hit and returned fire, striking the hell bird and dispersing it through the air. Of course, the fire creature reformed, now behind the phase sixer and quickly resumed its assault. “Interesting. It seems regular countermeasures will not be sufficient,” Sixshot muttered to himself as flames licked his exhaust.

Training his scanners at the ground, the STAG quickly detected a pond of water, created by past rain that had runoff from the mountain. Going into a steep dive, Sixshot aimed for one such body of H2O. The mindless fire bird behind him followed, unaware of what the sixchanger had planned. As the star fighter drew within a few meters of the pond, the phase sixer abruptly pulled up at the very last astrosecond. The fire bird, unable to maneuver in such a fashion, plummeted into the water, extinguishing itself in the process.

“Interesting creature, but not too bright,” Sixshot commented as he set his sights on Ayers Rock again. From his vantage point, the STAG could see the latest attacks being leveled against the Fallen and his impenetrable shield. Had these Autobots not learned anything yet? One had to get around said shield somehow instead of directly attacking it. But how? That was the question of the vorn. “Perhaps there is a way.”

Drawing close to the rock face, Sixshot’s sensors detected a crack down the side of the mountain. It had apparently opened up when one of the fissures had reached the very edge and then expanded downwards. That’s my ticket in, the phase sixer thought as he angled his wing tips vertically and flew directly into the crack. As the space around him grew tighter, Sixshot transformed into his wolf creature mode and latched on to the side of the crevice with his razor-sharp claws. Setting his sensors on the Fallen’s position up on top of Ayers Rock, the mechanical beast began to furiously slice and dig into the sandstone, a tunnel quickly forming before Sixshot climbed inside and disappeared into the darkness.

((OOC: More to come.))

Australia - Top of Ayers Rock

The Fallen continued to hover a few feet over the surface of the mountain as the Predacons concentrated their firepower at the base around his shield. “Stupid beasts,” the fiery demigod uttered, sending a new blast of dark energy directly at the four animal-formers. With that taken care of, the Fallen landed back down onto the rocky summit not far from where Ultra Magnus had formed a two-meter deep crater with his war hammer.

“Nice of you to dig your own grave, Magnus,” the Fallen said with a chuckle. “You must be eager to meet your end.” The City Commander had not only evaded the demigod’s energy strike, but the Autobot leader had also intercepted it with one of his missiles. The resulting explosion was impressive, even by the Fallen’s standards, forcing Magnus and Scoop into the crater, the latter of which had protected himself with some kind of penchant. “What’s this? You have your own shield, little one? And I suppose you believe that amulet is powered by Primus, himself? Heh. Oh so delusional. When will you religious zealots realize that Primus does not love you! If he did actually care for you then where is he now? Huh? Is he here helping to fight me? No! He’s not! Primus could care less whether you live or die and that’s why my master will succeed!!”

The Fallen then listened to the City Commander’s assertions in regards to Hot Rod. It was laughable at best. To think that he required the Autobot cavalier to give him strength was an absurd notion. “You are a fool, Magnus! My power comes from my master, the bringer of chaos, himself! Your precious Hot Rod is no longer here. I destroyed his essence long ago! I am simply using his body to further my master’s goals! My path is insignificant when compared to that of the world eater!”

You’re a liar, Fallen! You have not destroyed me! I am here!

SILENCE, child! For all intents and purposes you are destroyed! This body is no longer yours to control. It is MINE! You are a mere insecticon on a wall, watching as I destroy your friends and enemies. You have no power. You never did!

You and I both know that’s not true. Do you not realize that I’m aware of what you are doing within my body? How you are leeching off of me, trying to turn my soul dark? I am aware, Fallen, because this is still my body no matter what contortions you have done to it!

It matters not what you are aware of! I am still in control and that will never change! Now, I suggest you sit back and enjoy the extinction of your wretched little race!

Aaaaaarrrrrrgghhhhh!!!!! Hot Rod shouted internally as his consciousness became overwhelmed with more pain and torture, pushing him back down into submission.

That’s a good mech. Remember your place, child!

As the Fallen had been distracted by the conflict within himself, Ultra Magnus had unleashed a new barrage of firepower at pointblank range from his large laser cannon coupled with more rockets from his shoulder launchers and sub torrents. Springer had also rushed to the City Commander’s side and opened fire with his laser rifle. The series of massive explosions took the fiery demigod by surprise as his attention was drawn away from Hot Rod’s consciousness and back to the battle at hand on top of Ayers Rock.

“Impressive,” the Fallen replied, taking a few steps back as the shield flickered slightly while it began to absorb the energies from the explosions. But the Prime had other ideas. Pointing the tip of his staff towards the inferno, the Fallen uttered a few words in ancient Cybertronian. In an instant, the fire balls froze in place, the flames swirling around in mid air as the demigod manipulated them to his liking. Soon, they were combined into one massive fire ball, which the Fallen then moved out over top of the crater that Magnus and the others had sought shelter in.

“Ultra Magnus, you think I am the one that will destroy you?” The Fallen asked as he moved the top of his staff around in a circular motion, the hug ball of flames mimicking his movements. “It is not I that will be your undoing. It is YOU! Look up and see for yourself if you don’t believe me!” With another twist of the demigod’s staff, the fire ball contorted and formed a face within the flames. The fiery visage was that of Ultra Magnus, himself! “You see? It’s you, Magnus! It’s always been you! Ha ha ha ha!!!!”

With a final downward wave of the Fallen’s staff, the fiery face roared at Magnus, Scoop and Springer before the crater-wide fire ball then quickly descended into the hole where it would cook anyone alive who remained there. “You know what they say, Magnus! If you can’t take the heat, get out of the fire pit! And don't think that little green shield of yours will protect you, because it won't!” The Fallen’s laughter continued, but was abruptly cut short by the sound of another Cybertronian, the one called Nightweaver.

The Fallen turned to face this new challenger, approaching the edge of the barrier. “Oh, I can hear you all right. Your words are that of someone with a death wish. Either that or you are a deranged mech simply trying to make himself feel larger than life. How does it feel to be so pathetic in your existence that you require ridiculous rhetoric to make yourself seem important? It must be such a hard life to live. Here, allow me to take it from you!”

Placing the tip of his staff against the side of the shield where Nightweaver’s own blade was poking against it from the other side, the Fallen sent a powerful burst of dark energy through the barrier and into the Decepticon’s sword. Either Nightweaver would let go of his weapon or he would accept his demise with some level of dignity. At this point, the demigod didn’t care which.

Australia - Uluru, South Siiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeede.

Darkfire’s arrival was a welcome sight, and with the team was now almost complete, the banter had returned and all was right with the world. Psychout dropped out of the sky to the rest of his team and addressed the unlikely squad he was in charge of.

“This place is even worse than our last visit to this mud ball Crueljaw, at least we didn’t have rock-lords to deal with there... I suggest when we get back to the ship we fire your tour guide...”

He trailed off as he just could not keep his gaze from the gargantuan form of the assembled Contructicons. They were slow but the power there was immense. Where in the pit did they get that technology? He knew the legends about Monstructor and his old partner Mal Practice’s obsession with combiner technology meant he had heard much about the failings of that project, but he had never seen anything so... so... magnificent. He had to find out how thing thing worked...

"Ok, here is the news: up on top of that giant red rock is an insane demi-god. He has, or did have, a bunch of easily manipulated simpletons under his control that have been mostly neutralised, but the coward is still hiding behind a giant force field whilst he tries to rip this flesh-ridden rock apart.”

The battle raged around them, and the sooner he was done, the sooner they could all cut loose.

“The combined might of the ‘Bots and ‘Cons here are losing this battle, and as we are not in assault squad I do not – repeat NOT - want to see any heroics, understood? It is the Autobots job to die for a pointless cause, not ours. Ours is to use their needless but entertaining sacrifice to our advantage, the more of them the better.”

He was interrupted mid-briefing as orders came in from the boss.

Shockwave wrote: >>"Imperative: utilize all resources to ensure Soundwave's continued functionality. Avoid direct engagement with the entity unless all other options are exhausted."<<

Ugh, Soundwave?! Psychout remembered his time as a cassette in his employ, it was the dullest and most tedious decade of his entire lifecycle, but he did learn a few handy tricks whilst there and still chuckled at the opportunity to get one over on Rumble and Frenzy again. Hopefully they’ll have forgotten the little cerebro-shell ‘incident’ from last time... Besides, he kind of missed Ravage – that guy was hilariously simple.

“Right, orders are in. See the embodiment of charisma over there?” He jabbed his sniper rifle barrel in the direction of Soundwave. “Our orders are to keep him in one piece. Anything that gets within 500 yards of him gets pulped with extreme prejudice until he has finished whatever hilarity he is undertaking, or Shockwave tells me otherwise. Jaws and Landgrab, pair up at ground level and work together, and blow a damned big hole in the Fallens infantry. Darkfire, cover the air and clear us a safezone, call out anything you see get through whilst I get to Soundwaves position and support you all from there from range. Questions?”

Finished with this brief, he just has one final assignment for Landgrab. "Landgrab, I have a secondary task that would be perfect for your specialist talents. I assume in amongst those repair bay trinkets of yours you have spectral and anatomical diagnostic equipment? I need a diagnostic schematic of that giant Constructicon for Shockwave. If I can present him with a viable working thesis on the altered assembly techniques and interconnectivity routines required for its active mechanical symbiosis, he may allow us leave to study it in more depth and one of those for Shockwave would be a huge advantage against leadership pretenders like Razorclaw and Thunderwing. Pick the opportune moment, and try and get a good clear schematic of as much of it as possible. You have until the end of the battle to complete this before we lose our window. Think you can do that?

Australia--Uluru--Skies

The skies had become as chaotic as anything on the ground. many miles away, the carbon-based natives of this planet lived their lives, blissfully unaware of existential conflict taking place on one of their most remote corners of the world. At this point, Rampage and the other Predacons truly were fighting for their survival. And the odds were decreasing with each new supernatural summoning.

Rampage's attention had been pulled away from the Fallen and towards a pair of incoming fire birds. He blasted away at them, attempting to drive them off. But in doing so, he had pulled his attention away from the Fallen just a little too long.

"Watch out!" Divebomb cried, soaring past at he released a pair of incendiary missiles at the rock golems down below, attempting to aid Razorclaw in driving the creatures toward the fiery vortexes. Rampage, though, turned just in time for the dark energy from the Fallen's staff to slam into his chest, spider-webbing from there all over his body. And just like that, he was in free-fall to the ground below.

Striking the side of Ayer's Rock as he fell, Rampage tumbled and slid the rest of the way down before finally skidding to an abrasive halt.

Australia-Uluru

“Right, orders are in. See the embodiment of charisma over there?" He jabbed his sniper rifle barrel in the direction of Soundwave. “Our orders are to keep him in one piece. Anything that gets within 500 yards of him gets pulped with extreme prejudice until he has finished whatever hilarity he is undertaking, or Shockwave tells me otherwise. Jaws and Landgrab, pair up at ground level and work together, and blow a damned big hole in the Fallens infantry. Darkfire, cover the air and clear us a safezone, call out anything you see get through whilst I get to Soundwaves position and support you all from there from range. Questions?"

In the time it had taken for Psychout to rattle that speech out Crueljaw had cleaved two golems in half and blasted another with his plasma shotgun. An opportunistic Golem swatted the shotgun from his hand "yeah did shockwave tell you to give him a personality?" grabbing hold of the offending Golem with his freehand he hurled the golem into three others before he transformed and activated his jump thrusters cooking the golems.

He had to jump with the thrusters active so he took the opportunity to squash another golem under his weight as he transformed into his robot mode. "Well at least you get to go and visit the family" the burly Bodyguard swung around to look at Landgrab.

"Not an assault squad Landgrab's assaulting my nerves just by being near me" Grumbled Crueljaw as he strode back towards Landgrab who was in his own personal battle with the golems.

"Hey Landgrab this might help with them golems more than that standard rifle" with that Crueljaw produced the acid pellet rifle he'd had since the earth mission and threw it to Landgrab. Hopefully he knew how to fire a rifle and wouldn't shoot him in the aft.

______________________

Sideswipe was busily smashing two more Golems with his Piledriver attachment as he fired his rifle at another one. That was before the voice interrupted

"What would you know about chemistry? I thought you failed that class!"

A grin etched itself across his face as he recognised his brothers voice a rock fist rocketed past him as he deftly lent out of its range, then pistoned his piledriver into what he assumed was the face of the rock golem.

"At least I went to the class unlike you captain AWOL, and where the hell have you been some of us have actually been fighting not buffing up the shine on our armour"

Sideswipe dodged another pair of fists before he swung around the shoulders of one golem using the momentum to kick the second. He continued swinging around and turned the swing into a makeshift DDT impaling the Golem head first into the ground like a rock Exclamation mark. He turned around and saw the next bunch of Golems heading his way he wasn't going to wait for Sunstreaker to take all the fun.

"Ok boys whose next"

Australia- Skies over Uluru

“You say you want to help me, but then you dare speak those words to me. Do you think I am stupid, Bitstream?!"

Bitstream felt honesty wasn't the best approach to answer, especially when the Phase-Sixer flew right up in his face to continue his tirade.

"Listen to me, seeker! I will not say this again! I told you before not to waste my time! I do not trust you or your kind! How do I know that you will actually rid me of the code, a protocol imbedded in me by Megatron, himself? Are you really foolish enough to think it would be that easy to remove? You could make matters worse or simply change it so that I am then under your control. Substituting one slaggin’ seeker for another is not beneficial to me. And now you have the ball bearings to use a portion of those same words against me?!"

In retrospect, that had proven unwise. But Bitstream needed to pinpoint the reaction area of the command routine, and he could only do so empirically in the heat of battle...

“If you ever dare to threaten me like that again, I will pull this trigger and watch your cranium fly off its hinges. Is that clearly understood?! I’m going to take your silence as a yes."

Bitstream watched Sixshot fly away, the Seeker still just hovering in mid-air. Yet another gambit attempted, yet another gambit lost. He wasn't sure which plan he was at now, but he'd certainly used up several and probably assured his own death for treason.

And Starscream still lived, and there was no way Sixshot would let Bitstream attempt the process now.

He had part of the command code, but not all of it. He couldn't simply deactivate Sixshot; his plan had hinged on only a partial disabling of the Phase Sixer's functions so Bitstream could target and neutralize the Achilles' virus while it was still in process. There was one other -and only one other- bot who could remove it entirely at any stage. And only a handful of bots who could match or exceed Bitstream's technical skills.

And fortunately for him, they'd been listening in on his conversations.

"Soundwave," Bitstream began, "whatever you think of me and my actions, you know we cannot allow Prowl to gain control of Sixshot. It was never my intent; my only goal was to kill Starscream, and I couldn't do it on my own.

"So now I ask you to decide: is it best for the Decepticon cause to let Starscream hold Sixshot's leash? Or to let Prowl force it from his grasp?" Bitstream asked. "Because right now, I think we need him, both for this battle and for what follows.

"So please relay a message to Shockwave," Bitstream requested. "And ask him if he's willing to set a living weapon loose."

-

Top of Ayer's Rock

“Oh, I can hear you all right. Your words are that of someone with a death wish. Either that or you are a deranged mech simply trying to make himself feel larger than life. How does it feel to be so pathetic in your existence that you require ridiculous rhetoric to make yourself seem important? It must be such a hard life to live. Here, allow me to take it from you!"

Nightweaver saw the blast on his battle blade. His HUD started to violently react at the energy reading; it would overload his systems in a matter of nano-kliks. Even if he did withdraw, he'd still be suffering from an overload, and his systems wouldn't re-calibrate fast enough while he was conscious. In the best case scenario, he'd be in stasis lock.

So there was no point in giving ground.

He looked up at the Fallen inside his bubble, and did not withdraw. He took a moment to dwell on the words.

The demigod was right. Nightweaver was pathetic. He was trying to seem more important than he could ever hope to be. But so what? Who in this battle was acting exactly as they intended to be? Who wasn't putting up a brave front and facing an enemy they probably knew was more powerful than they themselves?

Until he'd joined the Decepticons, Nightweaver had thought his life had no importance. He ferried mail for the Senate, and they only entrusted him with the task because he had the good fortune to be given a flying alt-mode. They still looked down at him for being constructed cold, and they assured him his station was all he'd ever have. He would not advance or change. He'd always be what he was.

But then the Decepticons took Iacon, and gave him the chance to join and fight alongside them. Because of some combination of luck and the strength of those fighting beside him, Nightweaver held his position against the Autobots advance far longer than his commander had expected, and promoted him to join the Seekers. For the first time in his life, something had changed. And it was because of the badge he wore, and wore proudly.

But millions of years of battle taught him that he was not exceptional among his comrades, even with his comparatively higher rank and esteem. He was not as strong as he should've been, nor as accurate as a guerilla was intended. All he had to offer was speed and a stubborn refusal to retreat. A fast, thick-headed fool pretending he deserved his rank.

If he retreated now, all he'd be showing was that he really was nothing. He really couldn't change anything.

And if he held his ground he'd die.

Nightweaver took his free hand and reached for his Photon Burst Rifle, leveling it at the gap in the shield where the Fallen's dark energy kept pouring into him. He had no idea what the Fallen's attack was composed of, but given the energy affecting his systems, there must've been some electromagnetism at work within it, and that meant he might have an effect. Even at such a close range, the photon would act as a force carrier and the energy's quanta would conflict with the Fallen's attack. It could redirect it, or cause it to combust. Nightweaver didn't fully understand the science, but it was better than to do nothing.

"I do have a death wish," Nightweaver finally answered, pushing his rifle close to the shield. "I am a Decepticon. There is no better way to serve the cause -and no greater honor- than to die in battle."

Nightweaver pulled the trigger. "'Til all are one."

He saw the explosion, concentrated right there on his blade and in the small gap in the Fallen's shield. His HUD was overwhelmed by the energy.

His body didn't feel heavy. He just fell, because whatever willpower had been holding him up had already served its purpose.

He didn't know what happened next. Or what awaited him. If he was alive or dead.

He just hoped his Decepticon comrades -and Tantrum in particular- could hear his final words and see that he was worthy.

And maybe, just maybe, an unworthy soldier could really change something.