The Energon Pub

Mount Melanos – Workshop

“Oh, yeah. It was a blast! Most fun I've had since I reunited with my ol' buddy over here.” Grotusque jabbed a thumb at Repugnus. “Too bad it was all over in a flash.” He shrugged. “Ah, well. Plenty more where that came from.”

Grotusque observed the monitor with great interest as Rad explained their current situation—which had, in fact, ascended in positivity. It so happened that Autobot Command had dispatched a vessel to Nebulos, providing them with additional support. Well, that was nice of them. Too bad the Autobots present on the vessel were, as one might allude to, fashionably late.

Once Rad had concluded speaking, Grotusque nodded slowly. "I see... But what now? Do we build a giant sign saying 'Autobot Secret Base Here' with an equally massive arrow pointing right at the joint?” He chuckled raising an actuator apologetically, although his joke had not quite run its course yet. “I know, I know. Not clever at all. Especially given how the 'Cons would find us in record time. Not good!”

It was at that moment where Repugnus decided to loosen his lip components and divulge his intentions pertaining to his...prisoner. It was such his style, too. The violent details, that was. But Grotusque was confident his plan accommodated for more intricacies than he was letting on. He just wasn't so certain of Repugnus' apparent optimism of discovering a remaining cranial unit, face-plate or, if he perceived it correctly, a Sweep's beard.

Sometimes his team-mate's personality served only to confirm yet another challenge of deciphering it. But he didn't mind. He always enjoyed the fantastic reactions of anyone unfortunate enough to be around in their company when Repugnus spoke of horrific matters with nothing more than a casual tone. It was truly priceless.

“A beard, huh?” Grotusque considered the question before awarding Repugnus with a smile. “You might be able to pull it off, but I don't know. You gonna maintain that thing?”

Equatorial Desert - Under the Ancient Lava Bed

Skullgrin quieted his snarling internal monologue as Lockdown jibed on the job. The other him might be touchy, but he took such language as inconsequential. His successes spoke for themselves. He followed the hunter slowly when indicated.

[Taking too long taking too long taking too long...]

Patience. The victory will be the sweeter for the wait.

It was with a touch of annoyance that Skullgrin paused again as Lockdown indicated trouble. He did his own sensor sweep, and spotted the small package embedded in the floor.

"Explosive, looks like standard autobot anti-fortification, probably hooked to a monofilament, and no doubt linked to a network of similar charges to bring down the tunnel. And we're stopping for it....why?"

[He fears this? This? This autobot smokebomb?]

Well, he isn't us, now is he?

"I can detonate that from halfway down the tunnel with shrapnel rounds, and melt through any resulting blockage in less than a Breem with my lasers. This is par for the course when you have desperate Autobots, you can't let it slow you down. You have to show them how meaningless it is, let them hear you drive through every obstacle without slowing, to have them lubricating themselves in fear before you find them. I would have thought you'd know this, Lockdown."

A touch of the inner growl finally surfaces. "Stand aside. Let me get to work."

Approaching Mount Melanos

The two Sweeps flew in low over the rocky terrain searching for any signs of their Autobot prey. The trail had gone cold on the ground and thus the expert trackers took to the skies in the hopes of getting a better vantage point in locating their quarry. The Autobots had fled their old base, but surely they had a back-up somewhere. It was only a matter of time before the minions of Scourge found it. Then they would be justly rewarded for their efforts.

However, high above the Sweeps’ position, a monstrous two-headed creature emerged from the dark clouds and peered down at the pair of white and blue trackers. Doublecross was the most unique of his Monsterbot brethren as he was literally of two minds about everything and seldom did they ever agree with one another. “We should destroy them both at the same time,” the right head suggested as the left head let out a groan. “No, no. We should attack one of them first and make him crash into his buddy. That would be pretty funny!”

“Are you dense? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard! You want to risk it not working and allow the second one to retaliate or worse, call for back-up and bring more ‘Cons closer to our new headquarters,” the right head replied with a snort.

“It’s not as dumb as some of your ideas!” The left head growled back defiantly.

“Whatever. Let’s just destroy both ‘Cons before they realize we’re here. Okay?”

“Fine, spoil sport! We’ll do it your way....again!”

Having come to somewhat of an agreement, Doublecross swooped down from above until he was directly behind the Sweeps. Before the trackers even realized that they were the ones now being stalked, the two-headed dragon unleashed a simultaneous pair of fireballs from each mouth that quickly enveloped both of Scourge’s soldiers. The Sweeps screamed in agony as they lost altitude and plummeted to the ground below, exploding into a thousand pieces of fiery scrap metal upon impact.

“Now, that’s how it’s done,” the right head remarked, happily. "No witnesses and no chance that they could radio any of their tracker buddies."

“Still would’ve been funnier to see one crash into the other, but we had to do it the boring way,” the left side grunted.

“At least their sparks are extinguished. Now, let’s get back inside and see what our comrades are up to."

"Who cares? We should just stay up here and keep a look out. It's not like we'll run out of fuel anytime soon."

"Regardless, we've been up here long enough. Let's go before someone spots us."

"Yes, sir, bossbot! Whatever you say!" The left head spouted out with a heavy tone of sarcasm as Doublecross finally made his decent towards Mount Melanos. He landed swiftly near a side entrance and immediately returned to robot mode. After the appropriate access codes were executed, the Monsterbot entered the base and began looking for his two compatriots.

Mount Melanos - Corridors

One would think that when Doublecross returned to robot mode, his split personality problem would go away. After all, he only had two heads while in his dragon form. Unfortunately, that was not the case as both argumentative personas still existed, one on the left side of his processor while the other remained on the right. Over time they had found a way to coexist if for no other reason than to survive in the never-ending war that seemed to always surround them. They couldn’t very well fight the enemy if they were always at odds. Of course, that didn’t mean the bickering would stop for long and it seldom did.

Having reached a fork in the corridor he was in, Doublecross peered down both pathways, one which lead towards the training facility while the other ended up at the workshop where Repugnus liked to do his thing. Once again a decision had to be made. For most mechs, it would have been an easy choice, but Doublecross was not most mechs.

I say we head to the workshop. That’s probably where we’ll find Repugnus and Grotusque, the dual-minded Monsterbot thought, fulling expecting his opposing persona to make his opinion heard.

(No, no. Let’s head to the training room. They’re probably blowing off some steam fighting holocons. That’s where I’d be anyway.)

You’re crazy. There’s no way they’d be wasting time training when we’re faced with the kind of Decepticon offensive out there. Why fight drones when the real thing is practically outside our door?

(Fine. We’ll head to the workshop, but once we get there and find that it’s empty, I’m going to tell you “I told you so” and then we’ll head down to the training room.)

Doublecross finally picked the right passage and made his way through the halls until he reached the entrance of the workshop.

Mount Melanos - Workshop

The doors slid open and Doublecross entered the room to find it filled with Repugnus, Grotusque, Rad and a Decepticon corpse lying on a table. I told you.

(Oh, shut up!)

Doublecross walked further into the room and nodded at the assembled mechs. “Looks like I’m late to the party. What did I miss?” He asked, looking down at the remains that lain strewn across the work table’s surface. “Well, that’s disgusting.”

“No, it’s not,” the other persona chimed in, almost creating a run-on sentence. “That looks fantastic! You’ve out done yourself this time, Repugnus!”

Rainforests of Patalappu

There was an additional advantage of having tracking sensors. While their primary function alone was extremely useful on its own, they also made one far more difficult to be taken by surprise. This time the perimeter alert received by Snapdragon's sensors was not a hostile one, but another Decepticon that had bounced to the rainforest. It was Deadlock, one of Turmoil's lieutenants. A capable warrior for certain but at the same time one who never seemed to know when to stop when it came into annoying his superiors. In that sense Deadlock reminded Snapdragon a lot of the leader of Megatron's seeker forces - Starscream.

>>"Looks like Deadlock is following us Apey. Must have grown bored of sitting in his cruiser on the orbit. He is doing even less to minimize the noise he is making than us."<< The reptilian Horrorcon transmitted to his partner while following the trail left by two Autobots - a trail that was growing more and more fresh as he advanced.

However, not much later, the growing thrill of the hunt came to a sudden stop. The trail he had been following was cut by a river. And the river bank on the other side provided no trace of his prey. Frustrated, the massive theropod began pacing back and forth on the river bank, trying to catch the trail again with his sensors. Nothing. Even the audio feed from the surrounding jungle was of no use being dominated by the rumbling of a nearby waterfall... Could it be? It would certainly be a sight to behold.

Hoping that the Autobots had indeed been caught by the erratic, strong flow of the river, Snapdragon began following the river downstream. He could have done it faster by flying but he did not want to let the roar of his engines catch the attention of his pray. And less than a half mile later his audio receptors confirmed his wild guess hitting the jackpot. It was barely audible change in the noise spectrum around the area but the voice was clearly alien to this environment. As he approached the waterfall, the barely audible voice came much clearer.

"... are any Predacons here?"

Questioned a male voice. An answer came a moment later from another Cybertronian, this time the speaker being clearly a femme.

"I don't think so. Last reports were that they were stuck on Cybertron. Good for us at anyrate."

A response that was quickly followed by the male voice again.

"I don't doubt it. Even still, we'll have to be careful. If Scourge is around, he'll make things rather difficult."

Letting out an amused snort, Snapdragon crouched and sneaked near the edge of the waterfall, utilizing the cover granted by the thick vegetation of the riverbank to keep himself from being noticed. And just in time to hear the femme's latest words.

"Well, we better be moving. I just hope Beloved is alright."

Word that generated a reply from the male.

"I am sure Lightspeed is fine. If he's with Scattershot, then I suspect he'll be perfectly functional."

It was even better Snapdragon had dared to hope. Without any torturing, this sorry excuse for an Autobot had revealed the names of two members of the Autobot ship's crew. Scattershot and Lightspeed. Both names were familiar to Snapdragon. And where those two walked, Afterburner, Nosecone and Strafe were sure to follow. >>"Apey. Lock on my coordinates. I have found two Autobots. The fun fact: this merry band of bots had made a dive off a waterfall and this lucky con got to eavesdrop on their discussion. They just went to confirm that we have a Technobot infestation on this planet."<<

Below the Equtorial Desert

Nosecone drove forward, mounted lights barely piercing the darkness around them. He continued to drill, taking the oppertuninty to turn and twist in different directions and stopping to punch through to another Underground Ravine. Every time he made a dead end, he stopped and walked on the top of his comrades' footprints, concealing his direction of which he was going, and making the perfect trap.

Suddenly, he stopped. His sensors picked up extreme heat just ahead. It looked to be that this area wasn't as dormant as thought before.

Nosecone transfomred and held out his hands to his comrades to make them stop.

"This," Nosecone motioned towards the wall, "Is a magma vein. Right behind this piece of stone, is molten rock. I do believe this would be a good place to put a mine."

He activated his HUD of the Geographic Scans, and he looked at a large vein shaded green that led from left to right in a twisting pattern. Nosecone grunted as he transformed into his vehicle and began to dig to the side to give Scattershot a place to plant a mine.

*****

Equitorial Forest

Nightbeat sped at high speeds to what seemed to be either a large city, or another crash site. He finally found what seemed ot be a paved road, and it felt great to get off the gravel, a sports car like his shouldn't be on such things. He knew his feet would scratch the ground and it would look odd, so he transformed off to the side in the forested area and began to walk along the road to go to the city. He could drive in, but he was certian there were toll booths if they were any logical beings on this planet, which there must be, for there was a city there, they would find the lack of money displeasing.

He peeked through the trees and he saw a glimpse of the city before him, large, beautiful, and full of cars. He knew that there must be a repair depot somewhere in the midst of the city.

He refrained from using his Comm Link, from fear of what the consequences might be.

He walked forward, making no noise as he tip-toed around the forested landscape until he had passed a small building with a rod sticking out making the road inaccessable. Only once he had passed the building and made a turn, he transformed into his vehicle form and began to drive down the road, into the city. He passed a sign on the way, he couldn't decipher the text that was promnent on the metal panel, so he drove onward into the city limits.

Equatorial Desert – Under the Ancient Lava Bed

Lockdown was not at all surprised when Skullgrin acknowledged what the bounty hunter already knew. The tall mech stood back up to his full height and looked down on the siege warrior, a sinister smirk etched on his face. A few moments lapsed before Lockdown addressed Skullgrin’s concern.

“Well, my egregious friend, if the entrance to this shaft is littered with these explosives then you can damned well be sure the entire length of it is as well.”

Lockdown crossed his arms over his chest before he went on.

“Now, I’m more than capable of getting past them, as I know you are as well, but that will, no doubt, take time, and since these Autobots have already had a few hours head start, dealing with the devices, and other hindrances will only prolong our ultimate goal.”

Lockdown flashed his compatriot a broad smile before he waved one of his hands out in front of them both gesturing to the darkened expanse ahead.

“But, if you insist on going about this the grueling, grated way, then by all means, be my guest. In the mean time I believe I’ll head above ground and see just where this shaft lets out. First one to the Autobots wins.”

Lockdown turned back around the way he had come and left the siege warrior to his work. Of course, if Skullgrin chose to join him, the bounty hunter wouldn’t shoo him away.

Mount Melanos--Autobot Beta Site

Rad hadn't encountered anything in the last--slag, he'd forgotten how many--breems that would make him chuckle. Grotusque's comments did the trick, at least for a fleeting moment.

"Heh, no, I'm going to do my best not to give them a sign or any other kind of a roadmap. But....I don't know, we're in a corner now. I figure some of us are going to start making some desperate actions. I can't say that I'm not feeling the same temptation. But......gah, this burns. Alright, we have to get word to the others and they have to get the sit-rep on what's happening here real quick so we don't all get killed. So, yeah," Rad said, offering another brief glance at the unfortunate Decepticon "project" that Repugnus had in his workshop.

For most Autobots, it would be a clear example of the sort of desperation that any of them might be drawn to. For the Monsterbots however, that was unsurprising, at best. He shuddered to think what they would do once they were drawn to undertake more desperate measures.

Quickly heading out of the workshop, Rad just wanted to get on the road and follow those signals he'd picked up earlier. That was priority one right now. They could worry about figuring out priority two afterwards.
___

Rainforests of Patalappu

Apeface and Snapdragon's trajectories through the Nebulan rainforest had veered only slightly from one another. Though content to let Snapdragon's sensors do the Prime's share of the effort in tracking, Apeface preferred the more heightened visual he was able to get by making use of the extensive and durable vegetation that was native to this planet. He paused only briefly as Snapdragon's latest transmission came through.

>>"Nice nice, Snaps. Little Autobots won't even know what hit 'em. And if Deadlock messes up this hunt, heh, well, we can just say they got to him first,"<< Apeface responded, already adjusting his course slightly and picking up speed as he traversed from one tree to the next in his efforts to catch up with Snapdragon's current position.

The audio disruption of the immense waterfall in the area was the first thing that confirmed to Apeface that he was closing in on the right position. That, and Snapdragon's signal of course. The other Horrorcon was standing just near the edge of the drop-off. Letting go of one of the massive branches, Apeface dropped down on to the edge of the riverbank as he too approached the edge.

"Slag...Technobots? That can't have been the best reinforcements that Autobot high command had to send. If it is, maybe this war's almost over, heheh," Apeface chuckled, peering over the edge and locking in on what he and Snapdragon had been tracking for a while now. "And a femme to boot? Pit if it ain't our lucky orn. Guess we should introduce ourselves, eh?"

With that, Apeface leapt off the edge of the waterfall.

Equatorial Desert - Underground Lava Tubes

While not one of the more positive mechs to ever be constructed Afterburner did have his talents. One of those wasn’t attention to detail. It wasn’t a dangerous thing like his surroundings or possible dangers, those he saw and even hoped for. His lack of attention to detail was apparent when Nosecone stopped and reported to Scattershot about the pocket of magma ahead of them.

“Just perfect. Trapped between the Cons and molten rock.” Grumbling he turned to face the tunnel behind them he went to grasp his rifle with both hands he noticed the data slab Strafe had handed to him before they left their last rest stop. Only then did it occur to him that he was carrying his weapon in one hand. Shaking his head he began assimilating the information in the slab. When he was finished he tossed it to Scattershot before their leader had the chance to move too far away and shrugged when he noticed some of his team looked over at him. “Not like that’ll do me a bit of good. Give me the Cons any day over tech babble.”

Equatorial Desert

Brainstorm looked at his makeshift transport with a pitying expression. His small skiff, rocket sled, too many names he could’ve given to it made it all that more difficult to mourn its passing. The second rocket pack exhausted its fuel not more than a few minutes earlier but not before it took him a far greater distance than he originally expected it to.

Until an hour before he didn’t have any set destination to head for so he picked out landmarks and aimed for them as best he could. Unfortunately the first landmark he aimed for, what appeared to be a mound of some sort, was nothing more than the burned out remains of another escape pod. Hoping for the best but expecting the worst he stopped and inspected the wreckage but despite his best efforts nothing was salvageable, not even the weapons of his comrades or their energon reserves.

Now, with no other choice but to continue on foot he slung most of the weapons over his shoulders and began the trek across the wasteland. Off in the distance there looked to be a lush tropical forest of some sort. It’d be the perfect place for him to hide from the Decepticons until he could find the others and repair his transform circuits. Every self-diagnostic he ran told him it was nothing more than a pair of broken wires or something similar. All he needed was the simplest of tools to repair it but as of yet he hadn’t come across any serviceable repair packs.

Determined to find something to help the Autobot cause he set out towards this new landmark.

Mount Melanos – Workshop

Repugnus mostly ignored Rad. As far as he was concerned he wasn’t in need of ‘saving,’ let alone by a group of Bots who had gotten shot down as soon as they had arrived. They were likely just another bunch of goody-goody idiot Bots who he would clash with immediately. They would be concerned about things like collateral damage and rescuing prisoners instead of actually winning this battle and driving the Decepticons off planet. That was going to have to be done with ingenuity and brutality, and those just happened to be his specialties.

The Monsterbot rubbed his chin thoughtfully at Grotusque’s comment. “Well I’d probably have to take it off when I transform. Maybe I should get two pairs so I can where a beard in alt mode. Heh, they probably think that’s scary enough as it is now.”

His attention was then diverted by the arrival of Doublecross and his unique form of doublespeak. Truly he must be hated among the Autobot ranks to get stuck with these two as teammates. It was fortunate that both of them were so skilled at their functions, otherwise Repugnus would have ditched them long ago. As it was now he just barely tolerated them. “Somehow I knew some part of you would like this Doublecross.” He offered him a smirk before turning back to his work, listening in on what else Rad had to say.

Repugnus smiled at the hesitation in the other Autobot’s voice when discussing ‘desperate actions.’ The poor little Autobot was worried about stooping to his disgusting levels. It was almost enough to get a laugh out of him. So many Autobots thought they could survive and even win this war by playing all proper and by the rules. They would probably never realize that it was Bots like him who did the dirty work that actually got them any victories in this war.

The Monsterbot let out a sigh as Rad finally left. “Finally, no more little worrier around. Now maybe we can talk about what to really do on this slagging planet.” He put down his tools and looked over at Grotusque and Doublecross. “You guys know whats going to happen right? We’ll get some new idiot in charge of the base, possibly one even dumber then Skyhammer, who’s lone act of note was getting the slag beat out of him while being captured. That’s a tough act to follow but I don’t want to stick around and see if it can be topped.”

He looked each of them in the optics before continuing. “I say we strike out on our own. Between the three of us we have all of the skills necessary to take this fight right to the Cons in ways these bots never could. They are just gonna slow us down. We’ve each got the power and fighting ability, Doublecross can get us equipment, Grotusque, you can work on strategy and I can handle all of the fun bits like torture and assassination. So what do you two say, should we keep fighting on this planet with one arm tied behind our backs or strike out on our own and show these Cons the true horrors of war?”

Koraja--Navicorridors

The council motorcade wound its way through the huge megalopolis of Koraja's road system, every so often one of the vehicles breaking off to carry their passengers to their own unique destinations.

"Are we to return to the Capital Dome, Peer Galen?" a disembodied voice on a screen asked, one of the councilors in another vehicle. Galen continued to stare blankly out of the rear window, rain pelting against it. He appeared to be lost in his own thoughts for a few short moments, before responding to the question.

"Do what you will. I will not be returning. The declarations of evacuation are already being prepared and sent out. Koraja belongs to them, now."

"I see," the councilor said, his face then disappearing from the projection.

Galen was heading in to Koraja for two things. Once he had checked on them, it would be time to leave, just as quickly as he had returned.

"Councilor, we have Arcana," one of Galen's aides reported. Galen's face brightened just a little.

"Bring him up," Galen said, and a short moment later, he was looking at the face of the wisened, Nebulan scientist on one of the screens inside the vehicle. "How proceeds your work?"

"It is not easy work, my friend. It takes time. And these creatures are....amazing. Amazing in their reslilience as much as anything. Even so, I am getting a few sparing but encouraging results."

"I look forward to seeing them," Galen said.

"And you will," the scientist said, before his face, too, disappeared.

Good, Galen thought. At least some kind of progress was being made. He then handed one of his aides a small orb. "Have the driver take us to this location. Llyra will be waiting for me. I hope, at least."

I hope...

Mount Melanos - Workshop

Doublecross watched silently as Rad left the workshop before returning his dual-minded attention back to Repugnus who seemed very happy to finally be rid of the Aerospace Engineer. Both personas then listened as their Monsterbot comrade laid out his vision on what would likely happen next for the Autobots stationed here. For once, neither side of Doublecross’s cerebral cortex could really argue with Repugnus’ rationale, but what he proposed next was something else entirely.

Striking out on our own? I don’t know about that. We should stick with the main group and back them up. They could use our talents in combating the Decepticons. Without us, they’ll be at a severe disadvantage.

(Are you kidding? We should absolutely leave these moronic Autodolts behind. They haven’t done anything worthwhile to prevent the ‘Cons from gaining a foothold on this world except basically lay down and then retreat like a bunch of cowards! Like Repugnus said, we’ll just end up with a new leader that’ll make things even worse for everyone involved. It’ll be another Skyhammer all over again and we don’t need to follow someone like that. We need to think outside of the box and attack the enemy like they won’t expect. Going rogue is the only option in my opinion.)

I don’t like this. It feels like we’re abandoning our comrades.

(Oh, please. They abandoned us first with their inaction and inability to get the job done not to mention that they also abandoned the Nebulans when they did nothing to stop the Decepticon invasion. The way I see it we’re just repaying the favor!)

I still don’t like it. We’re going AWOL. There will be consequences if Autobot Command finds out about our actions.

(Frag them! What are they going to do to us?! Nothing, that’s what! Now, I don’t care if you like it or not. We’re going rogue like Repugnus wants and that’s final!)

With the left side fully in control, Doublecross nodded his singular robot mode head in agreement. “I’m with you, Repugnus. I’m sure I can find us all of the equipment and supplies that we’ll need to wage our own private war against those slaggin ‘Cons! They won’t know what hit them until it’s too late!”

I still don’t think this is a good idea.

(Quiet you!)

Equatorial Desert - Underground Lava Tubes

Scattershot set the command pod down next to what had once been a basalt drip when the magma chamber they currently inhabited was cooling. He slowly rotated his shoulder as the intense weight settled down on the thick cone of rock on the ground. A soft crack echoed through his frame as he forced the joint back into place before his optical visor began to sweep across the small tight cavern they had found themselves in. Shaped like a dark aged chronometer, a trifoil of passages converging around a central opening. Two flows spread out like rivers combining into a main torrent, though they had suffered damage and one was entirely collapsed. The other was not much better but still passable should they travel single file and hunched over. Above them there was a narrow shaft leading towards the surface, probably a gas vent or volcanic spout. It so happened that the Technobots managed to breach through the primary combined flow before entering the gallery.

The Technobot commander allowed the information to flow into his central processor, adding to the intelligence he had received from Nosecone regarding the geological make up of the region. Grooves on the surface of the flow, a few ledges along... Scattershot walked past Lightspeed and Afterburner. He knelt down next to the lip of the ancient lava flow and pressed his fingers down against the surface of the ledge. It was solid, but strong. Stronger than the normal ignious rock he had encountered on various terra worlds. This rock did not belong to the natural survey, as if it had been artificially laid there for some purpose.

A small smirk crossed his lips as his fingers drew along the soot covered stone. Without looking he plucked the slate out of the air and slapped it against a magnetized security strip along the hip. "It always help to know the terrain when preparing to slag rust spots Afterburner." He brought his fingers to optic level. Slowly turning the particles over and over he began to realize what it was he was truly examining. Rust.

Not natural rust, as one might fine in iron deposits, no this streak had trace elements of copper and brass. Power conduits? But that was impossible, according to the information he had been given privy to, this particular race had stagnated right around the Turbine Age. But if this evidence was telling the truth, then they had advanced far enough to harness the thermal energy of their planet.

Scattershot stood up and dusted off his hands. "For once, I have to agree with you Afterburner. This is indeed perfect. A defensive position, a place for thermal energy and an access to the surface to expand the battle on our terms." He rubbed his cleaned fingers upon his chin.

He checked his inventory computer and brought up his last set of cone explosives and a C-10 Bunker Buster Mine. A satisfied smirk grew to an anxious smile as his mind raced for the potentials that arose. Quickly he decided it was time to make their stand. "Alright folks its time to really get things underway. Lightspeed. I need you and Nosecone to devise the best way to funnel a lava flow down that tunnel, while avoiding vaporizing the rest of us. Strafe, Afterburner, Breakaway, I want you three to spread out through this cavern. Find me anything we can use in our favor. Weak substructure, potential locations for our little present for these cons."

Hefting the pod into a hidden protective recess. "Also, this is a primary. Keep an optic for anything that can be dubbed, 'ARTIFICIAL'."

Mount Melanos – Workshop

Grotusque afforded Repugnus his attention as he revealed the little adventure he intended to embark on, and how Doublecross and himself were granted private invitations to come along. As far as compliments went, this was a significant one. It wasn't every solar cycle that Repugnus emanated such generosity—and the fact that he was willing to include his team-mates into his operation had to have meant something. Especially when his function worked more efficiently on a solitary level.

Grotusque rubbed his actuators together rapidly in eagerness. "I think I'll have to take you up on your offer, my good mech. Although I do have one request.” He paused, smiling at Repugnus. “Is the option of having one's arm tied behind one's back available to us anyway? I mean, what if I get, say, bored and decide to literally tie my right arm behind my back so the left can get some more love while I fight?”

He turned to Doublecross, searching for support. “It's a fair question, ain't it, D.C.? We don't want the left arm to let us down, yeah? Might as well practise using it on the grunts before any of their five star fellows show up.”

Not that the Monsterbots displayed poor capabilities in combat; indeed, they were all excellent warriors, easily able to confront an opponent with any part of their designs and claim victory. But even war needed to be spiced up sometimes, and Grotusque was that individual who had the ideas to initiate those changes, even if he was the only one to do so.

Which was often the case.

Equatorial Desert-Underground Lava Tubes

The temperature readings in this part of the planet were understandly registering far and away above anything that they had encountered during their brief introduction to the surface area of Nebulos. Potent material if it could be used properly.

As other Technobots had no doubt noticed, there were indications that the Nebulans had indeed found some ways to harness their planet's geothermal energy. Lightspeed wondered what might have driven their society to that. By all accounts, they had achieved a level of peace in their society that was virtually unprecedented in the known universe. What had brought that to pass? Had they simply solved their world's energy crisis before it became one? Lightspeed was curious to know more now that he was here.

"On it," Lightspeed said, nodding at Nosecone and walking over to where the heat and pressure sensors were at their highest readings thus far. He then pressed each of his actuators against one of the stony, mineral walls, his auditory and tactile sensors taking in everything that they could. He then detached a device from his left shoulder and slammed it in to one of the rock beds. Even better readings began to pour in. A few microseconds later, a tiny dribble of magma began to seep through the crack that Lightspeed had made, short-circuiting the device instantly, even as it started to blacken and cool slightly.

"The volcanic pressure is pretty immense. I don't know, what do you think, Nosecone? In theory, we could stop at any point and flood one of these major tunnels and just press on. We won't be able to go back the way we came right away, but...eh...that probably wasn't an option anyway."

Northern Tundra - Alpine Tundra

Pyro remained hidden behind a large outcrop of boulders lightly dusted with frozen hydrogen dioxide that lay along a little used road in the higher elevations of the mountain range he had found himself dropped into. It was well after dusk, having spent the bulk of the day light hours carefully treking through thick swaths of snow and large drifts of ice that seemed to be impervious to all but the most intense swing of a battle axe. Though the passage was rough, he had managed to make his way down to lower thicker tree lines and maintain some sort of cover under the white blankets of evergreen needles douced with snow.

Thus he had arrived at this. It was a paved utility road that had not been granted the blessing of a good plow. But from what Pyro's sensors could ascertain, the road was worn and badly maintained. Before he had accepted his current place of cover, Pyro had managed to hike a decent distance to the top of the road. From that vantage point he was graced with a magnificent view of trees, trees and more snow covered trees. From North, West and East, there was nothing but flora. When he returned his gaze to the south, he picked up minute energy readings. A zoom of his field scanners granted him sight of a thin energy field.

Determining that was the best path available he returned to the cover of the woods and resumed his trek down the mountain to the valley below.

At present however, Pyro pulled his confiscated depleted uranium pellet semi automatic rifle closer to his chest as the crunch of snow over pavement slowly sang through the forest. It was a small convoy of service vehicles. He could tell by the sounds of their engines that they were heavily built machines. Possibly military. He regretted not having the full brief of this particular planet. But given he was being reassigned to Earth and that the Farstar was nothing more than a glorified Taxi to him, he initially never felt the need to examine the datatraks.

The line must have been rather important, being dispatched to respond to some major event. Given the vibrations in the ground, Pyro could determine there were about five to ten vehicles in the convoy. Taking a risk he managed to pivot to his knees and give a swift scan of the group before retreating to analyze the new data he had acquired. Schematics played out across his optics before he fully assimilated the information.

They weren't military units at all. But from what he could determine they were more akin to service vehicles. And judging by the quantity of a specific type of large truck they were probably relatively common. Selecting the figure that resembled his own personal tastes best, Pyro activated his internal reconfiguration protocols.

As the last utility truck disappeared over the ridge, Pyro stepped out into the middle of the road and transformed.

Fifty Miles South

It was nearing, by what his chronometer could detemine, the final vestages of the night time hours. Dawn was probably a couple of hours away. Pyro approached the local village with a gingered speed, pulling into a nook to a side road and deactivating his headlamps. There he remained as his scanners began to take in the local scene. The village was small, even by most societal standards. Probably a couple of dozen habitation structures. A few sources of revenue, at least that was Pyro's interpretation of the various signs that were posted across what he guessed were store fronts. Nearly all store fronts had advertisements even when there were stores on Cybertron.

Judging by the trace amounts of timber dust and lumps of harvested lumber strewn through out the forest in the immediate range of his sensors, and the village itself, Pyro determined that they had at one time probably harvested on the forest trees for subsistance or trade. The mental image he began to draw was that of giant rodents before immediately deleting the file. Optimus would not allow such prejudgements or wild imaginations before gathering further facts to support theories.

A golden ray of sunlight began to sweep across the ridge just as Pyro's passive sensors finished sweeping across the village. The inhabitants began to stir in their dwellings and some began to appear in the brisk crisp air to open their stores or receive goods or services. This would make for a decent respite before departing under the cover of night. At least that was what he initially thought before the hostile ping registered back on his sensors. It was a Decepticon energy signal, and it was coming from a near by timber building with several power cables entering and departing at various angles. A power relay station, he surmised.

Pair of organics entered the structure and Pyro's sensors narrowed. There was undoubtably a 'con signal inside. But it was close to the inhabitants of the village. That signal had to be removed, but no harm could come to the organics. Pyro pondered as his sensors remained alert while secondary arrays were transfixed on the relay station. What would Optimus Do?

Equatorial Desert - Underground Lava Tubes

Strafe nodded as Scattershot gave the order to move out across the magma chamber they now found themselves in. Here was as good a place as any to make a stand, and the idea of flooding the back tunnel with a river of molten rock was a feasible one and would hopefully result in the destruction of several ‘Cons in the process. It wouldn’t be enough in the long run, however. It never was enough in this Primus forsaken war.

As the aerial gunner moved across the cavern, he kept his outward scanners trained for anything that could be beneficial in their upcoming stand against the enemy that was surely closing in on their position with every astrosecond that passed. As for anything that could be perceived as artificial, Strafe had not yet picked up on anything which fit that description, but if he eventually did find something of the sort he would certainly bring it to his commander’s attention right away.

Strafe’s sensors then detected a strange reading coming from right under his very feet. He stopped and knelt down to get a better look. Upon closer inspection, the aerial gunner’s scanners could tell that the floor in this particular area was much thinner than the rest of the cavern. Beneath this volcanic layer was another cavernous space that seemed to have no bottom as his scanners couldn't penetrate deep enough in order to find one. Regardless, this could be a potential trap for any ‘Cons who were lucky enough to get by the planned lava flow.

Standing back up, Strafe turned to address his leader. “Commander Scattershot, I think I’ve found something that we could use against the ‘Cons. My scanners indicate that there is a weak spot in the chamber floor right here in this area. Under it seems to be some kind of volcanic crevice that leads very deep into the planet as there appears to be no bottom to speak of. Now, the floor does seem to be strong enough that just walking on it alone won’t cause it to break. However, an explosive device planted at just the right spot could do the trick and cause any unsuspecting mech standing here to fall into the deep abyss that lies below.”

Mount Melanos - Workshop

Doublecross smiled as Grotusque joked about having one of his arms tied behind his back while fighting the lowly grunts the ‘Cons would likely throw at them first. The left side of his processor always enjoyed the smelly Monsterbot’s sense of humor while the right portion found it to be distracting and usually in poor taste.

Can’t he be serious for once?

(Oh, come on! That was damn funny! Grow a sense of humor already.)

“Yeah, I think it’s a fair question, too. Although, conceivably, we could have both arms tied behind our backs and still be able to crush those pathetic grunts underneath our feet,” Doublecross remarked to Grotusque, his left hemisphere doing the talking. “Of course, I always seem to have much more fun utilizing both arms and the dragon mouths I have for hands while I tear the enemy limb from limb! But I wouldn’t mind a bit of a challenge also. Just as long as those inept Decepticons die in agonizing and horrible ways, I’ll be happy. Heheh.”

You have to instigate him further, don’t you?

(If it annoys you, then yes!)

Equatorial Desert – Under the Ancient Lava Bed

Oh? A race is it?

[Run mecharabbit run...]

...Heh. You made a joke.

Skullgrin allowed Lockdown past without issue, then turned on his wheels to face the tunnel. His pride would not allow him to admit that the bounty hunter had a good point, going into the Autobots prepared territory alone would be highly dangerous and very time-consuming, but the vicious part of him would not allow any trepidation halt him. He was a siege warrior, a master of patiently dismantling autobot defenses and then striking when the time was right. This was just one more makeshift fortress to smoke them out of.

A shrapnel shell bursts far down the corridor, setting off the explosives and bringing down several tonnes of hard basalt. Undaunted, the cybertronian tank growled forward, mounting the rubble pile and scraping through the gap, crushing the rock beneath him. He saw the next trap several hundred meters ahead, and decided to work around it. The Slagmaker lasers bite into the wall before the bomb, forming a passage into the next lava tube, which the tank drove through...

And stopped, right before the deadfall.

Oh. Quite good. Looks like they've got a digger, to make traps and tunnels like this.

[Holes for cyberrats.]

Don't be dismissive. Theres a wily one among them. This chase will be quite the satisfying one, I'd wager.

The lasers strike another thin section of lava tube, and the tank moves on, a little slower now, but still undaunted...

OoC: Happy day after Thanksgiving! Have lotsa turkey sandviches, or Tofurkey.

Equatorial Desert - Underground Magma Tubes

Nosecone nodded back to Lightspeed as he followed Lightspeed to a hole that had accidentally been created. Now a small amount of Magma was dribbling out, and he knelt down beside it.

He sat there thinking for at least a breem, then a thought came to his mind.

"Hey, what if we plug this hole, then open another one where we know where the Decepticons are going to be, then, since the pressure is so high, it would widen over time. Thus making the passage dangerous, and impassable. Or a detpack might do, perhaps one of those hopping mines... What are they called...? Lazy somethingerother? " Nosecone said as he stood up.

Even though he wasn't the smartest, he knew what he was talking about, for all his years in the mines didn't leave him without knowledge.

Suddenly, an explosion riddled the cavern, some of the explosives must have gone off. They had to set this trap fast, or they wouldn't ever get the chance to ever again.

"Sounds like this place is about to heat up pretty fast. Maybe a mine is the way to go." Nosecone said as he looked around the room, wanting desperately to get back to mining.

*****

City of Koraja

Nightbeat drove down the entry road, trying his best to stay anonymous. He kept it slow, hoping not to run into any of the natives.

Where am I? Nightbeat thought as he turned a corner.

Around the corner, he saw a large city, sun sparkling off the windows of domed and odd shaped buildings. It was truly beautiful. He stopped and parked for a moment, to take in the scenery, and to let the effects of culture shock wear off.

But there was something wrong. The Smog was not smog, it was smoke. Buildings were damaged and destroyed, flaming and deteriorating. It had to be the work of a battle by a transformer.

He drove down the road and into the large city's streets, that were somewhat empty surprisingly, then he pulled into an alleyway hoping not to be seen by the locals.

Here he would stay for a while, seeing no choice but to wait and watch what will happen, knowing not what, or whom, he is dealing with.

Rainforest of Patalappu

River snapped the bolt action of her weapon back and forth to ensure it was still functional. Her rivalry with her commanding officer was one of legend onboard the now fallen Farstar. The very fact that Scattershot continually placed her beloved into danger, it drove a wedge into her energon pump. Each time those five went out to investigate some alien signal or raid some Decepticon depot or outpost, River was forced to stand back and watch from a distance.

"I doubt the commander would be one to stand down to a challenge from a medic." Scrape pulled himself to his feet and grabbed the butt of his Scatterblast Shotgun. He loaded a full clip into the receptical before pulling back the cocking action. "Either way, we can't stay here."

The rushing water dulled the attention he paid to the intense pain he was experiencing, at least it gave him something to focus on. "River, transform to Speeder form and lets see if we can't get some altitude to find the others."

"Oh sure, I bet you'd like to get a good look at my glowing Ion Engines while your at it." She smirked over her shoulder and gave him a wink. "What would beloved say if he ever heard you?"

Scrape shrugged and immediately regretted it. "I doubt he'd care." She spun around and pouted, her lip matrix slowly quivering before she brought her weapon to bear. "Alright alright, I take it back. Geez no need to go off the handle."

River pulled the weapon back and attached it to her midsection as she waggled her finger. "So long as you remember what you say Chief." She flipped end over end. Her legs fused together and her arms folded over her chest as she bent in half. Soon her rear began to glow white hot as she landed on the surface of the water. "A girl has to have some modesty after all."

"Of course."

She pressed her engines to maximum and attempted to gain altitude. As she neared the edge of the first rapid she pushed the afterburners to their limit and she plummetted in to the drink. Moments later she emerged in robot form, her guns drawn and aimed towards the forest tree line.

"That was a magnificent text book take off Doctor." Scrape was forced to duck as River squeezed off a pair of shots straight into the treeline and towards the waterfall where Scrape had been resting.

"Not my fault my wing," She hesitated. Her sensors flared to life. She was a medic by design. Her sensors were tuned to the energon pulses of Cybertronians. Search and rescue had its advantages. They were not alone, but she could not identify the source. All she could do was prepare. "SCRAPE!"

Mount Melanos – Workshop

Repugnus could only scowl at both of the other Monsterbots as they made terrible jokes. “I already regret inviting you both along.” He let out a sigh. “Well let’s get some gear together. We’ll take enough for ourselves but leave enough for the rest of the Autobots to survive. Last thing we need is more of these idiots getting captured and squealing to the Cons like Skyhammer probably did.” He let out a snicker before he began to gather up his equipment.

“Well lets get going then. If you guys have any personal effects that weren’t lost in the old base or any weapons or equipment you’re particularly fond of I’d suggest you grab them too. I’d rather not come back here if we don’t have to. I’ve got a series of tunnels I’ve dug over my time here and a little cave we should be able to use as a base. Got a little bit of equipment set up over there, between what we take from her and what we can steal from the cons we should be in a good shape.”

A smile spread over his face as he loaded up the remnants of his Decepticon prisoner. “I even already have an idea for our first mission after we blow up Sweep bait here. I hope you guys don’t mind shooting up medics and wounded. Some Autobots might see that as kind of dishonorable, I see it as taking out easy targets.” He let out a loud chuckle.

Mount Melanos - Workshop

Doublecross snickered at Repugnus’ reaction to his joking around with Grotusque. “Yeah, well, the ‘Cons will regret us coming along even more! Ha ha!” His laugh quickly faded, however, once the opposing persona finally pushed its way to the surface in order to bring some degree of seriousness back to the proceedings. “Sorry, Repugnus, that was immature of me.”

(No it wasn’t. You’re just a spoil sport!)

“I can assure you that I take all of this very seriously,” Doublecross continued as the right half ignored the left side’s protests. “As for personal belongings, I’ve got all that I need right here with my trusty rust rifle. However, I’ll head down to the storage room and see what I can scrounge up before we leave. I shouldn’t be too long. Grotusque, while I’m doing that, you wanna hit the armory for some extra ammo? I’m sure we’ll need all we can spare.”

As Doublecross started for the door, he overheard his comrade’s comment about shooting up medics and the injured. While the left persona had absolutely no problem with the idea, the right half had some reservations, but decided to keep those to himself for the time being. “Whatever works, I guess,” the dual-minded Monsterbot conceded before he left the workshop and made his way through the empty corridors of the base.

Mount Melanos - Storage Room

Doublecross entered the room and peered around at the lackluster amount of equipment that was available for him to take. Being that this facility was only supposed to serve as a back-up base of operations, the shelves were not quite as well stocked as in their original headquarters. This was not to mention the fact that everything had an inch thick layer of dust covering it.

Looks like a tomb in here.

(Yeah, I like it! Nice and homey. We should make this place our personal quarters.)

I don’t think so. Figures you’d like living in filth.

(I gotta be me. Besides, I’d get used to it if I were you since we’ll be living in a cave for the foreseeable future anyway.)

Don’t remind me.

Doublecross grabbed a nearby hover cart and began filling it up with only the essentials that they would need to survive in the wild without having to return to base. It wasn’t much but it would do. Like Repugnus had said, they could always steal anything else they needed from the Decepticons. It would be more fun that way.

(We should take more stuff just in case.)

No, you heard Repugnus, we need to leave something for the Autobots here.

(Who cares? They’re irrelevant, anyway. We’re the ones that will win this war, not them!)

We’re not leaving them empty handed. They deserve a fighting chance, too. Now, let’s get going before Repugnus comes looking for us.

As his two personalities continued to bicker, Doublecross managed to grab a hold of the hover cart and steer it out into the hallway. Inside there were energon rations, building tools, some scrap metal, security sensors, mini-cameras and a small portable back-up generator to help power their make-shift underground base. There was also a variety of other electronic devices and spare parts scattered amongst everything as neither of his personas were worried about being organized or neat at this point. Doublecross just wanted to get going before any of the other Autobots discovered what he and his Monsterbot companions were up to.

Equatorial Desert - Underground Lava Tubes

Oh great, their beloved leader agreed with him. Shaking his head Afterburner did as he was instructed not sure what he was supposed to be looking for. The only thing he saw was the occasional scrapes along the walls and floor. He assumed they were natural since he didn’t pay much attention to such things. Unless it had weapons and were trying to kill him there wasn’t any need for him to care.

With all of that being said, he strained his sensors and optics to find anything out of the ordinary in the chamber but his lack of interest and knowledge combined to make his efforts a complete waste of time. Instead of offering anything on his own he turned towards where Strafe stood with a look of exasperation which only increased with Nosecone’s assessment.

“I haven’t found anything but considering we don‘t have a way to deflect the lave flow from coming in here and no place for us to go after we set off these traps I say we fight our way out. How tough could a couple of Cons be?” He looked around at the others expecting some of them to back him when the explosion shook the cavern and sent a pile of rocks and dust onto his head and shoulders. Narrowing his optics he was more than ready to fight. “Any questions?”

Rainforest of Patalappu

"Scrape!" one of them had called out. Apeface stopped in his tracks, letting out a bellowing laugh.

"Scrape?! They send an Autobot named 'Scrape' here to take us on? Who's yer commander? Aft? Rustpile? I shouldn'tve even wasted my time with you socket munchers."

Transforming from his more primal in to his usual robot mode, the Horrorcon produced his semi-automatic sonic gun and leveled it at the first Autobot to line itself up in his sights.

"We have to take you in alive, but they never said 'how' alive you have be," Apeface said before releasing a flurry of destructive sonic wave pulses in the Autobots' direction.
___

Melanossus

The back roads on this planet were every bit as dangerous as speeding through Stanix. The cities were as pristine and orderly as just about anything one would have ever hoped to find on Cybertron during its Golden Age. The outlying areas were pretty bad though, especially the further one got from civilization.

That suited Pointblank just fine. He wanted to keep the natives out of this mess as much as possible. The fact that their slagged political war had found its way to this peaceful planet chafed at the Autobot bad enough already.

Thankfully the scant few Cybertronian energy signatures he had picked up were steadily getting stronger. They had found a nice isolated place to crash their pod from the looks of it too. That was a good sign. Any stray Autobots were going to need every advantage they could get to avoid ending up as casualties of war or, worse, political prisoners for some regional warlord's personal enjoyment.

"Halt Cybertronian! Or you will be fired upon!" an unfamiliar voice called out as Pointblank approached a rocky outcropping.

Instinctively, Pointblank transformed, his weapon already drawn. He held it up in the air, but he wanted it close by, in case he had just made some major foul-up and stumbled upon some other nest of Decepticons.

"Whoa, hey, Autobot here!" Pointblank called out. Well, that'll either get me shot or earn me some new friends.

Simple enough.

"Hey guys! Autobot!" the voice called out again. "I think it's Pointblank!"

Well...they can speak before they shoot. That's a start.

Rainforest of Patalappu

Only seconds after Apeface had jumped off the edge of the waterfall, Snapdragon could see randomly aimed shots piercing the air. The shots had come down from the waterfall, roughly from the same direction his partner had jumped into. Instead of following his fellow Horrorcon down from the edge of the waterfall, Snapdragon transformed into his jet form and blasted into the skies only to make a quick turn in the air before transforming back into to his dinosaur mode in order to position to the left flank of the two Autobots and thus pinning the duo between the two Horrorcons and the waterfall.

Letting loose a roar not too different from the ancient beast his form was modeled after, Snapdragon opened fire at River with his back mounted gyro-guns - with all the intention of breaking the Autobot femme's equilibrium. While he could have rushed at the Autobot and stormed her into the ground, his inner sadist wanted to toy with the Autobot first. And what better way to do so than by first making your opponent totally helpless? It was not like these two could offer the deadly Decepticon commando unit named Horrorcons by the Autobots themselves any real challenge. Neither was even near Skyhammer's caliber and even his courage and experience had helped little against Snapdragon a week or so earlier in the Capital Dome of Koraja.