The Energon Pub

I have been sitting on this for a loooong time, I never got around to doing a final proof read, but I got tired of never having posted it.
This take place just before the Quint invasion, BUT is in no way tied officially to anything, it is simply a fanfic.

Enjoy

Part 1

Flashback
(Before the battle of Agorahex & just after Dynamax won the Battle of succession against his two brothers)

“How could I lose to him!” Supremax kept repeating to himself as he stormed down the corridor leading away from the arena “How could I possibly have lost to that whelp?”
Although badly damaged during the challenge, the medics present at the arena had been able to repair most of the damage before he had awoke. When he did, he took a fraction of his anger out on them by tearing them apart before he stormed out of the arena in anger.
He could hear the renewed cheers of the crowd in the arena as they began the coordination process. This only served to make him madder and drive his fury to heights that not even he had felt before.
“That should be me!” he continued to fume “Not that-that slag!” He finished the sentence so venomously that if anyone had been there would cringed fled in fear.
“How?” he repeated flexing his fists and clinching his jaw.
“I was meant to lead, not that skid plate kissing inferior piece or slag” continued Supremax seething with fury and hate. Needing to take out some of his fury and frustration he started punching the walls and throwing things that lined the corridor as he continued to storm down it.
As he passed a rather frightened guard to the blast doors at the end of corridor, he could not with hold his seething anger anymore and lashed out on the unfortunate guard.
“HOW? HOW? HOW? I WAS MEANT TO BE LEADER OF THE EMPIRE, NOT HIM!” he screamed as he pummeled and tore the poor guard apart.
Feeling no better, he walked though the doorway, leaving behind the remains of the unfortunate guard.
“I am superior in every way to him” he continued talking to himself out loud “He was lucky is all or he che-” Supremax stopped in mid sentence and came to a halt.
“Could he?” he said asking himself “No, that exo-skeletonless skid plate kissing piece of trash is a lot of things, but he would not cheat”
“I am smarter, stronger, and superior to him in every way possible” he continued to think out loud as he walking into one of the many large armories of the arena “So how could I not have lost to an inferior piece of trash unless-” just then Supremax’s thoughts were interrupted.
“Unless he cheated” finished a mocking voice.
“WHAT LOWLY VERMIN DARES INTERRUPT AND SPY ON ME!” Supremax roared looking for fool that had dared spy on him so he could tear them apart.
“Where do you hide cowardly vermin” continued Supremax as he tossed weapons & armor aside to find the hiding place of the culprit. Who would be so foolish to dare interrupt and spy on him, he would tear apart the unfortunate fool that had dared do so.
“Come out so I can punish you for your impedance!” he continued yelling and throwing stuff about the room.
“If I did, then you would never know how Dynamax cheated would you my lord?” replied the mocking voice.
Supremax stopped searching for a moment as what the mocking voice said sunk in.
“Why should I believe the words of a cowardly vermin that hides from me rather then face his punishment?” replied Supremax continuing throwing things about in his search for the source of the voice as he felt he anger growing again.
“You should believe me because I have proof my lord” replied the mocking voice casually.
Supremax stopped again, even though he knew he was getting close to his quarry “What proof do you speak of scraplet” he asked.
“Reach up behind your head and check below your rear neck guard, there you will find my proof my lord” replied the mocking voice.
His anger giving way to wanting to know what the voice was referring to.. At first he did not find anything, but then he touched something small. Feeling anger again, he ripped the device from the back of his neck and studied it.
“What is this thing?” he asked with growing anger.
“It is a Psi-Transmitter my lord” replied the mocking voice.
“A Psi-transmitter” asked Supremax having no idea what such a device was or was used for.
“It is used to transmit the thoughts of someone to someone else, in this case it was used to transmit your thoughts during the fight with Dynamax to him so he could know your actions and react them before you even had a chance to perform them my lord.” answered the mocking voice.
“HE CHEATED, THE SLAGGIN’ COWARD CHEATED!” yelled Supremax as he crushed the device in his hand and threw it across the room.
Boiling with fury, Supremax turned and stormed out of the room, he was going to go back into the arena and expose Dynamax as the cheater he was. He would have him denounced, stripped of his title, and then executed on the spot.
Supremax stopped in mid stride. He would need proof of Dynamax’s treachery and that would require the now damaged device and his mysterious informant. Turning, Supremax went back into the armory.
“How did you know about the psi-transmitter” he demanded of the mocking voice, but there was no answer “ANSWER ME NOW TRASH, OR I WILL HAVE YOU EXECUTED WHEN YOU ARE FOUND AFTER I GET OUT OF YOU THE INFORMATION I NEED !”
Supremax waited a moment for a response and then looked around the armory for the psi-emitter, but found nothing. Cursing and screaming obscenities, Supremax knew that without the device and his lowly trash ‘informant’ for answers he could prove nothing.
Supremax was forced to come up with another plan. He would have to act quickly to put the plan into motion...Dynamax would pay for this dearly. As the thoughts for the new plan came to him, Supremax began to grin evilly.
“Yes, I know exactly how we will settle this once and for all ‘Dear Brother’.”

See Dynamax’s Bio for more details on the events that lead up to & occurred after this.
http://seibertron.com/heavymetalwar/tea ... hp?id=8964

The Present
The war had once again died down into another stalemate, this time however, it seemed to be even worse. Both factions had not only suffered heavy casualties, but splintering amongst their ranks after the last big battle. The result was not only the usual Autobot versus Decepticon, but Decepticon versus Decepticon, new Renegade factions, and even in some cases Autobot versus Autobot. The new factions and sub-factions fought for supremacy & resources amongst themselves; as a result skirmishes were being fought all across the planet. It was during this time that one individual in particular decided to take advantage of the chaos; seeing this was good time to act while everyone else was “Distracted”.

Dynamax’s Base
Soundwave made his way to Dynamax’s throne chamber along with the Cassetticons; he knew that something was going on. as Dynamax’s mood had gone from downright testy and hostile after the last big battle to strangely calm and even “cheerful”...a strange and scary thought indeed he pondered. Yes, he though to himself, something big indeed was being planned.
As he entered the chamber with the rest of the Cassetticons, he instantly noticed that his group was not the only one that had been summoned by Dynamax. The “Unsquishables” lead by Transistors, “The Children of Blitzwing” lead by Tammuz,, the ‘D’s Troyers’ lead by Umbra Domini, “The Atomic Junos” lead by Aphonia, and the recent deserters to the Decepticon cause “The Minions” lead by Viper, and the “Rebels” lead by Robot. Dynamax’s long time friend, Carnosaur, was also present leading his team E.V.I.L.
However, what caught his optical sensors instantly was not that Megatron himself was here, but that Dynabreaker was also present in the same room as her father Dynamax sitting beside Megatron. That made for well over 100 Cons’ with a number of other non-noteworthy individuals bringing the number closer to 150, quite a strong force considering some of the bigger names that were here. Soundwave’s mind began to process the implications and possibilities of what was going on instantly, what was going on?

Dynamax watched each group carefully and listening to them talk as they entered the chamber, . Even after they had all arrived, he waiting and listened, all the while aware of the glare that his daughter was giving him. Finally he deemed the moment right and rose from his seat. The room instantly fell silent, all wanted to know what was going on, soon they would know, or so they thought, they would not know everything until he deemed it necessary.
“Ok, I know all of you are wondering what the purpose of this meeting is about, so I will not waste time talking & get straight to the point”.
“I intend to rid us of a group that has been a pain in out side for too long, even though this group claims to be mercenaries, they continually only ally themselves with the Autobot scum...”
Before he could finish his speech the room was a murmur of voices at what many of them already knew instantly who the target group was, it could only mean one group...
“Yes, I intent to annihilate Z-Team” finished Dynamax.
The room instantly erupted from a murmur to cheers (mostly The Unsquishables), muttering of skepticism (The children of Blitzwing), disbelief (especially Dynabreaker), & surprise (everyone else).
“But most of all, I want that murdering piece of slag Night Beast DEAD!!”
There was an instant quiet over the crowd, they all knew why Dynamax wanted Night Beast dead, it was no secret that he had killed Dynamax’s wife Illumina after the battle of Agorahex. The question was: Is this a tactical move or a mission of revenge.
“Here is my plan....” continued Dynamax.

The plan was ambitious, Dynamax outlined the plan & Tammuz had analyzed it to give them their chances of success as well as their probabilities for failure given all the information he had. His calculations, although thorough & boring as ever, were more then enough to convince everyone that it had a good chance of success & the risks was worth the potential rewards.

Dynamax’s Base (Post meeting)
Megatron was concerned by Dynamax’s behavior, not for his well being, but because his behavior was dangerous & bordering on obsession. Megatron had known what the obsession & desire for revenge could do. It had cost him more then he wanted to admit, but he knew the unavoidable outcome & unavoidable cost.
Death.
Although concerned, he knew there was another to take Dynamax’s place if he should fall or become a hindrance.
She just didn’t know it yet.

The ruins of Melbaklax
Star Raider knew she was taking a big risk in trusting this individual.
She didn’t even know who her source was or what he looked like, the shadowy individual had appeared as a distorted hologram. Although she thought it odd that she would receive such a strange message so shortly after the meeting made her wonder about it’s validity, the fact that it could guarantee Dynamax’s plan success was worth it.
She had considered consulting with Soundwave about it, but then it occurred to her that this could be her big chance to impress the higher ups, specifically she hoped Soundwave.
It was a strange & creepy meeting place that her informant had chosen. Melbaklax was a prison before the war brook out. She had heard it was the nastiest place in all of Cybertron back then; luckily when the war broke out the prison was pretty much destroyed. Who had destroyed it, she did not know as her knowledge of Cybertronian history was limited. Even with her taking ever chance she had to get to know it better, but she still had a lot to learn about it.
Star Raider began getting nervous as she began to pace back & forth, he informant was late & this place was starting to get to her. Some of the stories & little bits of information she had managed to read about this place before she left sent shivers though her.
“You are not very patient or quiet are you” came a mocking voice that startled Star Raider so much she jumped back & lost her footing, throwing her off balance & to the ground. To her shock the floor crumbled below her sending her several meters to a chamber below.
Recovering her wits & dignity, Star Raider looked up at her surroundings & was instantly shocked & horrified by what she saw. The stories of this place were true!!
Scrambling & tripping over her own feet, Star Raider made her way back to where she was originally. Still trying to shake the images she had just seem from her mind, she focused on finding the source of the voice that had caused her to jump in the first place, scanning the area she found not trace of the source of the voice. The shadows & excessive debris made it possible for the culprit to be hiding anywhere.
“I would suggest that you make a lot less noise, although this place is long since deserted, there are still things around here that you would do well to avoid disturbing” came the mocking voice again, this time with amusement.
“Where are you, who are you?” replied Star Raider trying to look dignified.
“That is not important, what is important is what you have come for” replied the mocking voice. “Well, yes” Stumbled Star raider, “But...”
“Then here...catch” replied the mocking voice.
Out of the shadow to the left of her came flying a data pad landing at her feet. Cautiously Star raider reached down for the data pad, all the while searching for the source of the voice.
“How do I know I can trust this information or you?” she asked “And what is your reasons for helping me?” she continued.
Star Raider waited for a response, but none came.
“Hello?” she asked annoyed.
No answer came or was forthcoming. Frustrated, Star raider looked down at the data pad & began taking in it’s contents. The first lines only made her more frustrated as they read “You don’t & my reasons are my own”.
Reading this Star Raider was about to throw the data pad with the intention of smashing it to pieces, but as soon as she started reading further her face of frustration turned to one of absolute glee & joy.

They watched Star Raider’s reaction, and then watched her leave.
All was set in motion; all it had to do now was wait.
The shadowy figure was suddenly aware of HIS presence, it gave a evil smile pulled out a small shiny round object & tossed it on the ground & then disappeared into the shadows.
Moments later Grab stepped onto the seen where moments earlier the shadowy figure had stood. He knew he was close & that his quarry was near. Scanning the area, he spotted the small shiny object on the ground & picked it up.
“Slaggit” he said aloud.
He was here he thought to himself, but as usual though he was moments late. Checking the area he found signs & hints of what had transpired moments before. What was he up to this time, what ever it was; it couldn’t be good for anyone.

Z-Team’s Home Base (location unknown)
Low Blow walked down the corridor of his base checking in on his various troops. Things had been pretty slow of late & the down time, although costly with the lack of work, was well deserved & needed.
Night Beast was no where to be found, but that was normal, Night Beast wouldn’t be found unless he wanted to be & Grab was out on personal business, probably something to do with tracking down some criminal.
He had already checked in on Fix & Meds in the repair bay, but the grunt of annoyance from Fix was all he needed to know that Fix was busy working on his newest “Fix”. Meds had smiled politely, but dared not say anything other then acknowledge Low Blow’s presence with a nod for fear of getting Fix’s ire.
Next he passed the mess hull where most of the Z’s were relaxing & chatting. Most were playing pranks on the new recruit named Siege. Siege was already looking like he would prove to be a valuable asset to the team, especially with his incredible firepower. Low Blow had already seen the damage that his massive cannon could inflict. No wonder the guy was so big, he had to be in order carry around such a massive gun that was meant for anti-fortification & anti-warship as it dwarfed even Low Blow.
Also here were Hardliner Hotbox, Big Red, Bubblegum, Ballbreaker & her twin sister Chainwheel, Dystopian, Frazzle, Firefog, Squirt, Crosswires, Lowdown, Skyward, Dragnet, Disaster Master, Windcaller, Ground Cutter, & another pair of twins Pinhead, & Coppertail. Tigerclaw was also here keeping an eye on things. One of Tigerclaw’s regular group, Bumper Thumper, was strangely absent.
Another member of Tigerclaw’s regular group was also absent, but Tigerclaw had explained that Reflection had been lost in a daring raid contract that his team had pulled off. She had given her life for the rest to escape apparently. She was a great loss for the group, as Reflection was a master of stealth & infiltration.
She was also a good friend to all who knew her, especially Low Blow.
Not wanting to be noticed or dwell on fallen comrades, he quickly moved on.
He moved on to the combat room next where War Track & Head Rush were busy beating each other to a pulp as they “play wrestled”. Poor Night Strike had somehow been coxed into playing referee, so far he looked the worst of the three Low Blow noted with a chuckle to himself.
Still chuckling to himself, he passed the security monitoring room were 360 was suppose to be on duty covering for Grab was out on some personal business. Not surprisingly he was playing some strange video game called “Waspinator’s Revenge”, probably something he stole or swindled from someone. As soon as he spotted Low Blow he immediately switched to acting like he was busy monitoring the cameras. Low Blow gave him a stern look of disapproval & continued moving on. No sooner had he left & he heard the sounds of the game going again.
“Freakin’ slacker” he muttered to himself.
As he continued along the corridor pondering the appropriate punishment for 360, Low Blow came across the practice firing range where Storm Crasher & Razor Wing, were showing off their firepower abilities.
Low Blow watched as Storm Crasher took mere seconds to reduce the decoy to shards with his modified cryogenic gattling gun. Razor Wing took aim & fired at his decoy with a missile, the result was good, but not as impressive as Storm’s.
Giving a look of frustration, Razor Wing suddenly lunged forward at the decoy & sliced it in two with his razor wing arms. Looking back at Storm he gave a grin of satisfaction. Storm Crasher just ignored him & continued practicing, much to Razor Wing’s ire.
Not wanting to disturb them, Low Blow continued on towards the Communications where could hear Bumper Thumper hitting on Muffler Mouth again. Fix must have threatened Bumper Thumper with some hideous form of torture if he touched another one of his work instruments again, that guy would do anything to....Low Blow stopped in mid thought not wanting to even imagine what he was caught doing again !
Waiting only a moment to hear another of Thumper’s come-on lines, he entered the room.
“...come on Mouth, I can change your oil in no time & give you a good engine check while I am at it” he was finishing with a mischievous grin.
“I am trying to work you idiot, this is something important & could possibly effect us seriously” replied Muffler Mouth.
“But I am serious baby!” replied Thumper in a smooth tone.
“GO AWAY or I’ll....” Muffler Mouth stopped in mid sentence when she noticed that Low Blow was there.
“You’ll do what to me babe?” continued Thumper before he noticed Low Blow’s presence “OhhhH, errr hey boss” he grinned guiltily.
“Shud up Tumper, go bodder Storm & Razor, in da practice range befer mes kicks yer skid plate all da way ta Iacon” replied Low Blow trying to act mad while at the same time trying to control himself from bursting out in laughter.
Taking Low Blow seriously, Thumper made a hasty retreat, leaving Muffler Mouth & Low Blow alone. Low Blow waited until he was sure he was gone before speaking.
“Wat’s up on da com tere Mouf?” asked LB.
“There is something that I starting picking up on a low frequency band width when Thumper showed up, it is heavily coded, but I think I managed to break it.” she replied “I am still trying to identify the source, but I am not having much luck” she continued.
“Don worries abot tat, wat’s tey sayin tat has yer atention?” asked Low Blow.
“It seems that Dynamax has found some information that leads him to believe there is something valuable in Agorahex...so valuable that the days of the war are now numbered!!” Muffler Mouth finished with shock.
“Wat has em tink him found tat goin to be able to do tat?” asked Low Blow.
“It’s kinda vague, but I have heard the word ‘Engine of Cybertron’ mentioned several times”
Low Blow seemed to be in deep thought for a moment so Muffler Mouth was afraid to ask anything for fear of interrupting his thoughts.
Finally not able to hold back any longer she asked “What do you think they are talking about L.B., do you know what this ‘Engine of Cybertron’ is ?”
“Nope” lied Low Blow “but let da gang know we’s to assemble & be ready within 8 megacycles & be ready fer eavy combat” he relied “also get da com ready, mes has to make a few calls as well as call in a few favours”.
Muffler Mouth was shocked & sat there speechless, which says a lot.
Waiting only a moment, Low Blow spoke “NOW Mouf would be gud !”
Fumbling things, Muffler Mouth starting doing as Low blow had requested, all the while wondering what was going to happen.

Dynamax’s Base
Star raider couldn’t wait to show her superiors (especially Soundwave) what she had. Running though the hull way she knocked into & over Rumble & Frenzy who were guarding the blast doors to Dynamax’s throne room.
Fumbling to enter her access code, she paid no attention to Rumble & Frenzy who were getting up & looking at each other & then Star Raider with a very annoyed look.
“Hey, wat’s the big rush Star, the least you could do is say sorry!” yelled Frenzy.
“Yah, that’s wasn’t very crosamatic of you” piped in Rumble.
“Sorry” was all Star Raider answered trying to get her code right, but she kept fumbling it in her excitement.
“You know Rumble, I don’t think she really means it” Frenzy said in a snarky voice
“You know Frenzy, I think your right, maybe we should get a real apology out of her!” replied Rumble with nasty gleam in his optics.
Just then Star raider finally got her code right & the blast doors opened, totally ignoring them still, Star Raider run into the chamber leaving Rumble & Frenzy standing there.
Dumb founded, they looked at each other as the doors closed behind her, & then started arguing about who’s fault it was that Star Raider got away without ‘getting her due’.

Star Raider ran into the chamber where Dynamax was going over his plan with the senior members of the various teams. All looked up at Star Raider with a look of annoyance & disapproval, although scared and dismayed she managed to keep herself from shaking with excitement & fear.
“What is the meaning of this interruption Star Raider” bellowed Dynamax “Soundwave, you seem to have a problem with your troops knowing better then interrupting a war meeting!”
Soundwave’s optics flared at the accusation & then narrowed towards Star Raider, this had better be good he thought, Star Raider would pay otherwise for making him look bad.
“What is the meaning of this interruption Star Raider, speak & make it quick before I decide to have you melted down to slag” Spoke Dynamax.
“I-I-I-I ummmm,,,” stammered Star Raider
Dynamax’s face retorted from annoyance to anger and he began to raise his gun towards Star Raider.
A hand stopped Dynamax from leveling the gun on Star Raider at the last moment. Infuriated, Dynamax was ready to lash out until he realized the hand belonged to Megatron.
“Let her speak” was all that Megatron said in a flat voice “but this had better be good” he finished.
Struggling to control his anger, Dynamax sat down and then indicated to Star Raider to continue or else.
“I-I-I...” Star raider was still struggling to find her voice, but finally she forced herself to talk before it was too late “I have valuable information that could make your plan to take out Z-Team much easier and effective sir”
Catching Dynamax’s & the other’s attention, Star Raider continued “I have managed to gain access to the location of Z-Team’s Base, access codes to it, the bases schematics, & the security system outlay “she managed to finish.
There was muttering of disbelief & even a few accusations of lies, but these were quickly silenced when Dynamax rose to his feet & spoke “How did you get a hold of this ‘so-called’ information Star raider” spoke Dynamax with a hint of something that no one could identify in his voice. Megatron however recognized it instantly; it was excitement & something Dynamax rarely showed.
All optics turned towards Star raider again and waited for the answer they all wanted to know. “I-I-I was given it by someone, but I am not exactly sure WHO, I believe the information is good and that their intentions are...”
“WHO IS IT STAR RAIDER?!?” demanded Dynamax with a sudden outburst as his expression went from excitement to anger again.
“I-I-I don’t know s-s-sir, bu....” finished Star Raider quickly with a frightened voice.
The murmurs began again, but this time with a lot of anger & disapproval aimed at Star Raider & even Soundwave.
“You interrupt our meeting & bring unverified information, can you at least tell me where you got this information?!?” interrupted Dynamax with a hint of anger growing in his voice again & a trembling fist.
“T-T-This is why s-s-sir” stumbled Star Raider pulling out a holo-emitter in her shaky hand. Turning the small item on & holding it in her palm, the hologram began to play.
A shadowy figure appeared before them, the image was blurred as well, making identifying the outline of the figure impossible to identify.
“Greetings Dyna, I see that you have received my information, I suppose you have questions to why I am helping you” spoke the gargled, but mocking voice.
“How dare you...” started Dynamax as his anger was reaching a boiling point.
“We can talk or we can exchange taunts Dyna, what do you want more?” interrupted the mocking voice.
Dynamax was ready trembling with rage, but he wanted information & the destruction of Night Beast more so slowing he sat down....much to everyone else’s relief.
Sneering, Dynamax indicated for his adversary to continue.
“Good, now let’s talk....” continued the mocking voice.
Lost in the exchange was a look from Dynamax that sent Soundwave to the communications room with the order to locate & identify their ‘friend’.

After the meeting with their ‘new friend’, Dynamax had ordered everyone to leave the throne room, but as they left, Dynamax spoke again “Soundwave, Robot, Viper, Tammuz, I would speak with you alone now” he stated flatly.
Although getting the ire of some and the envy from others, all named stayed where they were & waited for the room to clear.
Dynabreaker also moved to leave the room, but Megatron held out his arm in front of her and stopped her “You stay here as well” he spoke simply, but in a way that was an obvious command, not a request.
Megatron had made no move to leave the room, he didn’t have to, all knew that all of Dynamax’s orders applied to everyone but him.
“Soundwave, make sure all security measures are in place, then we shall speak” stated Dynamax.
Soundwave nodded & proceeded to do as he was told leaving the room to the adjacent security room, a few moments later he returned & nodded to Dynamax to let him know all was ready.
“Good, now let me get to the point of having only us here,...” started Dynamax.

Z-Team’s Base (Battle room)
Almost the whole gang was here; Storm Crasher, War Track, 360, Bumper Thumper, Muffler Mouth, Fix, Medical Alert, Night Strike, Razor Wing, Squirt, Hardliner, Death Sentence, Tigerclaw, Head Rush, Hotbox, Bubblegum, Big Red, Dystopian, Frazzle, Windcaller, Ballbreaker, Chainwheel, Patchwork, Crosswires, Lowdown, Skyward, Roadripper, Ground Cutter, Pinhead, Coppertail, Firefog, Dragnet, & of course the newest member Siege. A total of 34 in total present including Low Blow.
The only ones missing were Night Beast, who had said he would catch up to them, Grab who still had not returned from his personal business, he was overdue & was not answering his comm, & a few other Z-Team members that were already on assignment.
Low Blow was getting impatient & knew he had to make a decision.
“Okie bots, listens up” he spoke out over the chatter & buzz about what was going on “Wes is headin’ to Agorahex to find out wat Dyna is up ta & stop em’, yas ave all been briefed on wat wes is up against.”
“Razor Wing, yas will be staying back to keep an optic on da base” Low Blow knew Razor Wing was not going to like being left behind, so he gave him a little hope “But once Grab getz back, yas can join up wit us.” Low Blow finished & was happy to see less frustration in Razor Wing’s expression. “If any of yas ave any questions, ask em’ now”.
Almost all hands in the room shot up at once.
Anticipating a few of the questions, Low Blow continued “Yes, mes of course has already talked to da Autobots & made sure wes is goin to get paid gud fer this mission” most of the hands in the air lowered.
“Yes, tere is a chance yas is goin to die Night Strike” continued Low Blow seeing Night Strike’s hand in the air.
“No, wes is NOT goin to da ‘Hoodless Wonder’ nudey Bar Tumper, so don’t ask”answered Low Blow to the obvious question that Bumper Thumper wanted to ask..
“And tere will be lots o’ slaggin’ to be done fer us all” he answered Death Sentence’s glare.
That left only one hand in the air.
“Yes Mouf?”
Muffler Mouth wasn’t even sure what her question was, all she knew was that she was troubled by what she had heard & Low Blow’s earlier response. “N-N-Nothing, just lets be careful” she replied putting her hand down.
Low Blow gave her a wondering look & then continued.
“Okie Z’s, lets roll out & roll over em’ ” shouted Low Blow with the Z-Team motto phrase.

Agorahex (Decepticon Forces)
Dynamax & his command watched Z-Team approach the trap he had laid. It looked like Low Blow had brought most of the Z-Team members. Good he thought to himself, this was better then planned. With everyone & everything was in place, all he had to do was wait just a little longer.
Standing beside Dynamax, Carnosaur could feel his urges & instincts starting to take over. Dynamax, as if sensing his long time friend’s mood, looked to him and nodded.
With that, Carnosaur moved carefully and quickly to the join his team in the first wave, as well as to let Nemesis Jetfire know to get ready. Soon the slaughter would begin.

Tammuz was a being of science, of facts, of probabilities, & calculations. If all these were accounted for, then they were assured victory, but there were always X factors that could never all be accounted for & these were things that even he could not control.
Waiting for the right time was a calculation, attacking with the best advantages was a calculation, anticipating an opponents most likely actions was a probability, having all the information you needed were facts, & finally using all of these for the best possible outcome was a calculation.
The problem was that all probabilities are not 100% & that is what always worried him. He had presented all of these to Dynamax during the mission planning with all their possibilities, & possible outcomes. He had warned Dynamax of certain very unlikely scenarios that could turn things against their plan. In the end, Dynamax had dismissed them as too unlikely or almost impossible, in a moment they would all know if he was right....

Umbra Domini was had mixed feelings about taking Z-Team out. Most of them and his team could call friends when off the battle field and hanging out at the neutral Pax Energon Pub. Sure they had crossed paths on the battlefield before, but it was never anything personal.
This ambush was personal and he knew it. It was not personal for the D’s Troyers with the except for one individual that Umbra had a personal grudge with. For many of the other Decepticons here however, it was personal, specifically Dynamax.
He knew by the end of this battle, no matter what happened, they would regret this.

Everyone from the Cassetticons was there, all his cassettes, Star Raider, Syphonic, Sythonic, Sustain, Valclaron, and even Thundertron. Thundertron was reluctant, but Dynamax had given him no choice in the matter.
Soundwave was eagerly anticipating the forthcoming battle. There had been so many battles upon which he had participated in that he could not begin to count them all, but this was one of the few that he remembered actually anticipating and looking forward to.

Transistors could hardly contain his excitement, it was uncharacteristic of him, but if all went good today BIG change would happen. Now if only Dynamax would give the slaggin’ signal to attack. He could see Z-Team was almost were they wanted them to spring the ambush. He could tell his team was also feeling anxious and edgy as well.
They had all waiting a long time for this day, sure it wasn’t the revenge against the Autobots that the Unsquishables really wanted, but if this went well he had a feeling it would feel just as good.
THERE it was the attack signal. Transistors turned to his team & shouted “For revenge, WE ARE UNSQUISHABLE!” and with that signal all the Unsquishables began their attack.

Aphonia was anxious and nervous. Anxious because the signal would soon be given to attack, but nervous because her team was part of the first wave to attack. Although they also had good veterans teams helping lead the charge like The Unsquishables and E.V.I.L. commanded by Nemesis Jetfire, she knew that her less experienced team would be up against some very battle tested and seasoned veterans with Z-Team.
She was trying to come up with a way to make sure her team came out of this battle with as few casualties as possible, how she could not figure out as all the scenarios she came up with for being in the first wave came up with bad results.
Then it happened, the signal was given, she hadn’t come up with a plan fast enough and now time was up. The Unsquishables were already charging out and so was E.V.I.L., she had to act or suffer disciplinary actions against her. Her team was looking at her wondering why she hadn’t given the order to attack.
With the thought of disciplinary action from Dynamax in mind, she did the only thing she could do.
“Let’s slag em’ Juno’s!” yelled Aphonia joining the charge.

part 2

Agorahex (Battle Begins)
Muffler Mouth was worried, although she was doing her best, the radiation in the area was wrecking havoc with her sensors. She was finding it almost impossible to make heads or tails out of the readings she was getting, forcing her to guess & she didn’t like that at all. Low Blow however didn’t seem too overly concerned & that put her a little at ease, it was still was worrisome though.
It was while she was worrying about this and still attempting to get her sensors to work that it started.
All at once the combined forces that Dynamax had assembled started shooting and converging on Z-Team at once. At first it appeared that most of Z-team was too stunned to react as several of them went down quickly to the onslaught of Dynamax’s ambush.
Hotbox went down first, almost instantly, when he hit an energon mine while not paying attention as usual. Although almost blown to pieces, he was lucky enough to only be left in stasis lock.
This was the signal for the attack.
The first targets of the attack were Muffler Mouth and Bubblegum, obvious targets as communications experts amongst Z-Team. Muffler Mouth went down first with a massive blast hole in her chest and several other blast marks indicated that she may have already joined the matrix. Low Blow didn’t hesitate though and pulled her body to cover, ordering Medical Alert to attend to her as Fix, Big Red, Ballbreaker, and Chainwheel were already busy with the others.
Bubblegum, with her bright Pink neon Volks Wagon Bug mode, was only seconds behind Muffler Mouth. Although not as bad as Muffler Mouth, she too was in stasis lock before she knew what hit her.
Bumper Thumper was the first of the non-communications experts to be taken out by enemy fire with most of all the initial attacks not aimed at Muffler Mouth and Bubblegum aimed at him. For some reason almost all the male Decepticon attackers had singled him out, perhaps the stories about him infiltrating some of the Decepticon ranks, specifically the female ones, were true...
Pinhead and Firefog were next as the enemy fire was directed to keeping Z-Team’s fliers from taking off.
Next was Hardliner with several direct blasts hitting him. Luckily his combiner trailer body armor took most all the damage. He himself was still pretty banged up, but lucky to still be functional.
The rest suffered minor to heavy damage before they managed to get into cover & began returning fire.
Death Sentence, Siege, and Disaster Master were all taking a heavy pounding as their size prevented them from taking any real cover, luckily their heavy armor was absorbing or deflecting most of the damage so far.
Pinned down and unable to muster any air support without getting shot down immediately, as Night Strike had quickly and unfortunately found out, they would be immediately shot down if they tried to take off. At the same time the ground forces of Dynamax were advancing from all sides.

Z-Team Base (As the ambush is sprung)
Razor Wing was bored, Grab had still not returned and he was afraid he would miss out on all the action. He had stared at the monitors and sensors for hours now with no sign of Grab and not a word from the rest of Z-Team.
It was not surprising to not hear from the team, they were going into a high radiation zone so communications would be limited or none existent.
Hoping to get a break in his boredom, Razor Wing went to get himself an energon drink.

Agorahex (The battle continues)
Dynamax could not help but grin as he watched the initial results of the ambush from the overlooking building. Things were proceeding as planned & there was nothing that Z-Team could do.
“Tell the air and artillery forces to keep them pinned down, give the ground forces the order to charge but to concentrate their shooting on taking down Death Sentence, lets fin....”
Dynamax’s sentence was cut off as a massive blast from the surrounded Z-Team cut a swath right throw the center of his ground forces in front of them, scattering and throwing them everywhere if they were lucky. Even Dynamax was forced to dodge out of the way or be caught in the arc of fire.
“What the slagging void was that?!?” Dynamax yelled at Datamatrix.
Datamatrix, also stunned by the show of firepower, could think of only one member of Z-Team that could create such a weapon “One of Storm Crasher’s inventions, perhaps a new weapon on Death Sentence?” he suggested.
“That attack did not come from Death Sentence or Storm Crasher, it came from that massive tank that I have never seen before, who or what the slag is it?” Dynamax shouted over the sounds of battle “Take it out NOW, before it takes us all out !” he continued.
Dynamax knew he had to react quickly, his first wave was stunned and scattered by that blast, if he didn’t react soon, panic could set in amongst his forces, especially the less experienced ones, and the whole plan could fall apart before it even began.
Datamatrix began trying to transmit the orders to the other Decepticons, but the radiation was making communication difficult. Dynamax had chosen Agorahex because of this to prevent Z-Team from calling in any help, but the disadvantage of course is that it also affected them. The locations, with all its debris made a large ambush possible, but at the cost of also giving Z-Team cover. Datamatrix would be forced to use more primitive and less effective methods of communication as Dynamax had anticipated this necessity.

Low Blow was not happy at all, he had suspected that Dynamax might try something, but this was overkill....or perhaps not he thought to himself. Perhaps Dyna had finally decided to end this feud with Night Beast once and for all and Z-Team was part of that plan. It would make sense, in fact the more that he thought about, the more he was convinced that it was what they were up against.
It was just then the massive blast that Siege had blasted a hole in the Decepticon force in front of Z-Team, disrupting their attack, and leaving most of them stunned, scattered, or worse by the show of firepower. Thinking quickly, Low Blow went into action and onto the offensive.
“Lets get em’ Z’s, time fer sum slaggin’” he yelled “If wes is goin down, wes is takin some of tem wit us !”
Leading the charge, Low Blow lead the Z-Team members on an attack against the shattered Decepticon line in front of them, catching them off guard.
Meanwhile, Death Sentence, Siege, and Squirt, gave what cover fire they could while protecting Fix, Medical Alert, Big Red, Ballbreaker, and Chainwheel while they worked on their fallen team members.

The first Decepticon to react was Berserker, who came charging at Low Blow with unnatural ferocity. Low Blow was not aware of him as he faced off against his old rival Transistors; it wasn’t until a large white object crashed into the side of Berserker, sending the primitive minded mutt flying, that he became aware of the evident danger. Head Rush had been right behind him and had gone into a full charge to cover the distance to intercept Berserker. Shaking off the effects of the hit, Berserker got up and charged at Head Rush with blind fury, snarling and salivating. Head Rush in turn wasted not time going into another full on charge right at Berserker. The two came crashing together with shattering violence.
Once again Berserker was on the worst end of a collision as the more heavily armored Head Rush knocked him aside, transformed to robot mode, then jumped on him, and started pounding away at him.
The primitive minded wolf-bot knew only to attack until it was told to stop by it’s master or until it was in stasis lock. So with single minded fury it fought back and bit into Head Rush’s side and tore a chuck out of him.
As equally single minded, Head Rush knew he had found enemy and enemy he would pound. Ignoring the pain in his side he continued pounding away with his fists, all the while the Berserk mute continued to claw and bite at him until his attacks started to slow, but even then Head Rush would not relent as he continued punching Berserker into unrecognizable scrap.
It was then that volley of missiles struck Head Rush in his weakened side, blowing him and Berserker to a mangled pile of scrap.
Nemesis Jetfire landed beside the mess he had created and quickly examined it. Checking Berserker’s vitals Nemesis Jetfire knew the mute was most likely finished, not that he really cared, he had hated the creature. He had not intended to have him caught in the blast, but he had to react quickly as it was obvious that the primitive mute was in trouble.
The Rhino, however, he could care even less about. With that thought he turned his rifle towards the smoldering mess that was Head Rush.
It proved to be a good move as he was able to spot Disaster Master and Dragnet coming at him.
Avoiding the shots from Dragnet, he unleashed a hail of fire from his Rifle and his head mounted lasers. Dragnet was able to avoid the head mounted lasers, but was struck several times by the Nemesis Jetfire’s Rifle sending him crashing to the ground, where the Joker sadistically finished him off.
Wasting little time to enjoy his easy victory, he turned towards the charging giant Disaster Master and let loose his remaining armor Piercing missiles. The blast was impressive, but the lumbering brute kept coming as his forearm field generators had absorbed the explosions.
Thinking quickly he took to the sky. He spotted the nearby Joker who had some grunts helping him tear Dragnet apart and yelled to them “Slow that brute down until I am able to get some help to take him down!”
Looking up with a sadistic smile of enjoyment, the Joker looked to see what Nemesis Jetfire was yelling about. Spotting Disaster Master, Joker ordered the grunts to attack him while he kept him busy with cover fire.
Shouting and enjoying the thrill their recent kill, the grunts moved stop Disaster Master. Their enjoyment was short lived as Disaster Master simply brushed them aside and trampled them into the ground leaving Joker to face the brute by himself.
The Joker’s expression did not change, but did register a moment of hesitation. Reaching the Joker, Disaster Master attempted to trample the small laughing pest, but the quick and agile motorcycle easily avoided him.
Turning to deal with the annoying Joker, not because they he was attacking him, but because he was taunting him, Disaster Master continued punching and swiping at him.
Transforming to Motorcycle mode with his headmaster Jack and Ace as riders, Joker moved to avoid Disaster Master’s attacks. Again he easily avoided the attacks while taunting him about his thoughts being the only thing slower then his attacks. As he did so however, he did not see a follow-up swipe attack by Disaster Master’s other hand and was sent flying though the air.
Landing hard, the Joker and Jack were stunned by the attack. Ace wasn’t as lucky as he landed in the charging path of Disaster Master as he came at the Joker again. Disaster Master didn’t see the hapless human on the ground in his charge. Ace, who was also stunned by the hit and landing hard, had only a second to look up and see Disaster Master’s massive gorilla like arm coming down before being reduced to a bloody splatter.
“GAAaaaaaaaagh” screamed the Joker in pain at the loss of one of his Headmaster.
The second Headmaster was not effected by the loss as badly, although still suffering a bad headache amongst others things, was still able to react.
“JOKER, MOVE IT NOW!” yelled Jack both verbally & mentally.
This seemed to snap Joker out of his pain and reacted to avoid Disaster Master’s next attack. Although he avoided the attack, he reactions were now sluggish.
Watching the struggle from above, Nemesis Jetfire made sure he was far enough away from Disaster Master. Firing a flare into the air, he gave the signal for the artillery to direct fire at his ground position. Watching from above, he waited for the inevitable.
Moments later, a surprised Disaster Master and a cursing Joker were hit by the artillery. It took several minutes of concentrated fire to take Disaster Master down, but eventually the brute fell. The joker was not as lucky and was blown to pieces by the barrage of fire, while Jack was no where to be found.
Surveying the battlefield from above and smiling to himself at finally ridding himself of the hated Joker, Nemesis Jetfire was calculating what the next best course of action was when he was struck in the optics by what he assumed was a lucky shot. Surprised and stunned by the hit, Nemesis Jetfire surveyed the area with his one good remaining optic to see who had gotten such a lucky shot. Then he spotted the culprit, but then it was too late as a second shoot struck him in his remaining optic, followed by several shots to the vulnerable joins on his body. Incapacitated by the shots, Nemesis Jetfire began to free fall towards the ground.
From the defensive position amongst the ruins that Z-Team had taken up, Squirt had waited for Nemesis Jetfire to spot him with his armor piercing sniper rifle before taking out his second optic and all his limb actuators. Watching him fall to the ground, Squirt made a rude gesture towards the free falling Nemesis Jetfire and yelled at him as he came crashing to the ground.
“Slag you and enjoy the fall scrap sucka!”

Right after Berserker, it was the Unsquishables lead by Transistors that recovered the quickest, eager to exact revenge upon Z-Team members that had humiliated them so many times.
As the melee around them swirled and more Decepticons joined in after recovering from the initial shock, Low Blow and Transistors traded blows back and forth. Finally Low Blow was knocked back onto the ground by a stray blast from the raging battle. Standing over him, Transistors gave Low Blow a grin of victory as he raised his weapon for the finishing blow.
“Like I always said L.B., I am UNQUI....Oh-no !!” was all that Transistors managed to say before a large shadow came over him.
With resounding crunching and snapping sounds, Death Sentence’s foot came down directly on top of the hapless Decepticon before he could react.
The rest of the Unsquishables were stunned at first, but then continued their assault, vengeance meant more to them then anything, their hatred overwhelming their loss. The moment that had stunned them though was all that the Z’s needed to cut several of them down and gain the upper hand.
This left the inexperienced Aphonia and her team to slow them down until more Decepticons joined the fight. The result was swift and one sided, not one of the Atomic Junos was left standing, but their sacrifice did buy the Decepticons the time they needed to regroup.

The D’s Troyers were one of the unlucky groups to be in the path of the blast by Siege. Dazed and confused by the blast, Umbra Domini looked around at the destruction the massive blast had wrecked upon the Decepticon line, specifically his team. Only Rapidhit, Breechload, Image Burn, and himself from his team had survived the blast.
Their titanic sized battleship that had been hidden in the ruins, Void Seeker, had also been taken out as he had attempt to protect the rest of the D’s Troyers by moving in front of the blast as it came at them. The blast seemed as if it would be stopped by the behemoths’ massive body as it slowed for a moment when it struck him, but then the continuous blast finally tore though his left chest side and continued it’s path forward. In the end, all it had done was buy them enough time to avoid being stasis locked themselves instead of obliterated.
Although Void Seeker had bought them time, his stasis locked body had crushed even more hapless and stunned Decepticons as it fell backwards from the blast, including most of the D’s Troyers. Even team E.V.I.L. suffered loses from the fallen behemoth..
Umbra Domini could hear a few moments of stunned silence on the battle field, then the sounds of renewed battle. Still trying to gather his stunned senses, he was oblivious to all around him as he stared around blankly. It wasn’t until he saw Breechload take a direct hit that put him into stasis lock that his senses started to clear. Then Rapidhit came screaming towards him and pointing past him. By then it was too late, the now attacking forces of Z-Team were amongst them fighting with the Unsquishables and Junos.
Then there was nothing but shouts, blasts, curses, and screens of pain.
Umbra Domini turned to see what Rapidhit was screaming about just in time to see and avoid a blast from Dystopian. Not stopping in his charge, Rapidhit came right at Dystopian with murderous vengeance for taking out his brother. His senses now recovered, Umbra Domini joined Rapidhit in his charge while Image Burn gave cover fire with his lethal X-Ray weapon.
Sidestepping Rapidhit’s charge, Dystopian reversed his modified shotgun and slammed the butt end into the back of Rapidhit’s head as he flew by sending him to the ground violently. He then avoided a deadly blast from Image Burn, reversed his weapon again and blew the charging Umbra Domini’s right leg off sending him crashing to the ground as well. Without hesitation he fired a second shot in the back of Umbra Domini as lay helplessly screaming in pain on the ground.
Another shot by Image Burn nicked Dystopian in the right side of his body. With surprising speed Dystopian closed the distance between himself and Image Burn before he could fire again. With one swift motion he knocked Image Burn’s weapon out of his hand, caught it, reversed it, and fired it on it’s stunned owner. Image Burn collapsed with a massive hole burned into his chest.
Dropping Image Burn’s weapon, Dystopian turned to Rapidhit.
Recovering from the blow to his head, Rapidhit looked up to find Dystopian standing over him with his shotgun aimed at his head.
Giving him a look of disgust, he said “Go ahead, finish it scum”
Without hesitation Dystopian did just that. Showing no emotion, Dystopian turned towards Umbra Domini with the intention of finishing him off next. However, when he turned towards him he caught a blast to the chest by Image Burn’s weapon that left a massive hole in his chest. Dystopian showed no emotion as he collapsed to the ground and into stasis lock.
Lying not far away, Umbra Domini dropped Image Burn’s weapon and let himself slip into stasis lock.

On such a large battle field, it was ironic that two such combatants should meet each cutting down opposition with great skill and ease until they stood in front of each other, on opposing sides.
Tigerclaw and Dreadknight had never met before, but each had heard of each other. Both gave the other a slight bow of the head and with an unspoken word between them they flew into action, trading blows back and form, testing each others defensive and combat abilities, all the while each taking the odd swing to cut down anyone foolish enough to try to interfere with their fight.
It was the type of fight that would have gone until one of them ran out of energy or made a mistake. Fate had other plans though as an overly eager Frenzy fired wildly into the Z-Team position hitting both Bots’ and Cons’. Unfortunately for Dreadknight, one of these poorly aimed shots struck him in the back. The shot was only minor, but it was enough to make him stumble slightly and that was all that Tigerclaw needed as he cut Dreadknight down, sending him into stasis lock. Tigerclaw had not seen the stray shot hit Dreadknight and caused him to stumble; otherwise he would have never struck him down in such a dishonorable manner.

Carnosaur wanted to tear something apart that is all he could think about as he charged towards Z-Team. He wants to tear things apart and hear them scream.
Although his enemies were giving heavy resistance fire to keep the Cons’ at bay, the sheer number of them was overwhelming, and allowed Carnosaur to cover the distance to them without being noticed so long as he was careful to move cover to cover. The rest of the Cons’ couldn’t keep up with him and were forced to stay in cover.
Just a little closer and he would be able to tear things and listen to them scream. It was all he could think about.
It was then that one of the Z-team members spotted Carnosaur, it was the tank named War Track, a strong, very tough, and worthy opponent he thought to himself, although notoriously not very bright. Not wasting any time he charged the big tank.
Strangely enough War Track just looked at him & smiled “You want to play?” he asked innocently.
Ignoring the obvious fool, Carnosaur continued his charge and rammed into War Track with all his force, sending War Track back a considerable distance & landing on his skid plate.
“Hey, I not say Ready-Set-G...” War Track’s sentence was cut off by Carnosaur’s fist slamming into his head sending him flying backwards once again.
“You not play fair, I no like you, me sick Fizzy Bunny on you!” yelled War Track in a childish manner.
Having no idea what this fool was talking about, Carnosaur began charging War Track again with the intention of finishing him off. It was then that War Track pulled out a small round red and white ball with the words ‘Fizzy Bunny’s house’ on it and threw it to the ground in front of Carnosaur.
“Get ‘em Fizzy Bunny” he yelled.
Thinking the ball might be some kind of bomb, Carnosaur came to a skidding halt just as a small creature materialized out of the ball.
“Kremzeek!” was all it said.
Puzzled, but getting annoyed by the obviously harmless creature that he had though a bomb, Carnosaur decided to put an end to this and get on with tearing War Track apart. Transforming to Robot Mode, he leveled his gun at War Track and fired hitting him in the chest. Although damaged, War Track was well known for being a tough Bot’ and just stood there with a annoyed look on his face.
“I really not like you now, Fizzy Bunny not like you now either, you make him angry !” yelled War Track accusingly.
“Kremzeek, Kremzeek!” repeated the annoying little creature, but this time with some threatening tone.
“Get em’ Fizzy Bunny!” yelled War Track.
Carnosaur didn’t wait to see what the creature would do; he quickly transformed to T-Rex mode and snapped the creature up in his jaws.
“FIZZY BUNNY!” cried War Track as he charged towards Carnosaur “Let Fizzy Bunny go you meanie-bot or I tear you apart!”
Finally he would get a fight out of this pathetic opponent thought Carnosaur to himself. Grinning, Carnosaur moved to meet War Track’s charge
It was then that Carnosaur began to have a pains in his food processor. Then he could feel his circuits inside start to overheat and burn out as pain began to wrack his body. Doubling over in pain, Carnosaur was left helpless and wondering what was going on..
It was then that the strange little creature called “Fizzy Bunny” jumped out of Carnosaur.
Before going into stasis lock Carnosaur mumbled “Me hate fizzy bunnies...”

Coming to a halt and standing over the now stasis locked Carnosaur, War Track spoke to the Kremzeek “Good Fizzy Bunny, you my bestest friend!”
The small creature turn towards War Track and replied “Kremzeek!”
“What is it Fizzy Bunny?” asked War Track.
Without warning the Kremzeek began attacking War Track.
Before joining Carnosaur in stasis lock, War Track could be heard screaming “Bad Fizzy Bunny, Bad Fizzy Bunny! ”

Dynamax could not believe what he was seeing, his plan that had been so carefully set was beginning to crack and fall apart. Even stranger, Z-Team was ACTUALLY attacking them now. His troops were barely holding their own; it was obvious that they were on their heels and on the brink of panic, possibly even break.
To make matters worse, there were rumors of a Kremzeek running amuck on the battle field causing chaos and spreading panic!
Dynamax was hoping he would not have to resort to this, but he had been extremely careful in his planning and had made contingency plans in case things somehow had gone wrong.
Grabbing Datamatrix, Dynamax put his contingency plans into action...

Z-Team Base (As the battle continues)
Razor Wing was just sitting down after getting himself a Energon drink when all the monitors and the computer system all blinked at once.
“What’s going on here now?” he asked out loud.

Outside the Decepticon team waited for the signal and then reacted. Moving from their hidden positions, they took out the defensive turrets and alarms as quickly as possible and then moved into the base unopposed.
Remaining outside, the Minions and Rebels waited and monitored their fellow Decepticons progress, it was their job to act as lookout and watch for any returning Z-Team members. Their orders: to intercept and exterminate any that they found.
Strangely enough, none of the alarms or defensive turrets reacted to the Decepticon intrusion....

Agorahex (The battle turns)
Low Blow was beginning to think they might be able to pull this off, some of the Decepticons were beginning to hesitate in their attack and others were beginning to have panic set in.. For the most part, only the more battle hardened or stubborn individuals were still trying to push forward.
Then suddenly from behind him a powerful energy blast hit Siege directly. Although Siege had already been hit badly by the Decepticons, his armor had managed to withstand the attacks. Now however, his armor finally buckled under the powerful energy blast sending shards of metal everywhere and leaving him in stasis lock ...or so Low Blow hoped. It had been mostly Siege’s attacks that had kept the Decepticons on their heels as Z-Team had gone on the offensive.
Turning to see what had happened; Low Blow spotted the source of the attack:
Megatron.

Dynamax watched with satisfaction as reinforcements arrived lead my his father. Almost instantly after the destruction of super heavy siege tank the tide of battle began to turn again as Dynamax’s forces began to rally at the sight of the mighty Megattron, forcing Z-Team back and into a defensive position again pinning them down.
To make sure though, he sent a second wave lead by Thundertron with the remaining Cassetticons, Children of Blitzwing, and most of his remaining command forces to help reinforce the now decimated first wave.
Something however was bothering Dynamax, in the heat of the battle he knew he had all but forgotten about something and only now he was remembering...Night Beast.
“Where is Night Beast?” he demanded
His command staff around him all shrugged.
“No one has seen him at all commander” answered Datamatrix
“Then where...?” he began to wonder and worry.

Megatron had felt satisfaction in taking out the bothersome siege tank that had almost single handedly nearly destroyed Dynamax’s plan, now he and the reinforcements turned their attention to the next greatest and biggest threat... Death Sentence.

Z-Team’s Base (As the battle tide turns)
The Decepticons worked as fast as possible to get to their objective: the Z-team computer. If things continued to go well, they would have full control of the base in no time and contact commander Dynamax so they could start looting the base of Energon and weapons stockpiles.

Razor Wing had immediately set the base on auto-defense mode and activated all internal defenses. He knew something was up, but wasn’t sure what.
He continued to watch all the monitors and sensors for any sign of an attack or intruder, but there had been no signs of either and no alarms had sounded. So intent was he that he did not notice the shadowy figure walk up behind him until it was almost too late.
“Hey... !?!” was all he managed to say before a blade was plunged into his body and though his spark.
“W-W-Wh......?” were his last words.
The shadowy figure let razor Wing collapse to the ground before it went over to the central control. Working quickly the shadowy figure set the base for self destruct and then departed..

The Decepticons inside were reporting their success to Viper and Robot. The mocking voice’s had been true to their word, no security alarms had sounded, no turrets had gone off, and all the access codes they had were valid, now most of the enemy base was now secured.
With this confirmed, the two groups were just about to leave their position to enter the base when the whole base went up in a massive explosion that shook the surrounding area for par-sects away.
No one would ever know what had really happened or transpired inside.

Agorahex (A great warrior falls?)
The battle was very costly for all involved, only a handful of Z-team members remained, but at the same time very few of the original Decepticon forces that had attacked remained, most being incapacitated by the attacks of Siege and Death Sentence.
Those that remained were either close to stasis lock or low of energon, but still they continued to fight on. The reinforcements, lead by Megatron, and the second wave lead by Thundertron were making all the difference.

“FALL ! FALL ! FALL ! Before the might of Megatron!” yelled Megatron as he fired another blast at Death Sentence.
Although badly leaking fluids from various blast holes and cracks in his incredibly thick armor by previous attacks, Death Sentence still stood. The last blast by Megatron however had shook Death Sentence so badly he stumbled, but still he stood.
“Inferior low life scraplets...DIE !” was Death Sentence’s words in return as he charged his plasma cannon to full and fired at the source of the last attack against him.
In his robot mode Megatron would have easily avoided the attack, but in his tank mode he wasn’t as quick. Although incredibly well armored, the attack by Death Sentence struck him dead center with such force and power that not even his incredibly tough body could withstand it. In a massive explosion that stunned everyone on the battle field, Megatron was almost completely vaporized into molten metal.
The effect was instant, the reinforcements halted their attack and stared at the wreckage of what was the most famous and most powerful Decepticon that had ever lived. The original remaining attacking forces of Dynamax’s also just stood there staring as well in stunned silence
For Dynamax the effect was even worse “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo.........” he yelled with incredible volume that not one individual on the battle field did not hear him.
“Amazon, get down there and attend to him NOW or...” were the only words that Dynamax could get out of himself before he was interrupted.
“Sssshe’ssss, not ablessssss to’sssss helpssss him Dyna” came the most hated voice that Dynamax knew.
Turning to find the source, Dynamax realized that all his immediate command staff were gone, Datamatrix, Amazon, and the others laying not far away from him in stasis lock or worse.
“How did...?” was all that Dynamax could get out before his rage took over.
“I will kill you once and for all you murdering Slag!” Dynamax shouted as he lunged at Night Beast.

Z-Team’s Base (What’s left of it)
Grab was returning to base when he witnessed the blast from a distance. The explosion was big enough to worry him, but the blast effect that followed and reached him were enough to send him into panic. He ran as fast as he could, all the while hoping that everyone was ok or at least most of them were out on missions.
Finally Grab reached the outskirts of the underground base, he had intended to enter it to look for injured Z-Team members, but as he looked on with shocking dismay, he realized that there was absolutely nothing left to search, only a massive creator where the base had once been.
Falling to his knees, Grab could only stare at the destruction. It wasn’t until several moments passed that he came to his senses.
“I must find out if there are survivors or at least the cause of this”, slowly he began shifting though the massive amounts of debris.

The Blazers were on routine patrol when they saw and then felt the blast. Not hesitating, Phaze ordered his team to move to investigate and to pass what they had witnessed onto Autobot command.

The Minions and Rebels were still recovering from the blast, most of were lucky enough to have been both far enough away and in cover when the explosion happened. Scattered and confused at first, they surveyed the creator that was once Z-Team’s base...and were their fellow Decepticons had been unfortunate enough to be in.
Viper was wondering what they should do next when Robot gave a warning signal. All at once, the Decepticons went back into cover.
Making his way over to Robot, Viper inquired about the warning
“What going on?” he asked
“Looks like the Blazers are coming to investigate the explosion, should we pull back and report back to base about what has happened?” replied Robot.
Pondering things a moment, Viper replied “No, lets at least get some action and maybe a little revenge of our own out of this” he answered “besides there is virtually no one back at base to report to” “That’s true” replied Robot with a grin.
“I also have no intention of returning to base to tell Dynamax that we failed to secure the base and lost a whole squad in the process!” finished Viper.
Robot made a sour face “I hadn’t though of that, so you think if we put a good hurting or better on the Blazers, Dyna won’t tear our skid plates off?” asked Robot, but knowing the answer “Sounds good to me”
“Good, then let the others know and wait for my signal” Viper stated with a now grim look.

Agorahex (the end?)
Medicon worked fast and furiously, there was still hope of saving him, but he required parts and lots of them. Looking around the battle field, it came to him where to get the parts.
Chuckling, maniacally, Medicon worked away gleefully and was totally oblivious to the battle around him. Instead he was singing & humming a tune to himself as he worked.
“The foot actuator connected to the...leg actuator, the leg actuator connected to the....” he sang as he worked away furiously.

It had been bad enough that Thundertron had been told to participate in a battle, but having to stand back and watch the first parts of the battle while having to settle for shooting at Z-Team from a distance was maddening. He needed to destroy and be part of the chaos and destruction.
It wasn’t until he had finally been given the order to lead the second wave and joined the chaos and destruction that swirled around him that he felt alive.
A foolish Z-Team member was the first to confront him, named Groundcutter if he remembered the name. The fool had come crashing into Thundertron’s side with his mining drill. Although the drill had bit deep into his side and caused Thundertron much pain, it only served to drive his fury.
Thundertron had turned and grabbed the fool, then had crushed him with his bare hands, all the while listening to his screams of pain.
The next opponent had proved to be more challenging, a monster-bot by the name of Coppertail. The beast had been quick to strike and had stung Thundertron with their armor piercing tail.
Ignoring the searing pain, Thundertron grabbed the flying serpentine beast by the neck and slammed it to the ground stunning it. Using one hand to keep the beast pinned, he began pounding it with his free hand.
Regaining some of his senses, Coppertail began stabbing Thundertron with his tail again and again, but still Thundertron would not let go or stop pounding him.
Feeling the pain surging though his circuits, Thundertron felt a moment of surging power though his body, using it to his full advantage he grabbed Coppertail’s neck with both hands and with incredible strength snapped his neck in two.
“Yaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh !!” screamed Thundertron with a victorious howl.
Suddenly he felt pain, but not like the pain he had felt before, this pain did not excite him, it really did hurt him. Feeling convulsions and spasms begin to wreck his body, Thundertron fought to gain control over the cyber-venom that as now coursing though his body.
“No, I will NOT fall... I-WILL-NOT-FALL !” he spoke with determination.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrhhhh” he yelled as the venom began to liquefy his innards.
Still screaming, cursing, and fighting defiantly, Thundertron eventually collapsed to the group in a hiss of liquefying metal.
The Decepticons remaining on the battlefield were in total confusion and chaos, few of them were thinking of fighting as they tended to their wounded or stared in disbelief of what had transpired. Those that did have enough courage to attack the remaining Z-team members were too few and too disorganized to mount any kind of effective attack against them. At best they kept Z-Team pinned down.
Meanwhile, the remaining Z-team members, who included Low Blow, Medical Alert, Death Sentence, 360, Tigerclaw, Hardliner, Ballbreaker, and Squirt continued to keep the Decepticon forces at bay while Medical Alert continued to work furiously.
They had lost Chainwheel, Big Red and Fix to artillery fire before it was taken out by Night Beast.
Storm Crasher and Firefog had gone down to organized attacks by the children of Blitzwing, before they were taken out by Squirt’s marksmanship and Death Sentence’s firepower.
With energy levels dangerously low, their weapons almost out of ammo, several of their team mates in stasis lock or worse, things did not look good and Low Blow knew it.

What Dynabreaker had witnessed today, another of her father’s failed plans, the cowardice of some of the Decepticons on the battle field, and the worst of it was what she believed was the death of her grandfather Megatron...she had always felt contempt for her grandfather, but she also respected him greatly.
Witnessing his death had sent her to the brink, looked around at what was transpiring was maddening, but worst of all she could not find her father anywhere... and finally something inside her snap.
“COWARDS!!” she screamed and with hell-bent fury she charged at Death Sentence.
Normally Death Sentence would have simply blasted or swatted the insect aside, but he was dangerous low on energy and was ready to collapse from all the damage he had taken. It was no surprise then that Dynabreaker easily avoided his weak swipe at her and with incredible fury struck Death Sentence in the head with a mighty blow, dropping the Guardian Sentinel to the ground and sending troops scattering everywhere with the exception of the unfortunate remaining Unsquishables, who stared dumb founded as Death Sentence’s massive stasis locked body came crashing down on top of them.
Still seething with fury, Dynabreaker screamed “For Megatron!” then charged at the remaining Z-team members.
Seeing this, most of the remaining Decepticons rallied and joined in on the assault, Z-team’s time was now numbered in cycles....

The ruins of Z-Team’s base
The Blazers finally arrived at the remains of the base. Z-Team’s base was not even known to any Autobots, so the cause and reason for the massive blast was a mystery to the Blazers.
It was immediately obvious, that the crater was a underground base of some kind, but who it belonged to was unknown. Communication with Autobot command had confirmed that the base did not belong to any known Autobot factions.
They began to scourer the area and find out what happened and what had been here. As they did so, The Apocalypse Minions and Rebels waited until they were spread out &andthen they sprung their attack. Following a simple plan, their first target what Failsafe as the Blazer’s communications. Although cautious about the situation, Failsafe went down in stasis lock before he could get into cover; the rest of the Blazers however, had time to get into cover. The exception was Complex with his massive size could not hide anywhere; instead he just took the hits and returned fire.
“An ambush, all this is about an ambush?” asked Phaze
“No, I don’t believe so, it’s too elaborate just to take a small group as ours down” replied Ultra Magnus “I would say that we just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time” he continued.
“Who are our attackers, I didn’t get a chance to identify any of them since they have us pinned down” asked Phaze.
“I think it’s the Minions and Rebels” Replied Stepdown.
“How bad is Failsafe there Medivac?” asked Ultra Magnus
“Not good, he needs proper medical attention ASAP” replied Medivac.
“I can’t deal with that right now, we need to worry about getting out of here in one piece ourselves or it won’t matter!” replied Ultra Magnus.
“AAAAaaarggghhh....*!” came the scream as Novaflare took first one, then several direct hits to the chest and then dropped to the ground motionless.
“Infernus get over here quick & check on Novaflare!” yelled Ultra Magnus.
Rushing to his side, Infernus checked his vital signs & then looked up at Ultra Magnus in shock “He looks bad Ultra, but I thi....AAAaaarrrrggggghhhh....*!” was all that Infernus said before he himself was also struck several times and collapsed to the ground motionless.
“This is crazy, we are outgunned, out manned, & surrounded !” yelled the less experience Stepdown “There is no way we are going to get out of this in one piece if we don’t do something REALLY soon !” he continued yelling.
“Keep your cool & your head down Stepdown” replied Ultra Magnus “Reinforcements should arrive soon; we just need to hold out till then”.
Stepdown just frowned and continued firing.

Part 3

Agorahex (Dynamax finally faces Night Beast)
Dynamax was surprised at first to find that when he attacked Night Beast that his attacks met solid matter, normally Night Beast used his shadow manipulation to play games and wear his opponents down. Then it occurred to him, the radiation must be affecting his ability to use it and that meant that Dynamax had the advantage.
Ginning evilly, Dynamax attacked with renewed fury.

Night Beast had known he would be vulnerable, but to what degree he was not sure, now he knew. He was no physical match for the raw power and fury that Dynamax had, which meant he had three things remaining to his advantage: his speed, his mind, and his phase claws.

Outnumbered and outgunned, the remaining Z-team members began to fall to the renewed onslaught. First Squirt & then 360, leaving just Low Blow & Tigerclaw to defend while Medical Alert attended to the fallen.
Although not as big or having as much firepower as some of the other members, Low Blow & Tigerclaw made up for this in either sheer skill & determination.
Tigerclaw was a death fury of swirling blades as the combat master cut down any Decepticon that came close to him, all the while deflecting any shots that can at him from the more cowardly opponents.
Low Blow meanwhile used every dirty trick, plus a few new ones to take his opponents down and keep them away from Medical Alert.

Dynabreaker was locked into a furious fight; this tigerbot was good, VERY good. At first her fury had given her the upper hand against him, but as they fought, he began to gain the upper hand and eventually he had forced her to not only the defensive, but to the point of fighting for her life.
She needed some way to get the advantage again, even with the help of other Decepticons; she was barely keep the tigerbot at bay. Then she saw it, her opportunity, and then she struck

Tigerclaw knew it was only a matter of time before he was overwhelmed, sure he was cutting down his opponents with ease, but all he was doing was postponing the inevitable as for each Decepticon he cut down was replaced by 2 more. Then it happened, three Decepticons charged him at once. He was able to cut down the first and barely able to take out the second, but the third got past his defenses and knocked him to the ground.
Reacting instinctively, Tigerclaw flipped his opponent off him by using his own momentum against him and then jumped back onto his feet using the same momentum that had knocked him to the ground. With a quick slice he finished his opponent off, but as he thrust his blades into the hapless Decepticon a blast struck him in the back sending him into stasis lock.
Dynabreaker stood over him and leveled her gun at the hapless Tigerclaw. She waited just a moment to take in the satisfaction of the moment before she would squeeze the trigger. Suddenly, in a blur of motion, her weapon was suddenly cut in two.
Shocked, but acting instinctively she jumped back away from her attacker and stared at the face of her new opponent.
“Low Blow” she sneered.

Both Night Beast & Dynamax were full of minor dings, blasts, and cuts, but neither had gained any sufficient advantage.
“Yousss isss losssst Dynassss” spoke Night Beast.
“Even if I lose this day you slag, your precious Z-Team are all going to be dead !” replied Dynamax with venomous hate filled voice.
With that Dynamax lunged again at Night Beast and again Night Beast was forced to jump out of the way of another of Dynamax’s furious attacks. This time however, Dynamax finally felt some satisfaction as his blade sliced deeply into Night Beat’s leg as he jump over him. The satisfaction was short lived as Night Beast’s phase claw caught him in the side of the body as he jumped over him.
Night Beast landed hard and collapsed as his leg gave out, at the same time Dynamax fell to one knee in agony. Both opponents turned instinctively, despite their pain, to face each other again.

Dynabreaker looked at her opponent wearily. She had heard that Low Blow could be a creative and crafty individual, a good fighter...not to mention a dirty one as well.
Low Blow just stared back with a stupid grin on his face, daring Dynabreaker to make the first move. A few other Decepticons dared to try to get in on the action, but Dynabreaker gave them a stare that stopped them in their tracks.
“Finish off the rest of Z-Team, this one is mine” she proclaimed “No prisoners”
“Yas is playing wit da big boyz tere little lady, yas better bes ready ta play big if yas does or get burned” stated Low Blow with a hint of sarcasm.
“I intend to avenge my grandfather and show everyone how pathetic my father really is, how he couldn’t once again finish what he started, what his daughter had to do for him” she replied with a venomous tone.
With that she suddenly attacked Low Blow. At first he did not react and for a moment she believed she had caught him off guard with the attack, but just as she was about to hit him with her sword, he suddenly ducked down low and rolled forward towards her. At first she wasn’t sure what the purpose of his action was other then to avoid her attack until she saw his vibro-axe slicing a arc at her mid section. Awkwardly she parried the attack as he rolled by, but successfully fended it off.
“Ha, nice try but...” she started to say when she realized that he had reversed the butt end of his axe after rolling by.
A loud “Hissssssss” could be heard as Low Blow’s branding iron end of his modified Vibro-axe caught Dynabreaker in the skid plate, leaving Low Blow’s signature.
“Like mes says little lady, play with da big fellas & yas better be readies ta get burned.” grinned Low Blow.
Dynabreaker’s emotions immediately turned to unbelievable embarrassment and then back to incredible fury again.
“That’s it, now you die you slagging scum” replied Dynabreaker though the clench of her teeth.

Both Dynamax and Night Beast were exhausted and near collapse, but neither was willing to give into the other. Both waited for a opening in their opponents defenses as they circled each other wearily.
Then suddenly, if only a for a moment Night Beast’s wounded leg gave way and he stumbled, in the blink of an optic Dynamax was upon him wailing away with his bear fists.
Night Beast parried each of these attacks with great effort until finally one of them forced his leg to give way again, sending him to one knee. With that Dynamax summoned all his remaining strength into one massive blow that struck Night Beast in the chest sending him heavily into the ground in a heap.
Stumbling over to where Night Beast laid and was trying to get up, Dynamax picked up a nearby gun & pointed it at Night Beast.
“An ironic end don’t you think, last time it was you that was where I am now with me laying on the ground” Dynamax said with gratification “this is for Illumina and for my father you murderi....”
Dynamax was cut off in mid sentence by the sounds of renewed battle cries. Glancing over, Dynamax saw what the commotion was all about, Autobots from the Warhawks lead by Phasewing & the Scalp Collectors lead by Hoistimus had shown up. Dynamax’s forces were already low of energy & beat up. A bunch of fully energized Bots showing up at a time like this was too much. His forces began to panic & run away from the battle field, only a few brave of foolish individuals slowed the Autobot reinforcements from over running them.
Although distracted only for a second, it was all the Night Beast needed and he struck without hesitation. Dynamax managed to move just enough so that Night Beast’s deadly phase blades missed his spark, but the deadly blades still cleaved off his arm as he raised instinctively to defend himself and slashed a massive gash in his chest.
Dynamax let out a roar of agony that could be heard across the battle field as he collapsed to the ground.
His leg once again giving out and his wounds disturbing his ability to function, Night Beast struggled to move.
It was almost over and they both knew it.

Dynabreaker was busy trying to fend off the onslaught of the Autobot reinforcements with the remaining Decepticons. She had instantly forgotten about her duel with Low Blow when the Autobot reinforcements showed up, she knew the battle was now hopelessly lost and the time for retreat was now.
“Decepticons RETREAT!” she yelled though the clench of her teeth.
This was when she heard Dynamax let out a roar of agony that caught her audio receptors. Although loathing the thought, she forced herself to seek him out, ordering Soundwave to organize the retreat as she did.

It did not take long for Dynabreaker to find the motionless body of her father. At first she feared he was dead, which caught her by surprise as she had always hated him so much, but at that moment for reasons she did not understand she feared his death. She quickly made her way to him to see if he was ok, it was then that she spotted Night Beast barely standing up under his own power near Dynamax’s motion body in the shadows.
Her fear for her father’s life increased 10 fold instantly and so did her hatred.
“Youuuuuu !” she said with pure malice. “First my mother, then my grandfather, and now my father, this ends now, even if it costs me my life!”
“Foooolissssh girrrrl” was all that Night Beast answered.
“N–N-NOoo...d-d-on’t Dy...” came a weak voice. Dynabreaker whirled on the spot instantly and found that her father was STILL alive!
“Father, are you...” she began as she knelt beside him, for a moment she forgot about Night Beast.
“N-N-NOoo...uuhhh...L-L-loo..” was all the warning he could muster as Night Beast crept up behind her, but he was too late, Night Beast’s claws were already in motion to strike her in the back and though her spark.
Unable to move, Dynamax could only watch helplessly, unable to stop it from happening.

Z-Team Base (As the battle ends)
Complex came down with a incredible crash that shook the very ground around where he fell, sending dust & debris every where. A lucky shot had triggered several internal explosions & had lead to the big guys fall.
The Blazers were in trouble & they knew it. They could probably have handled the Apocalypse Minions by themselves, but the Rebels as well were too much. Ultra Magnus knew he had to do something desperate & soon or they would just continue to pick his team off one at a time.
They could hear the Minions & Rebels laughing & giggling as they sent verbal taunts towards the Blazers.
“Come out and play, shoot you not we may!” yelled Robot giggling. “Ok Blazers, when I give the order...” began Ultra Magnus when he was cut off by cries of struggle coming from the Minions & Rebels.
Daring to sneak a peek, he was surprised not to get shot at. Feeling a little encouraged, he stood up.
“Stay put” Ultra Magnus said looking at the remaining Blazers and added “, you are in charge while we scout ahead, be ready just in case with cover fire” he continued “ Crueljaw, you & Phaze are with me”.
Crueljaw shot Ultra Magnus a look of anger for daring to order him around.
Ignoring Crueljaw, Ultra Magnus started making his way towards where the Minions & Rebels had been positioned with Phaze following. Cursing to himself Crueljaw followed.
Sounds of confusion, random weapons fire, and screams of both surprise & agony continued to echo from where the Minions & Rebels were roughly positioned.
Carefully creeping ahead, Ultra Magnus, Crueljaw, and Phaze closed the distance towards the enemies’ position. As they got closer & closer things became quieter and quieter. When they finally got to where their enemy had been, what greeted them was mystifying.
The bodies of both Minions and Rebels were sprawled everywhere, hacked & blasted to pieces. Some of them appeared to have been shot by their own team members, while looking around the area it appeared that many of their shots had been directed everywhere, almost as if by random and wild shooting.
“What the pit happened here?” asked Phaze puzzled.
“I have no idea, but apparently we have a guardian watching over us” replied Crueljaw sarcastically.
For a moment, Phaze though he saw a thin beam of light pass over Ultra Magnus, Crueljaw, and himself. Then the sound of some movement off to the side of them had all three react instinctively by whirling and leveling their weapons in the direction of the noise.
“Uunnnn...” came the moaning voice of Robot
Crueljaw was about to fire when Ultra Magnus stopped him.
“Wait, maybe he can give us some answers” stated Ultra Magnus as he walked over to a badly mangled Robot who was now minus one of his arms, his chest plate slashed open, & a nasty gash on his left leg. Crueljaw once again shot a angry look at Ultra Magnus. Although tempted to say something, Crueljaw’s curiosity as to what had happened got the better of him.
Robot looked up at the Autobots & sighed “Oh great, as if things couldn’t get any worse, they do” he grumbled, but he also showed signs of relief in his expression.
“What happened here Robot?” demanded Ultra Magnus.
“What do you mean, ‘What happened?’, it wasn’t you Bots’ that did this to us?” asked Robot with suspicion.
“Would we be asking if we knew you dumb piece of...” Crueljaw replied before getting cut off by Ultra Magnus.
“That’s enough Crueljaw” commanded Ultra Magnus “Please continue Robot.”
Crueljaw looked like he was about to hit Ultra Magnus when Phaze gave him a look that told him to be patient.
“Well..” began Robot a little puzzled “I -I-I am not sure how to explain it, it kinda happened so fast, we were just enjoying blasting the void out of you Bots’ ” Robot didn’t notice the angry look that Crueljaw shot him, instead he continued “when I heard Road Rage scream with pain, I looked to see what was going on, expecting that some of you Bots’ had managed to somehow flank us, but all I saw was Road Rage laying on the ground with his chest torn open & his arms cut off” Replied Robot continuing “Viper went to check out what had happened while the rest continued to keep you Bots busy, but that is when he realized that it wasn’t only Road Rage that was down, so were Omega, Sephorath, Pain, B-Train, Wrx, Boom, & Skyport” Robot spoke in disbelief, but continuing “But strangest of all, NOT one of us had even noticed until then !” finished Robot with shock.
“Strange” was all that Ultra Magnus said in reply letting Robot continue.
“We continued to assume that you had somehow managed to sneak in amongst our perimeter so we tightened up so we were not so spread out, but then....” Robot trailed off.
“Ummm, Hello?” asked a very impatient Crueljaw “But then what?”
The question seemed to pull Robot back into reality & away from whatever horror he was remembering.
“But then Turncoat shot Boom in the back & then Treadbuster as he turned to find out what happened, I thought for a moment that the Minions had turns on us in some act of betrayal, but the rest of the Minions looked just as confused as the rest of us.” continued Robot “He then turned & fired at me blowing my arm off, that’s when the rest of my team started firing back at him, but instead of hitting him the shots went right though him as he disappeared before our very optics!”
“Looking around, we found Turncoat’s body not far away with a slash across his chest & his arms cut off” Robot spoke as if remembering a nightmare “We were all pretty edgy after that”.
“So it was no surprise I guess, now that I think about it, that when Darkwarp shot Fastbite in the back, no one hesitated to shot this time, but in our haste to shot him we caught ourselves in our own crossfire hitting each other, this caused more panic & fear as everyone started shooting at each other until only Gemini, Viper & myself remained”
“But then it was amongst us, slashing & tearing us apart as if we were nothing, we tried shooting at it, but how can you shoot wh..” Robot’s sentence was interrupted by cries from the Blazer’s position, followed by weapons fire & cries of surprise.
Phaze looked at Ultra Magnus with a worried look, it sounded like the same thing that had happened to the Minions & Rebels was now happening to the Blazers..
Ignoring Robot, the three of them raced towards the growing silence of where the Blazers had been waiting for them.
“But you can’t hit what you can...” Robot stopped himself in mid sentence, why should he warn them, this was his chance to get away while they kept it busy.
Giggling madly to himself, Robot began to crawl away as fast as he could.

Agorahex (End of Battle)
Some of the remaining Decepticons at first had refused to retreat, but they were being quickly overwhelmed by the fresh Autobot rescuers.
Without hesitation, Soundwave once again repeated Dynabreaker’s orders to retreat, this time all Decepticons did as ordered.
Luckily for the Decepticons, the rescuers were more intent on saving the survivors of Z-Team & let them get away with minimal hassle.
Soundwave, along with Sythonic and their remaining cassettes, took this opportunity to seek out and find Dynabreaker and Dynamax. As well as for further instructions and to make sure they were ok. Avoiding Autobot scouts looking for stray Decepticons, Soundwave came across the events unfolding JUST as Night Beast was about to strike Dynabreaker down.
Without hesitation he quickly fired his weapon striking Night Beast in the side, but not before his phase claw caught Dynabreaker in the back. She collapsed over the body of Dynamax and remained motionless.
Acting quickly with Sythonic, the remaining Cassetticons gathered Dynamax and Dynabreaker, and then prepared to take them to safety.
Before he left however, Soundwave wanted to finish one thing for his leader and to avenge another fallen great leader. Turning to where Night Beast had fallen, Soundwave intended to finish the job, but he was no where to be found, he had eluded death once again. Dynamax would not be happy; the cost today had been too high for such a hollow victory, if indeed it could be called a victory.
Hearing an Autobot patrol nearby, Soundwave had no time to search out and finish Night Beast. Dynamax was badly injured and Dynabreaker was even worse.
Leaving the battlefield behind, Soundwave and the Cassetticons made a hasty retreat towards Dynamax’s fortress.

Z-Team’s Base (Traitor or Tricks?)
The Blazers watched and waited patiently for Ultra Magnus, Phaze, and Crueljaw to return. It was Dropout that spotted Ultra Magnus returning by himself first and signaled to the others someone was returning.
Relaxing their guard at the sight of Ultra Magnus, they moved to meet him and find out what was going on. None of them gave though to the fact that he did not respond to any of their questions as he walked towards them. It wasn’t until the group was gathered around their commander that things revealed themselves.
“Hey Magnus, where are Phaze and Crueljaw?” asked Magnastar puzzled.
“Right here” responded a voice that was not Ultra Magnus’s. As if appearing out of no where, two large blades had suddenly appeared on the forearms of Ultra Magnus and with one fluid motion plunged it into the chest of Magnastar.
Magnastar was dead where he stood as the blade plunged though his spark, the look of surprise already frozen on his face.
The rest of the Blazers were equally shocked and stunned, all save Carganous.
When Ultra Magnus did not respond to any questions as he approached, Carganous’s was already suspicions of the situation. He was thinking about how to act when the false Ultra Magnus struck without warning.
While the rest of the Blazer’s stared in disbelief, Carganous reacted by firing at the false Ultra Magnus. With agility that the real Ultra Magnus could never have done, the false Ultra Magnus dodged the attack by flipping backwards high into the air from a standing position away from the group and then vanished!
The rest of the Blazers finally started regaining their senses and a few even fired in the area that the false Ultra Magnus was last seen.
“Hold your fire, you won’t hit what you can’t see” shouted Carganous “Use sensors and listen!”
“So we are suppose to wait for them to attack us?” Dropout shouted back “And who the slaggin void was thaaaaahhhhhh...*” was Dropout’s questions before his weapon arm was severed by an unseen blade and then his scream of pain cut short instantly as his head joined his arm on the ground along with his now limp body that joined it moments later.
The only hint at first was a slight distortion near Dropout’s body. Skygrabber and Irontail spotted the distortion and moved to shot at it, but it was already too late. The distortion covered the distance between them with unbelievable speed and moved between the two so fast that they didn’t even realize what had happened to them. They both even tried to turn to face the assailant after it passed between them, but then it became obvious what had just happened as their upper bodies separated from their lower bodies.
“Quick, back to back defensive positions NOW!!” yelled Carganous.
Reacting to his command, Cydonia and Stepdown moved to join Carganous in a defensive position.
NovaBomb however, refused to do as he was told. “This slaggin scraplet is goin down Carganous and I’m not hiding or running” he yelled to Carganous.
“Come on you coward, come out and fight like a real bot instead of attacking like a coward!” NovaBomb continued yelling to the assailant.
“NovaBomb you fool, get over here NOW!!” yelled Carganous “That’s an order!”
Moving away from Cydonia and Stepdown, Carganous moved to force NovaBomb to join them. As he did however, he heard screams of pain from both Cydonia and Stepdown.
NovaBomb did not see what happened as he was facing away from the group. When he heard the screams of pain from Cydonia and Stepdown he turned quickly towards them. What he saw made him regret disobeying Carganous’s command.
Cydonia and Stepdown were down, how bad he didn’t know, he could only hope they were ok. Even worse was that Crueljaw standing behind Carganous posed to strike him in the back. The real Crueljaw never had blades coming out of his forearms and he would never strike Carganous to kill, let alone in the back.
“CARGANOUS LOOK OUT!” NovaBomb yelled as a warning.
Carganous had already suspected what was going on before NovaBomb yelled his warning and started pouring fire into the false Crueljaw. As the shots zipped past Carganous, he turned as fast as he could and caught sight of NovaBomb’s shots passing harmlessly though the false Crueljaw.
Carganous instantly knew it was too late, for them all. Their assailant was too fast, too smart, and too good at their job. He already knew without looking that NovaBomb was already down; the false Crueljaw was just a distraction while the assailant moved to get around behind NovaBomb. NovaBomb’s scream of pain from behind him confirmed this as the thoughts processed though Carganous’s mind.
“Who are you?” asked Carganous “and why have you attacked us?’ he continued asking the assailant that he now assumed was now behind him.
The sight of distorted outlines of two blades in front of Carganous’s face confirmed that if he had turned he would already be laying on the ground in stasis lock or worse. The assailant was behind him as he had thought.
“Because you are in the way” answered the assailant’s voice, a voice that Carganous did not recognize.
Gambling and hoping to catch the assailant off guard, Carganous grabbed at what he hoped was where the arms of his assailant were and then using his strength dropped to the ground flipping his assailant over in front of him. Still holding the assailants arms away from him to avoid those deadly blades, Carganous stood up and kicked down at his now vulnerable assailant in front of him. He had expected to make contact with the body of his attacker, what happened instead he did not expect. A third blade sliced though his kicking leg and severed it at the knee. Thrown off balance, Carganous fell forward towards the ground in a lot of pain, still knowing that if he had any chance, he continued to hold tightly onto the arms of his assailant, even as he fell.
Trying to understand how the assailant could have a third blade, he caught sight of two more distorted blades before they sliced though his shoulders. Helplessly, Carganous fell hard into the ground, barely able to move without any arms and minus a leg. A moment later he felt another blade plunge into his backside.
As he slipped into stasis lock, his vision fading, his assailant appeared in front of him, or at least their feet did from the position Carganous could see. His attacker had blades on their feet as well, and then he lost sight.
The last thing he heard was the voices of Ultra Magnus, Crueljaw, and Phaze yelling for the group...

Agorahex (Post Battle)
Low Blow could barely stand from his wounds & lack of energy. His remaining team members were being attended to by the various medical staff from the Scalp Collectors, Winters Bite, & Warhawks.
The rest were either chasing off the remaining Decepticons or setting up a defensive perimeter to secure the area & keep the wounded safe.
Hoistimus was the first to walk up to Low Blow & speak.
“You need medical attention my friend, let me get...” he began.
“No, get da rest of da gang first, mes will be ok tere bud fer now” replied Low Blow
Looking at Low Blow skeptically, Hoistimus nodded, & then went to help & organize the wounded.
Phasewing, who had been near by & had heard the exchange between Low Blow & Hoistimus, walked up to Low Blow & spoke next.
“It looks pretty bad for a lot of your team L.B., your lucky we got here when we did” she said.
“Ow bad tis it Phasey?” asked Low Blow worried about his team.
Phase gave him a sad look, but she suspected he already knew it was going to be bad.
“Patchwork, Crosswires, Lowdown, Skyward, Dragnet, Frazzle, Disaster Master, Ground Cutter, Pinhead, and Coppertail have all joined the matrix I think” she said while trying to comfort Low Blow “Muffler Mouth, Windcaller, Roadripper, Big Red, Ballbreaker, Bumper Thumper, Firefog, Dystopian, Siege, Hardliner, and Bubblegum are in bad shape and may not make it, the rest will recover, but will need time” she finished
Low Blow didn’t say anything at first & Phasewing was about to leave him to his own thoughts when he spoke.
“Ow did yas all know where ta find us?” asked Low Blow.
Not expecting this question, she was a little taken back & confused “We received some coded information that explained what had happened & directed us to you here” she answered “why do you ask?”
“Do yas know who sent da info?” he asked.
“Well no, we figured it came from one of your team members at your base to avoid revealing its location” she answered wondering why he would ask.
“Hmmm, maybes, but ow would Razor or Grab knows wes was in trouble?” he asked, but more to himself then to Phasewing.
“We would have arrived here sooner, but we received an emergency message from the Blazers about an explosion in da Zriax Sector” she continued “But luckily Winter’s Bite volunteered to provide any necessary backup, so our delay was only minor.”
“An explosion in da Zriax Sector?!?” gasped Low Blow “Wat coordinate?” he demanded.
“2367 by 746, by -138, why do you ask?” Answered Phasewing a little worried by Low Blows reaction & expression on his face.
“Cus tats weres mes base was...” he trailed off & collapsed to the ground from exhaustion & damage. As he slipped into stasis lock he could hear Phasewing gasp in shock and then yelling for a medic, after that he remembered nothing.

Z-Team Base (The unknown assailant)
Ultra Magnus was the first to make it to the seen, but the carnage he found was something even a seasoned warrior like him was not prepared for.
The Blazers were cut to pieces, all of them. Magnus gave Crueljaw and Phaze the signal to check the area carefully while he checked the downed Blazers for vitals. All had vitals, except Magnastar and Infernus who had already joined the matrix.
Uttering a quick prayer to Primus, he turned to find Phaze standing beside him.
“How are they?” asked Phaze in a concerted voice.
“Magnastar & Infernus are dead, the rest are in stasis lock, but won’t be for long if they don’t get some medical attention soon” he replied flatly.
“How the pit did something manage to take them all out so easily and quickly?” asked Phaze, but not to anyone in particular.
“No scent, no trails, nothing on sensors, nothing!” reported a frustrated Crueljaw as he returned from checking the area.
“Then were did it g-...” Phaze’s sentence was interrupted by a by Crueljaw suddenly shuddering and spasmed as an invisible blade tore though his back & out his front, barely missing his spark. A confused look on his face was all that he showed as he collapsed to the group motionless.
Ultra Magnus and Phaze went into action immediately, firing in what they perceived was the general location of the culprit, but did see any results that made them feel they had hit something.
“Back-to-back NOW” commanded Ultra Magnus as he lined his back to Phaze.
“Who the pit is this?” asked Phaze.
“I don’t know, but they are a professional that for sure” replied Ultra Magnus “And they obviously have some kind of cloaking device to avoid visual detection and sensors”
“Great” was all that Phaze had to say.
Ultra Magnus thought for a moment he saw something out of the corner of his optics, but when he looked he saw nothing...until the movement it was right in front of him.
With incredible speed the assailant was upon him. Although he tried to react to defend himself, Ultra Magnus was still caught by the deadly blade of his opponent. The result was the loss of his right forearm and a slash across his right chest side. Badly wounded by the attack, Magnus dropped to one knee, but not before he managed to warn Phaze
“Phaze...!” he barely managed to get out.
Whirling, Phaze intended to shot his opponent before they could attack him or finish Ultra Magnus. His opponent, however, proved to be faster then he had anticipated and sliced Phaze’s guns in two before he managed to get a shot off. In a follow up move Phaze found his feet kicked out from underneath him as the assailant continued it’s fluent and constant motion of attack. Landing hard on his backside, Phaze knew he was finished.
Defiantly Phaze stared at what he assumed was the location of his assailant, prepared to die. As if sensing his thoughts, the assailant raised their blade and slashed down on Phaze. The blade never hit him.
The assailant screamed out in agony as a energy sword cut right though their raised arm, severing it. Stunned by this unexpected attack, the assailant turned to find Ultra Magnus barely standing, but with the energy sword in his remaining arm.
Taking advantage of the situation, Phaze kicked at the assailant and had the satisfaction of hitting something. Caught off guard by Phaze’s kick, the assailant was thrown forward towards Ultra Magnus.
Summoning the last of his rapidly diminishing strength, Ultra Magnus slashed at the assailant and caught them in the side of he assumed was their torso.
Screaming again with pain, the assailant backed away from Ultra Magnus and Phaze. For a moment there was a brief flicker in their cloaking device, but not enough to identify the attacker.
Seriously wounded, it was all assailant needed to make their decision. Turning away from Ultra Magnus and Phaze, the assailant fled.
Phaze was about to pursue when Ultra Magnus stopped him “No Phaze, you can’t take them alone and I am in no condition to be of any help” stated Magnus “Plus we have to get medical help to the Blazers ASAP”
Phaze stopped in place and turned to Magnus “Agreed, but where did you find that sword?” he asked.
“He didn’t find it, I came to help” replied Grab as he transformed to his robot mode “And it looks like I showed up just in time to”
“What are you doing here?” asked a struggling Ultra Magnus.
“This is our-” Grab stopped himself in mid sentence and corrected himself “this was Z-Team’s base, I just hope no one was in there when it went up”.
“What happened here?” asked Ultra Magnus.
“I have no idea, I will continue my investigation once I have finished helping you” replied Grab “I have already sent a message for help, so take it easy & help me attend to the wounded while we wait”
Phaze nodded in agreement, Ultra Magnus managed a grunt of agreement and then allowed himself to collapse to the ground.

Melbaklax (Post battle)
The unseen figure made it’s way though the ruins of the ancient jail, making it’s way to the area close to where Star Raider had received her precious information. As the figure came to the location of the arranged meeting place, it stopped & looked around to see if they had been seen or followed. Their cloak failing, their wound needing attention, & their sensors showing all clear they decided to drop their cloak & await the arrival of their master. They did not have to wait long.
“Report my servile” came a eerie voice.
Reflection had always wondered how her master could always evade all her senses and sensors, but now she was use to it. She also had never seen the face of his master, but they had taught her so much & opened her optics to even more, for this reason alone she respected her master’s desire to remain anonymous.
“All has gone as planned, Z-Team’s base is not more and some of their members are dead. I was also forced to neutralize the Blazers, the Minions, and the Rebels or they might have interfered or discovered your plans. All will be incapacitated for a long time as they recover...if they ever do.” reported Reflection “None of them will interfere with your plans anytime soon” she concluded.
“The fight however was not without it’s cost as you can see Herald, but I was not seen” added Reflection.
“I see, but your mission was a success, you were not seen, and you have survived to serve me again, that is all that matters” replied the eerie voice “now speak second servile”.
It was then that Reflection noticed a second presence near her. They must have been here all along, but had shut themselves down to minimal operations to avoid being noticed.
“Z-team’s and Dynamax’s forces have decimated each other as planned, many of them are dead or will be incapacitated for a long time, neither will interfere with your plans for a long time.” reported the mocking voice.
“Good, my servile, return now to his base before you are noticed missing and continue reporting to me when you can” spoke the eerie voice.
“Yes Herald, I will continue with great care” answered the second senile aiming the last part of their response at Reflection in a response to her managing to get herself hurt.
After the second servile departed the eerie voice spoke again “My plan proceeds as scheduled and no one is the wiser, soon our “allies” will commence their invasion and the time will be right for me to put my plan in motion, but for now I have a new mission for you my first servile after you get yourself repaired, so listen well...” the eerie voice continue.