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[Semper Tyrannis - Hangar]

Counterpunch stood amongst the rest of the Decepticons in the hangar, waiting to be deployed. On the outside, he may have appeared to simply be brooding with his arms crossed, but the tension he was building up inside was immense. His fellow ‘bots had been sent to the surface, as bait no less, and it made his insides feel anxious and tense. There was a time and a place for him and, as much as he wanted to help his allies, he couldn’t break his cover. An almost guilt-like wave passed over him.

He went and stood in line amongst the Terrorcons, ruthless mechs who were comparable to the Counterpunch identity’s personality. In a rough, cold tone, he said, “How long are they going to take?”

On the surface, he may have been asking how quickly the Autobots would perish, but really, he meant to ask them how long they’d survive.

Slagging hell...

[LV-117 Surface]

His little friend Wheelie had found a cave and already began to ascend, as had the others. Skyfall let out a deep sigh that was a mix of frustration and fatigue. If he could transform, he could have possibly reached the top of the mountain quicker. The acid rain beating down on his chassis didn’t make anything better.

Thankfully, climbing the mountain wasn’t quite as hard as he thought. His training at the Garrus 9 facility had been helpful. He caught up to the small orange mech and asked him, “Hey, Wheelie, are you sure we’ll be fine up there?”

LV- 117- Surface

The small orange minibot continued his ascent. He was light and nimble, and though the mountains were now metallic on his old "home" world, they were still mountains he had once climbed before. He climbed up with ease and speed unmatched by the others who also climbed. One good thing about the mountain being metal was it was more sturdy so there should be less accidents? Right? He left that train of thought open for further pondering as he looked up towards the cave. Someone familiar, Skyfall's voice came up to him as the large red and white jet former joined the small orange car robot, saying,

“Hey, Wheelie, are you sure we’ll be fine up there?”

Wheelie replied in his usual rhyme, "What's up there is a mystery. Let's just hope we don't become history. Keep an eye out for strange things. You can never be to careful, even if you have wings.", he said to his flying compadre.

No sooner than he had said that, than compartments opened up from paneling on the walls of the mountain, containing automatic laser turrets, which aimed at the ascending party of Autobots and shortly after started firing. Wheelie moved to one side in a leap of faith, scrambling to catch a holding with one hand, yelling,

"Incoming fire, situation is dire!!"

Scorponok’s patience was growing thin. The frustration over Jhiaxus’ treachery foiling his carefully crafted plan to take out Fortress Maximus and Garrus-9 was difficult to keep in control. He had been so close to a victory that would have allowed him to return to Megatron as a conquering hero whose stratagem finally turned the tide of the war for good. It was still a possible outcome but not before this disaster with Jhiaxus had been dealt with.

Nevertheless, it was taking too long. The Autobots needed to spring Jhiaxus’ traps, they needed to get in so he could get his claws on the archaic Cybertronian. And so far, there had been no signs of Jhiaxus’ defenses outside of the acid rain. And whether that was a result of the scientist’s will or a byproduct of his work on the planet was a question Scorponok had no answer to. ”I have grown weary of this. Reflector! Release the clamps. Let the Autobots show what they can do unrestrained. We already have Insecticons latched unto them for a free ride into the mountain. Inhibitor claws or not they are not going anywhere if I so choose.”

Enough waiting. It was time to push forward. Not all the way yet but with small steps, ”Firewire! Spray everyone in the hangar with acid resistant chemical coating!” Scorponok barked out a command, only to issue another one immediately, ”Portal control! Rotate and isolate the space bridge to allow our naval team to jump in without flooding the ship!”

”Snaptrap!” Scorponok continued, catching the Seacon commander’s attention, ”Take your team and continue with the plan you laid out.”

The Semper Tyrannis--Hangar

The Autobots were making progress and Lord Scorponok was not a terribly impatient commander, as Decepticons went, but it still came as no surprise to the Surveillance Specialist when Scorponok ordered additional adjustments to their strategy.

”I have grown weary of this. Reflector! Release the clamps. Let the Autobots show what they can do unrestrained. We already have Insecticons latched unto them for a free ride into the mountain. Inhibitor claws or not they are not going anywhere if I so choose.”

"As you command," my lord," Reflector said as he brought up a holoscreen of the various Autobot prisoners, starting with Fortress Maximus, and began deactivating their inhibitor claws.
___

LV-117--Cyberformed Mountain

"So who is going next? I see a decent route along the wall even if it won't be easy. I wish I could transform and dig out way in. Even with the acid bath, I believe the claws still function."

"Much to our collective chagrin," Lightspeed agree. "No matter. We do the best with what we have. It's what we've always done."

That said, he joined the others in their ascent.
___

Wheelie was proving to be worth his weight in energon, and then some. He had spotted the cave above well before Maximus or any of the others had.

>>"Good work, Wheelie,"<< Maximus commed as he continued his ascent--albeit somewhat slower than the others.

"Incoming fire, situation is dire!!" Max heard Wheelier cry out, as some form of basic, automated defenses began firing on their position. Alright, trap sprung. One of them, anyway. Maximus would be a fool not to expect more. Fortunately, these sort of battlements were precisely what an Autobot like Max was designed to counteract. Still clinging to the metallic mountainside, Maximus started to plan out a counterattack when a new transmission came through.

>>"General Maximus, you should notice that the inhibitor claws on you and your associates have been deactivated. Hopefully that will assist in your...progression. Scorponok's patience is not limitless. Reflector out."<<

The last thing Fortress Maximus cared to hear about was Scorponok's supposed "patience", but....the news that their inhibitor claws had been offlined would make this process go a lot more smoothly.

>>"Autobots, the claws are off. Advance accordingly,"<< Maximus transmitted as several autocannons and scatter blasters emerged from stowed compartments on his upper torso. He began targeting the automated defenses that Wheelie had triggered. >>"Fire in the hole!"<<

Max's heavy weapons began to unload on the automated defense encampments.

LV-117: Partially Cyberformed Forrest

Even though the command comms were a little sketchy sometimes through the planet's weird weather, Bludgeon heard Skorponok's orders to step up the Autobots progress.

>>"Bomb Burst... Report."<< He ordered, hoping to have some insight from the Vampire as to what progress they had made. He did not want to have Skorponok's ire turned to them as well.

---

>>"We're... Not picking up anything here."<< Bomb Burst reported, his tone borderline disappointed. He hadn't even bothered to report through silent communique, he was very confident that they had not yet been detected by Jhiaxus' defences. >>"We should probe further, staying in one place is potentially dangerous. Possibly higher ground where we can also track the Autobots."<<

--

>>"Yes..."<< Bludgeon agreed, looking to Hardshell and Bombshell. >>"Let's move. We will need to deploy to Jhiaxus' headquarters; however, let's make sure the Autobots have provided adequate distraction."<<

---

>>"Let's move, Birdie."<< Bomb Burst said, changing his heading to the Autobot's position. He moved silently, though quickly, towards their goal, though keeping his pace in check so Nightbird could catch up to, and overtake him to act as point for the journey.

----

Since her alt more was far too noisy, Nightbird proceeded on foot, quickly catching up to Bomb Burst, without a word passing him by.

[Semper Tyrannis]

Scorponok wrote:”Snaptrap! Take your team and continue with the plan you laid out.”

“Tch, took him long enough.” Tentakil spread out his appendages, ready to dive right into combat. Making his way over to the portal, the undersea demolitionist readied both his guns in hand. He entered…

…and on the other end exited a terrifying metallic cephalopod, plunging head-first into the water. Slag, this planet does feel a lot worse than it looks. But that didn’t matter. This was his yard now. For the Seacons, this was home.

As his fellow sea comrades joined him, Tentakil’s amber optics lit up the darkness underwater. Now, for the hunt…

[LV-117 Planetside]

Guns started pouring out of the cliffside the Autobots were climbing. Quickly moving out of the way to dodge one, Skyfall’s inhibitor claw suddenly loosened up.

Wait, what?

Looks like the Decepticons had disabled them remotely. That was nice. Skyfall could feel the freedom flowing in his fuel pump. A turret on the cliffside turned to aim him. His visor briefly reflected the turret charging its shot. He needed to get away from it quick.

And then he let go.

True to his name, it felt as if he was descending from the skies. Everything felt like it was in slow motion - his fellow Autobots scaling the mountains, now being shot at by turret traps, the acid rain. Man, what a day.

And suddenly reality kicked in. He felt his parts rearrange themselves, panels sliding and kibble moving around. He boosted his thrusters to maximum throttle, regaining altitude and flying up past the turrets. Now, he was truly in his element. He flew around, away from the turrets, dodging all the fire.

From a distance, he noticed his friend Wheelie about to fall off of the cliff. He quickly swooped in and grabbed him just as he was about to fall. “I got you, don’t worry. Hold on tight!”

Skyfall didn’t have his weapons on him right now, they had been confiscated by the Decepticons. Truth to be told, this was also the case for most of the others. They couldn’t defend forever, they had to attack back at some poin-

Wait, I’m a weapons engineer.

That’s it! Skyfall could make something for them to shoot back with… but he needed materials to do so. Luckily, the planet was covered in metal, and the cliffs had the… the turrets!

He quickly opened his now-available comm-link to Fortress Maximus. >>“Sir! I have an idea. Could you rip out a few of the turrets from the cliffside? If possible, try not to damage them too much. I can-”<< Skyfall was cut short as he dove sharply in order to narrowly dodge a shot. Hopefully, Fort Max understood what he was trying to say.

LV-117 mountain side

Nosecone noticed a change in his system as the clamp on his back loosen up. All of his systems came fully online with his transformation cog being one of them. He then noticed other Autobots becoming fully operational as well. Now he can do what he was designed to do, dig.

>> Fortress Maximus, I am going to start digging a tunnel and hopefully show up underneath the base. If we are lucky enough, we can locate the central computer core and shut it down. After we deal with the scientist and given the opportunity, maybe we can turn this base against the Cons. It would be nice to have some company as I dig through the mountain.<<

After his communication with Fort Max, Nosecone opened up a secure line on the Technobot channel.

>>My fellow Technobots, it is time to take the fight to the mad scientist who worked on us. Before we get to him, though, we need to examine ourselves and try to neutralize whatever he was using to control our combined form. It most likely be both software and hardware so right now we can only work on the software side of things unless we get a chance to examine each other after or during this endeavor.<<

Once he was done, he transformed into is drill tank mode and started digging at a slightly downward slope. He hoped he would have back up because he didn't like the idea of having his back exposed. The Cons were still out there waiting for the perfect opportunity to advance on their shared target.

Semper Tyrannis – Hangers

Acid rain and canons? I expected better from Jhiaxus. A low groan reverberated in his vocalizer at the sight. His previous trepidation had faded as he watched the Autobots stroll through the altered world below. While he understood the reasoning behind sending them in first, he hated waiting to exact revenge on the mech that had tormented Slog and his fellow Monstercons.

He was theirs to capture and slaughter. None of the others here had a right to him. Not even Scorponok and Cyclones.

He realized he was staring at Scorponok and forced his attention back to the viewscreen the defenses arrayed against the Autobots. He had to calm down, but he was also growing concerned as he hadn’t been so aggressive outside of a battlefield in, well, ever.

His processor glitched for an astrosecond as he tried to force himself to relax. Besides, there wasn’t any reason to get himself so excited when the battle had yet to begin. With his focus restored as best it could be at this juncture, he relaxed enough that his joints wouldn’t creak when he moved.

That left his team. If he was this anxious, he had little doubt they were feeling something similar. Of course, and he hated to admit it, they tended to carry themselves better than he did under these situations.

Still, he’d shown a momentary weakness and he knew as their leader he needed to say something, but what?

As he asked himself that question, he saw the inhibitor clamps disengage from the Autobots and he shot another quick look toward Scorponok, then back to the viewscreen.

Curious. A smile slowly played across Slog’s faceplate at seeing that and opened a message to his team.

>>Now, things are going to get interesting. Any wagers on how many Autobots survive?<<

The latter wasn’t what he’d initially intended, but he hoped it’d break any tension the others were feeling.

I doubt this is Jhiaxus’ full defenses. With the Autobots free, we’ll see his real plans soon enough.



Cutthroat chuckled at seeing the inhibitor claws disengage from the Autobots.

“Prey that can fight back is so much better. Tastier, too, don’t you think?” The words came out barely above a whispering growl as he opened and closed his mouth, oil continuing to drool with each motion. Watching the Autobots was like a cybercat watching play mice, and his cravings were growing more intense with each klick.

An idea suddenly came to him. It was rare in that it seemed logical to him, which didn’t say much for its viability. That didn’t mean he was afraid to voice it. If anything, Hun-Grrr should appreciate the gesture.

He leaned forward and lowered his vocalizer so only Hun-Grrr could hear. “The Autobots look like delicate little treats dancing for our amusement, leader. With your permission, I could thin our ranks of undesirables so there is more for us.”

LV-117 Planetside

Another high-pitched frequency pierced the airwaves around the mountain, only this time it was accompanied by tremors. Steady tremors that could only be the result of very heavy impacts.

Pointblank paused his climb up the mountainside to look around. He could feel where the tremors were originating from, but to the southeast there was just another metallic mountain ridge.

The tremors increased, not in frequency but in potency--almost shaking Pointblank's grip. Then another frequency...no...a shriek as a gargantuan creature crossed around the side of the lower mountain.

What in the frag was that?

It looked....Cybertronian? Portions of exposed flesh were visible, but not many and not in any critical areas. Pointblank's scanners registered it as a Chaosteros, a creature native to this planet. Only this one was far larger than anything that existed in Pointblank's limited records. And had been brazenly modified.

Jhiaxus could not be allowed to roam free. If Pointblank had ever held any doubts as to that reality, they were wiped away as he stared dumbfounded at the immense creature that was clawing its way around the mountain and clearly heading for theirs.

>>"We got company!"<< Pointblank commed out as the Cybertronian hybrid opened its metallic maw and unleashed a blistering stream of energy in their direction.

Cutthroat was at it again. Instigating trouble at the wrong moment. Transforming into his two-headed razor beast form out of sheer irritation, Hun-Gurrr rose to his hind legs, towering easily over the other Decepticons in his vicinity.

”Grrr, you neverrr knew when to stop...” the monstrous Terrorcon growled at this energonthirsty minion – cutting fluid dripping from both of his jaws. He could almost taste Cutthroat’s steel skin in his mouths. The hunger was difficult to keep at bay. Particularly with anger making him even less likely to not take a bite of his overzealous shock trooper.

Whatever punishment Hun-Gar might have been cooking for Cutthroat quickly evaporated as loud commotion rose within the ranks of the Decepticons gathered to the hangar.

”There! Do you see it!”

”What the slag is that creature?!”

”Dear Primus… Look at the size of that thing!”

”It is as big as an Omega Sentinel!”

”I think it could swallow Fortress Maximus whole!”

”Hahaha! The Autobots are so screwed!”

Hun-Grrr’s heads turned to look at the viewscreens in unison and at the same time ignoring Cutthroat as a possible threat. A giant chaosteros. Enchanced with cybernetics. Far larger than the one he had driven away during their last visit to this wretched planet. Oh, who he was kidding. This world was a proverbial paradise to him. A world designed to test ones survival skills. A world made to cull the weak. A world full of dangerous game to hunt. If only they had met this monster instead of the feeble specimen he had spooked away. What a glorious fight it would have been. The mere thought made him salivate. Too bad a monster of that size meant that the Decepticons would have to step in to save their baits. And that did not mean sending the Terrorcons to fight it. It meant an air strike if not an orbital one.

He could only growl in frustration.



Scorponok stared at the monitors with an annoyed scowl on his his face. He had expected the scientist to turn the local fauna against them but this creature was just ridiculous. The sheer size of the thing dwarfed anything they had encountered on this planet before. And between this and all the cyberforming Jhiaxus had already done – Scorponok couldn’t understand how the scientist had achieved it all with the little time he had had.

”Reflector, can you scale an orbital strike to kill it from here without destroying the mountain in the process?” Scorponok asked, crossing his arms across his chest. ”Or do I have to send Cyclonus in to lead an air strike against it?”

LV-117 Surface

Wheelie held on as much as he could to the cliff side. However, the ground started to shake and the whole mountain did too. Bits of "metalized" rock fell from the side of the mountain, some small bits hitting him in the face. He clutched harder, trying to pull himself up, but a larger rock fell and hit his arm painfully, causing him to lose his grip. "AHHHH!!", the small orange minibot yelled as he had begun to fall. However, he was soon caught up in a large hand and rescued.

“I got you, don’t worry. Hold on tight!”

, came the friendly and familiar voice of Skyfall.

Wheelie held on tightly as he was told to, and the jetformer flew around the mountain, avoiding being shot by more turrets. At the same time, the rumbling of the area around their vicinity grew in intensity, and that was soon accompanied by an ominous, loud roar! Wheelie clutched tighter to Skyfall's hand, feeling as if his innermost energon had frozen solid. He KNEW what that was, but it was many times worse than the last time he had heard that sound. The small minibot, not believing his optics, looked towards another mountain, where the gargantuan monstrosity was coming from. It was the scariest thing Wheelie had ever seen in his life.....a titanic sized chaosteros. He had met one once before....although that one was miniature in stature to this one, and this one was cyberformed?

"Chaosteros is coming to dinner, and it doesn't look like we'll be the winner!", said Wheelie. How would they hope to beat such a giant foe? To it, they were insects and mice. "Have an idea? Don't save it for later, if we wait too long, he'll savor our flavor!"

Wheelie hadn't heard Skyfall's transmission to Fort Max, but it seemed the brainy flier had some sort of an idea. That is, before Mr. Giant Terror showed up. Anyway, Skyfall dropped Wheelie off at a turret that had been destroyed by the Autobots' weapons. He didn't understand why though, and he held onto it, as he yelled,

"What's the deal, is this for real? A broken cannon, you're going to steal?", he asked. He was thinking, looking at his friend and trying to think of the reason for this. Why else would he put Wheelie here? Wheelie began tugging on the turret where it was loose and damaged, easily prying part of it from the mountain with some effort, though it was heavy. There was more though.

[LV-117 Planetside]

Wheelie wrote:"What's the deal, is this for real? A broken cannon, you're going to steal?"

“Yeah, grab that! I’ve got an idea for this huge freak of a monster!” Skyfall once again picked up his friend Wheelie, who was now in possession of some random parts of broken turrets. He took his small friend much further away from the remainder of the Autobots (and the Chaosteros) and landed on the ground.

“Okay, we need to get ourselves prepared. We don’t have a lot of time, so I just want you to stand by for a second. We’ll go back and help the others after this.”

Not exactly the optimal situation to be forging weapons, with neither the proper tools nor time on his side, Skyfall began ripping apart and scavenging the turret parts for anything useful. After briefly looking over everything, an idea struck his mind, and he began putting some things together. The acid rain was still a bit of a hindrance, so he had to work fast, otherwise the parts may corrode.

And after having patched some things together, Skyfall held up a makeshift blaster and two shrapnel bombs that were really just overheated chunks of metal put together.

“Wheelie, take these two bombs. I’m going to fly straight above and behind the giant beast. Use your slingshot and hurl those bombs at the exposed skin. I don’t think it’s going to do all that much, but we’ve gotta get a distraction for the others. Anything that gets it turned around.”

Mounting the makeshift blaster on himself, Skyfall grabbed Wheelie and set out again. He opened a comm to all the Autobots on the mountainside. >>”Skyfall here. Wheelie and I have a bit of a plan to try and distract that mechazilla for a little bit.”<<

>>”And, uh, don’t forget to save yourselves as well. Over and out.”<<

He couldn’t believe it. He was actually going on the adventure of a lifetime. Only that, perhaps, his lifetime wasn’t going to be that much longer. But hey, it at least fulfilled his dream. Now he could pretend he was a real Wrecker, swooping in when things seemed grim, taking on the last stand.

The weapons engineer had Wheelie sitting on top of his jet mode, where he flew straight up, into the acid rain and eventually up into the clouds. At least here they won’t be pelted by the rain as much. The monster, which he now could clearly identify as a cyberformed Chaosteros, was still somewhat visible through patches in the clouds. Making a drive-by from above using his makeshift blaster, Skyfall approached the point at which there was nothing but nightmare planet ahead of him and mechazilla behind him. Or rather, the point of no return. He turned hard, trying to let Wheelie get a good aim at the exposed skin.

“Wheelie, now!”

LV-117 Surface - Sky

While Wheelie was pulling out as much of the damage turret material as he could, he realized that he felt like he had his usual full strength back. Also, he felt better overall, and that's when he reached for his back, having noticed the damned inhibitor claw had loosened up. He yanked it the rest of the way free and threw it off of him and it clattered down the mountain and finally smashed somewhere on the ground. 'Good riddance.', Wheelie said, snorting. He had hated that thing. He didn't want to be a slave and prisoner to the Decepticons anymore!

"Okay, got it, let's go mod it!", Wheelie said, grabbing up all the turret pieces that he could and jumping back into his large aerial friend's hand. He was still a little puzzled as to how this could help them defeat the giant threat, but science was a really amazing thing. Wheelie had to have faith in his friend. He knew what he was doing, surely, and whatever it was, it was worth a try! Wheelie was all for trying things. Anything to get out of a tough ordeal. It's what he'd done all his life to get this far, after all.

Okay, we need to get ourselves prepared. We don’t have a lot of time, so I just want you to stand by for a second. We’ll go back and help the others after this.”

, said Skyfall once they had landed a great distance from the location of their friends and that of the Chaosteros. Wheelie remained quiet, but he was smiling and snickering as he watched Skyfall's handiwork. He was also overjoyed to be free of full range of movement again! He did a handstand and a cartwheel and he flexed and jumped and transformed into his small car alt-mode for a minute, until Skyfall had made his weapons and it was time to head back.

“Wheelie, take these two bombs. I’m going to fly straight above and behind the giant beast. Use your slingshot and hurl those bombs at the exposed skin. I don’t think it’s going to do all that much, but we’ve gotta get a distraction for the others. Anything that gets it turned around.”

"Roger Dodger Captain, let's make it happen!", Wheelie said cheerily. This was the scariest, but also most exciting moment of his life! He grabbed the bombs and stowed them away for the time being as he was picked up again by his flying friend and they set off back up into the wild...acidic yonder, which still stung like a mofo....but when you had a more life threatening situation at hand, a little stinging was the least of your worries.

While Skyfall was having fantasies about being a Wrecker, Wheelie was just doing what Wheelie always did best, trying to survive. Only this time, he was also thinking of how he wanted to be a big hero! Imagine that...a small mech like him, a great big hero who saved the day?! Well....only thing was, they had to get through this endeavor first. One step at a time, yah know? The small orange minibot held on tightly to Skyfall's nosecone as his friend transformed into his jet mode and flew straight up, vertically towards the sky. Luckily he could fit his little fingers in the grooves of Skyfall's paneling as to not slip off into oblivion. They rocketed up quickly then to the clouds, and made their way towards the towering behemoth, which was visible below them as they descended swiftly from the vapor hanging in the atmosphere.

Wheelie saw where would likely be the best place to hit the beast. There was exposed flesh between panels of metal, and the best place to hit the creature was at the base of it's neck, while there was also an exposed area on the back. Best thing to do.....hit the back first, which would disorient it, and likely make it really angry, then hit it in the back of the neck. He only had two shots.

"Target in sight, Big Chief! Fly me in, this'll cook his beef!", Wheelie said, and they dove towards the target.

>>"GERONIMO!!"<<, Wheelie yelled and also commed to all the other Autobots, in his heroic moment. Having loaded his sling with one bomb, he launched it with a sharpshooter's "eagle eye" at the monster's back. Just as he thought, it retaliated by thrashing around, unsure of where it's assailant was. However, it was charging a death beam just for them.

"It's makin' it's move, but we're in the groove!", Wheelie said. "Round it from behind, I'll give it a piece of my mind!", he added, as they skirted around behind it, trying to avoid it's gaping, ominously glowing maw. Wheelie then made the shot for the small of it's neck, making it roar in pain. The monster stumbled, but let off it's hyper beam, as it rocketed towards them with a blinding light.

"Evasive maneuvers, shakers and movers!!", Wheelie yelled to Skyfall, bracing for what could be their last few seconds of life. Primus help them.

LV117: Edge of the Forest

Night bird broke through the treeline on to the edge of a cliff which would have afforded her a good view of the mountains ... Except for the murkiness of the storms. She couldn't easily see the Autobots from her ridge, but she could make out a huge... And I mean fragging HUGE form off in the distance... Stomping and.. roaring? Well whatever you wanted to call that sound it was not pleasant... Not indication of a docile beast. But she couldn't make out what it was.

>>"There's some sort of huge flipping creature out there."<< She reported in so Bomb Burst, Bludgeon, and the Insecticons could hear. >>"It's after something, that I can't see from here, but I have to assume it's the Autobots. The weather is too stormy for much visibility."<<

As she finished she felt a presence drop down beside her from above... Knowing it was Bomb Burst coming out of alt mode she didn't react.

---

Bomb Burst transformed to quickly close the space between he and Nightbird. Once he broke free of the trees he transformed to take an assessment of the situation.

"Frag..." He whispered seeing the monsterous creature as he dropped down behind Nightbird. >>"If we can see it from here... It's huge."<<

--

"Better the Bots tangle with it than us." Nightbird said with a laugh. "But seriously..." Her tone went somber. >>"That thing might kill the Bots if that's what it is after, and there goes Scorponok's bait."<<

---

Bomb Burst allowed himself to smirk at Nightbird's comment. And before Bludgeon could even weigh in, he made a call on the situation. >>"I'll get a closer look."<< He offered. >>"At least so we know what situation we are dealing with."<<

He transformed again, easing into flight because of the air currents, now that he was outside of the natural windbreak of the trees.

--
Nightbird watched from her perch on the ridge. Normally she'd just shoot her grapple on to his undercarriage and tag along with him, but she knew better. She was well familiar with his weight capacity and in this weather, he wouldn't be able to handle her despite her relatively light weight.


Watching as his frame shimmy a bit, she notced he had activated his thrusters and engines in addition to using his fans.

Normally the Vampire preferred to run on fans only as they used less fuel and were quieter and cooler. But the tumultuous weather forced him to use more powerful thrust. His own light frame too unstable without the the extra push.

--

As he closed in on the creature, Bomb Burst turned on his radar to get a good picture of what they were dealing with.

Just as he did, he banked suddenly, Skyfall and Wheelie blipping onto his radar suddenly. They were far enough away they might not even have seen him through the storm, but his control wasn't too great at the moment and he didn't want to risk a collision.

He trained his cameras on the beast as a shard of lightning broke through the sky illuminating the creature.

>>"Frag that's ugly."<< He remarked sending pictures back to the rest in the forest. >>"Visual on two Autobots. So it is certainly after them."<<

He banked back around again, widening his path as his radar was picking up that Wheelie was shooting something and get wanted an even bigger cushion away from all that mess.

---

Bludgeon took a moment to review the images Bomb Burst was feeding them. The Vampire's system had already confirmed the creature's identity and pulled up info on it.

Chaosteros apparently did not normally come in that size and in that state of metalic. This was concerning as he doubted even Fortress Maximus could handle it. They certainly couldn't, even with the Swarm.

>>"I'm not certain risking ourselves to save the bait is wise."<< He finally remarked. >>"Don't stay out there too long, Bomb Burst. The acid rain will strip your paper armor."<<

---

Bomb Burst grumbled. He hated when others called his armor paper, because they were correct, doesn't mean he liked that it was thin... However, Bludgeon was right. Lightly armored mechs had no business being in this metal eroding weather.

>>"I'm going in lower to get a count and see if the other Autobots are still functional."<< He radioed back to Bludgeon before diving a bit closer to the surface. >>"Then I will return."<<

As he did the beast let out some sort of beam at Wheelie and Skyfall. "Scrap." He muttered, though not in the beam's trajectory, he was still unsure of what the unpredictable creature would do.

Semper Tyrannis – CR Chamber/Hanger

Hun-Gurrr wrote: ”Grrr, you neverrr knew when to stop...”

“I shall stop when I am gorged, leader, and not a drop of energon before.”

Cutthroat returned his commander’s growl as he watched him transform and leaped backwards, out of reach of Hun-Gurrr and the others and transformed into his giant vulture mode (he ignored the pair of mechs he knocked over in creating distance between he and Hun-Gurrr), drawing his head back to strike if needed as oil dripped from his mouth. He knew better than to challenge Hun-Gurrr openly, but he had also learned not to trust his fellow Terrorcons not to grab him out of fear.

Did he fear Hun-Gurrr? Of course. Only the truly stupid didn’t, and none of them were still functional after displaying such stupidity.

He refused to show weakness or fear and would defend himself if necessary, but this was not the place for a fight. On the planet below, however, would be perfect should Hun-Gurrr wish to continue this.

Cutthroat let out a hissing laugh. “You look hungry as well, leader. Perhaps, I am not the only one wishing to be on the hunt.”

He knew Hun-Gurrr too well not to expect an attack, and when shouts of amazement and fear filled the hanger and Hun-Gurrr turned away, The temptation was nearly too much and Cutthroat nearly launched himself at him. It was the perfect opportunity to avenge himself, and none in attendance would think anything of it. They were Terrocons, after all, and were considered nothing but animals. But the other Terrorcons would surely jump in and side with Hun-Gurrr and Cutthroat’s advantage would be lost.

We can wait for a more opportune moment, leader.

With that, he turned his attention to the viewscreen and the chaosteros. Flesh and metal. Such a tasty feast it will be… once we arrive on the surface. He glanced around at the gathered Decepticons and noted their expressions of revulsion and horror. Such cowards are unworthy of the coming battle. Their energon shall serve me well.

Though he wasn’t aware of it, he growled at the same time as Hun-Gurrr, but for different reasons.



Slog’s mouth fell open at the sight of the chasteros appearing, his own frustration and growing fear causing his eneron pump to skip a pump or two. It wasn’t something he was used to, but after his own experience with Jhiaxus, he felt a kind of bond with the creature.

“Jhiaxus would consider that a work of art, but it is a suffering monstrosity,” he said in a voice barely low enough to be heard in the cacophony around them, though it was possible those closest heard him. Not that he was aware of it as his optics were locked on the viewscreen.

While he and the others had suffered through having their bodies invaded and their processors forced together, this creature most likely hadn’t understood what had happened to it. Not that he did, but he could at least appreciate the art Jhiaxus created, even if it was misshapened and disgusting.

That appreciation only served to enflame his anger toward Jhiaxus even more.

“When one takes away the beauty, only the ugliness remains.” That time, he spoke as clearly as possible. It was only when the others quieted that he remembered telling his Monstercons to pay attention to what the Autobots stumbled upon. For the first time since taking his place as their leader, he felt a surge of pride at thinking ahead in such a moment.

LV-117-Mountain

>>My fellow Technobots, it is time to take the fight to the mad scientist who worked on us. Before we get to him, though, we need to examine ourselves and try to neutralize whatever he was using to control our combined form. It most likely be both software and hardware so right now we can only work on the software side of things unless we get a chance to examine each other after or during this endeavor.<<

"Agreed. Tunnel. Dig. Do what you do, comrade. We'll be with you," Lightspeed said with a grin.

Not long after, Lightspeed picked up a high-frequency wail of some kind. Along with some strange, unidentified tremors. Had Jhiaxus dug himself into a fortress on a fault line? Wouldn't that be rich?

But then Lightspeed turned and saw the origin of the wail. And the tremors. And as it let loose with a blast that rocked the mountain they were attempting to breach, he did the only thing he could think of.

"Dig faster, please."

The Death’s Head

Well, well, well, Lockdown thought as his hand played over the controls of his ship, The Death’s Head.

After accepting his loss and leaving Nebulos, he’d picked up another assignment which had been a simple find and retrieve task. What wasn’t simple was how his clients had been offended at him returning with his quarry dead. Well, actually in two pieces, but it was still dead.

The fact the people that had hired him wanted the offender alive to dispense their justice had been missed when they hired him to use whatever means necessary. It wasn’t his fault fleshy creatures, even ones large enough to challenge him physically, were so brittle. It was that brittleness, as well as their inherent stupidity that let him conclude his hunt in a faster than expected time frame.

While he understood their irritation, that hadn’t stopped him from getting what he was owed in the form of fuel and enough energon to last him a quartex. It wasn’t much, but it was more than Turmoil had paid him and he intended to make it count.

Since he hadn’t heard from the Decepticons since Tenebrous, he had turned his attention to monitoring any Cybertronian communications that came his way. The scraps he’d heard were interesting, and he followed a hunch that something big was happening and had set a course for the origin of the signals.

He’d watched from a distance as Scorponok’s forces attacked and freed the prisoners from the Autobot prison asteroid, then continued to follow from a discreet distance, or course. He had little doubt they had spotted him; there were capable officers on Scorponok’s ship, he was sure. Perhaps they had thought he was seeking someone. Whatever the reason was, they hadn’t communicated with him to warn him off or even fire on him yet. And no orders to join them had come in either.

I’m better at this than I thought. He chuckled at the thought. It wasn’t that he had reason to doubt his abilities. He was more surprised than not that so many had seemed to ignore him thus far.

He wasn’t a spy, and gathering information was something best left to when it helped him find a quarry, but something was different about this. He had little doubt there were Autobots in that prison that were worth a lot to Razorclaw and the other Decepticons, and he didn’t like having them taken away from him. That left him little alternative but to continue following Scorponok’s fleet to see where they’d go. Once there, the chances were he’d be able to use what he witnessed as a means to earning more credits than he could spend in a orn. Whether they came from the Autobots or Decepticons didn’t matter. In the meantime, he saw no reason not to offer his services.

Deciding it was time to let Scorponok know he was there. Activating the communications system, he sent,
>>The Death’s Head to the Semper Tyrannis. May I be of service to you, Lord Scorponok?<<

Semper Tyrannis--Hangar

Like many of the others within the hangar watching the battle play out remotely, Reflector was quite intrigued by the creature, the heavily bastardized chaosteros, that Jhiaxus had so obviously deployed to thwart their efforts. It was just another confirmation that the aged scientist had no limits or boundaries that he would not cross in the pursuit of his work. It was unfortunate that he had turned his back on Lord Scorponok's generosity. The Decepticon empire surely could utilize a mech of such talents.

Nevertheless, like a wild sparkeater, he had to be put down for his own good.

”Reflector, can you scale an orbital strike to kill it from here without destroying the mountain in the process? Or do I have to send Cyclonus in to lead an air strike against it?” Scorponok questioned.

"I would take great pleasure in eradicating that abomination, my lord," Cyclonus remarked.

Reflector brough up the schematics of the quadraplasma cannons they typically utilized when conducting and orbital strike. He quickly ran through several scenarios.

"It would seem, my lord, that even at the weapon's lowest setting, our strike capabilities would not only eliminate the creature, but also the mountain and, likely, whatever lay within."

LV-117 Surface

Through the torrential rain, it was difficult to get any sort of clear visual on the beast that Jhiaxus had unleashed. Only when the lightning cracked overhead did Max get a brief-perfectly clear-view. To say it wasn't pretty was the understatement of the vorn.

>>”Skyfall here. Wheelie and I have a bit of a plan to try and distract that mechazilla for a little bit.”<<

Maximus had been trying to get the most solid grip he could so he could launch a counterattack against the creature, but Skyfall and--to his surprise--Wheelie, seemed to have a different plan in mind. That suited Maximus. He had always been a commander who encouraged his subordinates to think on their feet, even in the heat of battle. In his experience, being able to do just that was what kept a mech functional for one more cycle. Far be it from him to stop now.

>>"Roger that. Good luck, 'Bots,"<< Maximus commed back before addressing the remainder of the Autobots. >>"They're giving us a distraction. Let's use it!"<<

As Maximus climbed towards the cave that Wheelie had spotted earlier, he heard the distinct sounds of one--then two--explosions, followed by a roar from the chaosteros. The glow of the creature charging the internal weaponry that Jhiaxus had provided it pierced the darkness. Maximus watched as the creature staggered and appeared to be looking for the source of the explosions before another energy beam shot forth. This time it blasted a part of the mountain well above Max's current position.

>>"Nice work, guys. I think you've got its attention, that's for sure."<<

The Semper Tyrannis--Hangar

Icepick looked over as their unit leader, Slog, has both a visual and seemingly quite visceral reaction to seeing the modified--a word that described what Jhiaxus had done only in the mildest of terms--chaosteros.

“Jhiaxus would consider that a work of art, but it is a suffering monstrosity. When one takes away the beauty, only the ugliness remains.”

Icepick nodded as he looked from Slog back to the screen display overhead that showed the battle taking place on the planet below. It was a monstrosity, to be sure, but only after Slog had spoken had Icepick realized that it was a creature to be pitied also. It had been manipulated against its will, just as they were--to some extent--long ago. Now it had to suffer the consequences, just as they did. For this chaosteros, it had become the monster. For the Monstructor Six, the monster lurked inside them, waiting for any chance to be set free once more.

"Revenge will be ours. If I'm confidant of anything right now, I'm confidant in that Decepticon's ability to exact revenge on those who have wronged him," Icepick said, pointing idly at Scorponok. "Megatron taught him well."

[LV-117 - Surface]

Through the strange metallic forests, Ransack swept through with the rest of the Insecticon swarm. There was only one thing on his mind - seek and destroy.

He would be stored in his tracks by the rumbling and the violent roars of a gigantic fiend. "Tch, more distractions." He readied his gun, holding it up, alert as the monster let out an impressive display of firepower. Time to make some roast beef out of this slagger.

LV-117 Surface Ocean

Skalor was next in line to dive into the portal. He jumped in, changing into his giant fish of an alt mode during descent. When he reached the other side, he splashed into the water, joining his fellow Seacon Tentakil. "Arrr, good to be back in the elements, ain't that right, tentacles?"

The waves were shifting from the powerful impact of the chaosteros's blast, but the miserable cod didn't face much difficulty swimming through the tide.

Semper Tyrannis – Hangers

Icepick wrote:"Revenge will be ours. If I'm confidant of anything right now, I'm confidant in that Decepticon's ability to exact revenge on those who have wronged him," Icepick said, pointing idly at Scorponok. "Megatron taught him well."

Icepick’s words reached Slog’s receptors, causing him to nod automatically. “That he did, Icepick. More importantly, Scorponok learned well.” To the point he surpassed his teacher? To what end, I wonder? The thought was enough to chill his energon pump.

There were times, like in the aftermath of their combining into that… thing where he wished his higher processor functions were disabled. To be mindless would undoubtedly be a horrific existence to others, but it would be sweet relief for him.

There had been a time when he would’ve resented such a thought crossing his logic circuits, but now?

If we are to end that beast’s suffering, how long until it is decided our suffering should end? Despite what he may or may not wish to happen to himself, he had the others to think about. What would happen to them if he’d be terminated for efficiency’s sake? What would happen to him if one of his team fell or suffered such a fate?

We must remain vigilant and useful to the cause or become what we are seeing.

That brought up another thought. Slog had been thinking of this as their chance for vengeance, but was it really? As he watched, another, more fitting term came to mind: Justice.

Before he could stop himself, he said, “Vengeance is a word that best describes this for Scorponok and the others. For us, it’s justice.”