Having missed a direct hit on Thunderwing with his rockets, a disappointed Grimlock advanced towards the alpha dome once more as the carapace-laced warlord retreated deep into the base. It was surprising that Thunderwing would display such cowardice even in the face of the Dinobots. Then again, he had remained hidden like a cyber-rat on Cybertron for countless vorns as the war raged elsewhere. Still, it seemed very odd. While Devastator had been defeated, Thunderwing was more than powerful enough to continue to put up a decent fight and yet he ran away. Why?
A series of bounce beams shot up from the dome as the Decepticons evacuated the undersea base, taking with them whatever important items and equipment that needed to be saved and kept from falling into the hands of the Autobots. Only Scrapper, Mixmaster and Scavenger remained at the outer edge of the dome, firing off shots at the approaching Dinobots. Another oddity, the shots were not very accurate, even for a ‘Con. It was almost like they weren’t even trying to hit the Dinobots anymore.
>>Grimmy, do we go in, or we just destroy the dome from a distance? Me think...Me think they got no hope. Then again, we can't just run in without knowing whether there is or isn't traps around. Me got shot once from there but it din't hurt. They distracted me from killing the Constructicon so they escaped into the dome. Sorry sir.<<
>>“Nothing to be sorry for, Swoop. The battle is ours.”<< Grimlock responded as he slowed his advance, considering the rest of what his aerial subordinate had just said. Could there be a trap waiting for them inside the dome? It was possible. It’s not like the Decepticons hadn’t tried that trick in the past to varying degrees of success or failure.
>>”Dinobots, halt your advance. Remain outside dome. Could be traps inside. Maintain fire on Constructicons until me hear from other Autobots.”<<
Grimlock stopped in his tracks as he fired several more rockets directly at Scrapper. The Dinobot Commander then opened a secured comm line to those puny ‘Bots within the dome:
>>”Blaster, Scoop, Getaway, report! What your situation?”<<
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Snarl skidded to a stop in the muck when he received Grimlock’s new orders. “Traps? You don’t say. You mean kinda like what Shockwave did to us all those years ago. Or what you did,” the Desert Warrior muttered under his breath as he took aim directly at Scavenger with his long-range rifle and opened fire once again.
Slag, on the other hand, had no intention of remaining where he was. After Weirdwolf had fled back inside the alpha dome, the anger proned Dinobot rushed forward towards the outer edge where three of the Constructicons had remained while the others retreated to the bounce pad.
>>”If you think me going to sit out here like coward you gravely mistaken, Grimlock! Me take fight to 'Cons!!”<<
Slag then fired off several more shots from his electron gun before transforming back into Triceratops mode and charging directly at Mixmaster, the Dinobot’s three horns ready to impale the chemical engineer straight through his very spark with any luck.