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Mining Site

Offroad ignored Motormaster’s seething rage, seeing that the brute really only ever had two emotional states, one of them being angry and the other being sadistic. Snarl was right up against him now, and the daredevil’s green face lit up with a grin. “Come, get some,” he said mockingly, cocking his launcher. Aiming right below Snarl’s feet, Offroad fired off a glass gas pellet, and then immediately stowed away his rifle to swap to his dual submachine guns. A simple step backward and one pull of the trigger let out a barrage of bullets.

The grin didn’t get wiped from his face. It was almost unnerving, really.

Skies over Mt. Myiragongo

Divebomb and Swoop arced around one another, occasionally firing off a missile or a laser blast, each aware of the other's flying skills and ability to dodge.

"You stole my name, Predacon!" Swoop cried, firing again as he dovetailed left.

"I'll steal your spark this time, Dinoslag!" the Predacon chided in return.
___

Priority-1 Communication from Megatron to Razorclaw

>>"Megatron to Razorclaw. It has come to my attention that you are under attack. This site is crucial to our ongoing efforts. Do you have the situation handled?"<<

Mining Site

”Okay boys! Time to give it a test run!” Motormaster bellowed.

"How do we even...?"

But before Breakdown could finish his question and get an answer, he was feeling an urge to transform. It was coming from...his spark? Blah. Bah! What sap. But with all the other Stunticons around it felt....different....than it used to.

Breakdown transformed, and this time it wasn't into a car.

Mining Site

Another explosion rocked the mountainside, showering the assembled Constructicons in dirt and debris as they did their best to ward off the Dinobot assault.

This was ridiculous. The Dinobots were hopelessly outnumbered with three of the Decepticons' special teams here, plus a couple odds and ends and, well, Devastator.

Long Haul and Bonecrusher were getting to show the areas where they really shined--as least as far as the Constructicons went--battle. With the cover and counterattacks they provided, Scrapper was able to recollect his thoughts.

In the distance he could see the beginnings of the Stunticons' own gestalt starting to take shape.

"Let's try again, boys," Scrapper said, initiating the transformation sequence. Mixmaster quickly took up position as the other leg and the others fell into position until the green titan was roaring in anger and searching for his first target.

Mining Site

“Let’s stay out of the Dinos big ol' meathooks, eh?” Breakdown said as he helped Drag Strip get back up to his feet again. Being knocked down by a Dinobot had certainly scrambled the yellow racer’s circuits and left more than a few dents across his chassis but thankfully Drag was still functioning and able to continue fighting.

“No arguments here, Breaks,” Drag Strip replied with a chuckle. “Thanks for the assist.”

”And you! Stop playing around and assemble on my position!” Motormaster bellowed with an intense glare.

“Oh yeah, this is barrels of fun,” Breakdown muttered under his breath.

“I don’t know if you could call it fun, but, yeah, let’s not keep the boss waiting,” Drag Strip agreed as he and his comrade headed over to their commander’s side.

”Okay boys! Time to give it a test run!”

Drag Strip wasn’t sure how to commence with the combination. This was the very first attempt the Stunticons had made to merge together. In all reality, it was a test run. Hopefully, it would be a successful one given the current circumstances.

The yellow racer glanced over at Breakdown as the white mech began to transform into something that was definitely not a car. Drag Strip then felt a similar sensation, one that he could not really control. Within astroseconds, Drag had also begun to change into a shape he had never taken before - a giant right arm as a hand then began to form out of his joined together legs.

“Oh, wow….”
_______________

Razorclaw felt the mechanical apatosaurus rise up to an almost vertical stance, forcing the lion-former to dig his serrated claws deeper into the Jungle Warrior’s metal hide as the Predacon Commander began to slide down his opponent’s back. Deep claw marks were left in Razorclaw’s wake as Sludge then slammed his massive feet back down onto the forest floor, sending out a shockwave across the area.

The lion-former lost his grip and tumbled off the Dinobot’s back. Razorclaw shook his lion head as Sludge returned to his robot mode and slashed at the Predacon leader with his sword. Razorclaw leapt out of the way and swiftly transformed back into his own robot mode, drawing out his own blade. If it was a sword fight this dimwitted brute wanted then that’s exactly what he would get!

>>”Megatron to Razorclaw. It has come to my attention that you are under attack. This site is crucial to our ongoing efforts. Do you have the situation handled?”<<

The Priorty-1 communication from the slagmaker came across Razorclaw’s comm line. Clearly Soundwave had been keeping an optic on the situation in the Congo and had alerted Megatron of the current battle. The Predacon Commander responded over the same secured frequency:

>>”Lord Megatron, it is just the five Dinobots and we have them greatly outnumbered. While they are certainly a formidable force to be reckoned with, both the Constructions and the Stunticons are in the process of combining. With two massive gestalts, along with my own Predacons, we should have no problem defending this site. I will keep you informed as the battle progresses, my lord.”<<

With the message sent, Razorclaw turned his attention back to Sludge and charged at him, swinging his vibrating sonic sword ferociously at the Jungle Warrior, hoping to slice off the Dinobot’s hand that was holding his energo sword.
_______________

As Grimlock charged towards Headstrong, he saw the incoming balls of energy from the Predacon’s plasma-sphere launchers. The mechanical Tyrannosaurus ducked down to avoid the first volley, but Sludge’s little earthquake caused the rex-former to stumble slightly off balance. In an attempt to stabilize himself, Grimlock slowed his assault, turning his body and skidding along the ground sideways until he had stopped just as two more energy balls struck his side.

By now, Headstrong was also charging with his horn at the ready. Grimlock quickly swung his massive tail at the mechanical rhino in an attempt to knock him off his feet just as he had done to Tantrum. Alas, that was not what happened. Instead, Headstrong’s horn impaled the rex-former’s tail, getting stuck in the process. Grimlock could feel the pain of the acid as it secreted from the Predacon’s horn, but it only made the Dinobot leader angrier.

“Get off me, fragger!” An enraged Grimlock roared as he then swung his tail up into the air with Headstrong still attached by his horn. The metal Tyrannosaurus then slammed his tail, and Headstrong along with it, back down to the ground, hoping to dislodge the metal rhino and give him one massive headache in the process.
_______________

Snarl had been so close to slamming directly into the Constructicons, but it was not meant to be. The Desert Warrior was so focused on making sure Devastator didn’t form that he had not seen Motormaster off to the side firing his cyclone rifle at him. The intense gale-force wind knocked Snarl well off course, sending him flying into the forest where he crashed through several trees before landing in the overgrown brush on the forest floor.

Sitting up, Snarl rubbed his cranium and quickly brushed himself off. Wasting little time, the Desert Warrior got back up to his feet and pushed his way through the forest until he was finally back at the mining site. As he gazed around, Snarl saw that Devastator had finally formed, but he also noticed that the Stunticons seemed to be undergoing a similar transformation into assorted limbs of a much larger behemoth.

The Desert Warrior quickly opened a comm line to his fellow Dinobots:

>>”Fellas, this Snarl. We have big problem! Devastator has formed and Stunticons look to be combining now, as well! Me try and stop them!”<<

However, before Snarl could react further, a glass gas pellet exploded near his feet, forcing him to jump back to avoid its destructive effects. The plated Dinobot then looked over to see Offroad standing not far away, now shooting a barrage of bullets at him.

“Stupid ‘Con!” Snarl roared as bullets bounced off his thick, tough armored plating. One struck the side of his head, causing his vision to blur for a moment before returning to normal. It was an annoyance more than anything. “Me, Snarl, no have time for this!” The Desert Warrior then aimed his missile launcher at the Stunticon wannabe and fired off numerous rockets at Offroad. The resulting explosions made it hard to see if the plated Dinobot had made a direct hit or not, but hopefully it would at least stop Offroad’s attack long enough for the solar-powered mech to do something about the threat of duel combiners.

Working quickly, Snarl then raced out into the clearing of the mining site and aimed his missile launcher up at Devastator’s head, firing off several rockets in the hopes of blinding the massive green gestalt even if it was only temporarily. The Desert Warrior then set his sights on the combining Stunticons, firing off a barrage of missiles at the group in an attempt to keep them from joining together, as well.

Headstrong had neither needed or wanted this. Fighting the Dinobots was a challenge all Predacons were eager to accept. Fighting Grimlock though? Yeah, he’d have rather left it to Razorclaw or at very least having someone to back him up. But it wasn’t the case here. Despite of their fancy camouflages and Divebomb’s task or being an early warning system – the Dinobots had caught the Predacons off guard. A complete, utter humiliation. There was no carefully calculated strategy by Razorclaw to heed to. There was just chaos like they had been reverted to mostly harmless protoforms instead of being the galaxy’s most feared hunters.

But there was no time to dwell on that. His charge had at least stopped Grimlock’s charge for whatever good it was for. For a moment it had even seemed like he’d be able to score a critical enough hit against the mechanical tyrannosaur. Alas, that was not the case. Instead Grimlock had turned his more vulnerable belly away from Headstrong’s charge and swung his tail at the charging rhino. Given the fact the Predacons had went through size change modifications to camouflage themselves better for their mission, it also meant the Dinobot commander was unusually big in comparison. Which in turn allowed Grimlock to use his tail more efficiently than normally against the charging Headstrong. While Headstrong managed to impale the Dinobot’s tail – certainly damaging it – it apparently did little else than anger to monster for the next thing Headstrong knew was being ragdolled helplessly around by the tyrannosaur’s tail before being slammed to the ground hard enough to almost knock him senseless with his horn also being dislodged from the Dinobot. Though probably not without the slam costing extended damage to Grimlock’s tail too.

And thus as much as it pained him, Headstrong was forced to do something uncharacteristic. He called for assistance. »”Headstrong to Predacons! Need help! Can’t deal with Grimlock alone!”«

One by one the Stunticons grew in size and connected with each other in a way that certainly felt unnatural to say the least. If they were being fired upon it didn't register. Shockwave's improvements on the combining process had considerably strengthened their combined integrity field. The process was shielded to a point of being nearly impervious to most hand held Cybertronian weapons. The was no stopping the combination anymore.

Motormaster had expected the be solely on the driver’s seat of their combined form but that was not the case at all. Instead he had found himself in a chaotic vortex of thoughts and impulses not of his own. No, the five or them were all there. And not at all there at the same time for their combined form had a mind of its own. Mind they all were part of but not necessarily heeded at. A maelstrom of conflicting emotions with the strongest of them being; wrath, depression, madness, paranoia, pride and hate that bound them all together. Motormaster even heard its name in his mind despite none of them never having voiced it. A loud rumble. Menasor. Menasor!

The gargantuan beast grabbed its head with both of its hands as in suffering from massive headache, roaring its name a loud, calling for the voices in its mind to cease, ”WE ARE MENASOR! NO! NOOOO! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! I AM MENASOR! I AM!”

A bright red flash of his optics. Silence. A wicked, murderous grin. Hands being moved away from the sides of head. A massive bright and silvery sword crackling with electricity flaring up in its right hand. A schizophrenic nightmare given a form. Menasor.

OOC: Anyone playing a Stunticon can post with Menasor next.

Priority-1 Communique

>>"Excellent Razorclaw. Soundwave will be watching. I trust your analysis is correct. Megatron out."<<
___

Mining Site

Divebomb could hardly believe what he was seeing--inbetween artfully dodging the aerial Dinobot's attacks. The combination process had worked again. Was this the fate of the Predacons as well? Did he want it to be. It looked tempting, to be sure, but there was surely a down-

*FWOOOMMMMM*

Several missiles rocketed past, one clipping the Predacon's wing and erupting in a gush of fire and plasma. Divebomb went angling downward, smoke trailing behind. He could hear the Dinobot let out a screech of primal victory.

We'll see... the Predacon thought smugly as he lost altitude. He began to angle towards the newly-formed Stunticon titan. As he fell, another Predacon registered in his comm.

>>”Headstrong to Predacons! Need help! Can’t deal with Grimlock alone!"<<

Divebomb was not currently in a position capable of rendering aid, but that might change....

Mining Site

The sound that Sludge emitted could be described as a painful roar, but that would be an understatement. Razorclaw digging into his back and sliding across his hull would normally not have affected the jungle warrior much given his thick hide, but this was the Predacon commander here. Few had blades sharp enough to carry out such a feat.

“Hmph!” cried out Sludge, brandishing his blade and seeing Razorclaw charge in with a sword of his own. He stomped one leg on the ground to give himself some push into the air, and brought down his blade hard, hoping to parry the lion and use his weight to crush him.

Mining Site

The moment was tense, and it seemed that Snarl had taken up Offroad’s invitation to fight. He seemed to have danced around the glass gas already, Slag. Those sure took a while. Nevermind. The green-faced devil revved his engines and his axe alike, charging forward to try and hack into some of the spikes on the Dinobot. Yet his path had something else in it - missiles, which burst as soon as they hit the ground around Offroad, catching him off guard for a brief moment. The smoke surrounded him, but he heard Snarl’s heavy footsteps headed the other way… towards the other Decepticons.

Two red optics glowed through the smoke, disappearing entirely as Offroad broke into a chase after Snarl, burning rubber as his tires touched ground and he gave pursuit.

Mining Site

Rampage heard Headstrong’s call over the comms, needing help. At first, Rampage didn’t believe it, but when he heard who it was, everything clicked into place. He turned his feline head to the side and quickly broke into a sprint over towards Headstrong. >>”Oi, I’m coming!”<<

On the inside, Rampage too feared that Grimlock would thrash him. In fact, he knew that he was of no use alone. Hopefully Headstrong had been able to get back on his soon enough. When he was close enough, he leaped towards the towering Dinobot and let loose a bolt of pure lightning.

Mining Site

Fully-formed and optics glowing with rage, Menasor angled his sword in the direction of Grimlock just as a missile from overhead came spiraling downward and slamming into the ground near where the gestalt stood. Menasor's metallic face contorted in rage as he looked up.

Flying Dinobot! Pest! Interloper! How dare!? Fire!

"Grahhhhh!" Menasor howled as he angled his sword upward and streams of quantum-voltage electricity came spewing out. It clipped the edge of one of Divebomb's wings but hit the flying Dinobot with full force.

Swoop let out a primal cry as his systems reacted to the blast. He began to drop from the air like a smoking, sizzling stone.

But before he could stalk and finish the falling aerial Dinobot, several missile struck the titan in the chest and shoulder region, sending flames spewing in all directions and eliciting another primal roar.
___

Ignore them. But shouldn't we? No! Look over there! Yes, those fools!

Devastator produced his own massive rifle and and aimed for the spikey-tailed Autobot that had been knocked afield by gale-force wind weaponry. He roared before letting loose with a massive blast.

Not content to rely on his weapon alone, Devastator began to stalk toward the Dinobot in question as his attention seemed to be more focused on the Stunticons.

"Tear you apart! Piece...by piece!" Devastator bellowed before reaching down to do exactly that.

Mining Site

Grimlock slammed Headstrong into the ground hard, successfully dislodging his horn from the Dinobot Commander’s tail but causing more damage in the process and leaving a gaping hole in its place. The rex-former sensed the pain but he didn't let it deter him.

Instead, Grimlock spun around and set his sights on the rattled Predacon. The mechanical T. rex opened his jaws wide with the intention of biting down into Headstrong’s side, but was thwarted by a bolt of pure lightning that knocked him several feet back, only to be stopped by a nearby tree.

As Grimlock shook off the remnants of the lightning that lingered across his frame, he caught sight of Rampage leaping at him and quickly transformed into robot mode. The Dinobot leader then swung his sword wildly in an attempt to eviscerate Rampage.
_______________

>>”Excellent Razorclaw. Soundwave will be watching. I trust your analysis is correct. Megatron out.”<<

Razorclaw received a response from Megatron, but paid little mind to it as he continued his charge towards the Jungle Warrior. For as big and dimwitted as Sludge was, the overgrown Dinobot had managed to somewhat leap into the air and bring his energo sword down directly at the Predacon Commander. Razorclaw skidded to a stop and brought his own sword up just in time to meet the Jungle Warrior’s blade.

The force of the two swords clashing was intense and the sheer weight of Sludge was almost enough to crush Razorclaw. But the Predacon leader held firm as he dug his feet into the ground beneath him. The Jungle Warrior pressed down onto him, energo blade against sonic blade. Razorclaw used all of his might to hold the enormous Dinobot at bay, his arms beginning to shake. Razorclaw knew that Sludge’s immense strength would ultimately win out if the lion-former didn’t do something fast.

Razorclaw quickly aimed his shoulder-mounted concussion cannons directly up at Sludge and fired several rounds towards his chest plate and face. At point-blank range, there would be no missing and it would hopefully be enough to knock the Jungle Warrior away and allow Razorclaw the opportunity for another attack.
_______________

Snarl had failed to prevent the Stunticons from combining into a new beast called Menasor. Instead, the Desert Warrior watched as the gestalt slashed its massive sword at Swoop, the tremendous amounts of electrical energy striking the aerial Dinobot full force.

“Swoop!” Snarl shouted as his comrade fell from the sky. >>“Swoop, this Snarl. You okay?!”<< Before he got any kind of response, the plated Dinobot heard the roar of an engine behind him and spun around the see Offroad racing towards him. Snarl fired off another missile at the approaching Stunticon wannabe. But, before he knew it, a massive blast from Devastator struck the ground right next to him, sending the Desert Warrior flying across the site and landing hard a good distance away.

All sorts of error messages flashed across Snarl’s HUD as he tried to shake the force of the explosion. Scorch marks covered the left side of his body where the blast had occurred, his frame still smoldering as sparks flew from his now damaged left shoulder. His optics flickered back on just in time to see Devastator stalking towards him.

“Tear you apart! Piece...by piece!” the green behemoth bellowed as he approached the fallen Dinobot. The Desert Warrior pushed himself up into a sitting position as fast as he could and immediately looked around for his weapons. Snarl quickly found his sword and reached for it, but his rocket launcher was too far away.

An enormous shadow was then cast down over the Desert Warrior. Snarl, his sword now in hand, looked up just as the giant green combiner reached down and grabbed Snarl in its right hand and lifted him up into the air. The plated Dinobot tried in vain to fight against Devastator’s grip, but it was no use. Instead, Snarl used his energo sword to try and stab the Constructicon gestalt’s hand, aiming for the knuckle joints in the hopes that any damage he caused would be enough to force Devastator to drop him. It was a long shot but worth the try.
________________

The explosions that had erupted across Menasor’s chest and shoulder areas sent the Stunticon combiner into a rage. A primal scream emanated from the wrathful monster as he looked down to see who it was that had now attacked him. The newborn gestalt quickly found the source of the rocket attack – the Dinobot Snarl. First it had been Swoop that thought he could strike Menasor and get away with it and now it was this ground-based mech.

“Stupid Dinobot fragger! We….I mean I…I will destroy you for that!!!!” Menasor bellowed as he plodded towards the Desert Warrior. However, before the Stunticon titan could reach his prey, Devastator had attacked Snarl and scooped him up with the intent of stealing away Menasor’s vengeance.

”NO!!! He's mine to destroy!” Menasor roared, grabbing Devastator firmly by the forearm that held Snarl in it’s grasp. “Give him to US….I mean ME!!! You find other prey. This Dinofrag belongs to ME!!”

As Menasor began to tighten his grip on Devastator’s forearm, a bright column of light shot down from the sky and struck the ground near the edge of the mining site. It was a bounce beam and once it had dissipated an entire squadron of autotroopers appeared. It took only a few astroseconds for the bounce effects to wear off the highly trained soldiers and once that happened the commanding officer stepped forward.

“Autotroopers, ATTACK!!!” With the order given, the troopers opened fire at anything with a Decepticon insignia while beginning to spread out around the mining site.

Grimlock’s slam had seriously rattled Headstrong’s equilibrium but there was no time to lie down and lick one’s wounds now. The Dinobots were not known for showing mercy to Decepticons and Headstrong was not eager to put that to a test.

Feeling more comfortable staying in his rhino mode and the safety of four legs, Headstrong shook his head to regain better sense of the spinning world around him before taking his first shaking steps towards Grimlock and Rampage. He was not alone doing that though.

Not that far away from them – Tantrum too was preparing for another charge at Grimlock. Having shed the remains of his camouflage by growing to his normal beast mode size Tantrum was staring holes into Grimlock’s back. With Rampage keeping Grimlock distracted Tantrum had sensed an opportunity to open before him. Steam pouring out of the raging bull’s nostrils, he charged at Grimlock again – this time having all the intention of ramming his horns into the Dinobot commander.

Noticing that Tantrum too, was entering the fray again – Headstrong too shed his camouflage and transformed into his robot form. Pulling out his own sword, Headstrong began cautiously approaching Grimlock from an angle that gave Tantrum a chance to ram into the Dinobot with full force while the Dinobot had to keep his optics on both Headstrong himself and Rampage. One on one the only Predacon with any hope of challenging Grimlock was Razorclaw but three on one? Headstrong was starting to like these odds.

As quickly as Menasor’s limited attention span had gone from Swoop to Snarl and Devastator – he had once again shifted his attention elsewhere and released his grip from Devastator’s forearm. A bounce beam tended to have such an effect. The paranoid nature of Breakdown had alerted Menasor towards the sudden bright flash of light. Dead End’s and Motormaster’s unwillingness to leave a greater threat unchallenged overpowered Drag Strip’s need of competing over who got to kill Snarl.

And thus, Menasor’s first response towards the new Autobot arrivals meant procuring hold of a gigantic version of Motormaster’s atom-smasher rifle and several maniacal blasts towards the approaching Autotroopers like only Wildrider would do. In this case though – even maniacal barely aimed blasts wielded such destructive power that nearly a one third of the Autotrooper squadron ceased to exist within the first nanoklik from their entering the battlefield.

”DIE AUTOBOTS DIE!”

And dying they were.

“Die, Autobots! Die!” Menasor said again.

He swung Motormaster’s--no, his--rifle to the left, intent on destroying a large group of Autotroopers scurrying from him. They were quick and his tracking of them slow, but they would not escape. When the barrel of his enormous weapon landed upon the fleeing Autotroopers--or near enough, in his impatient and tumultuous estimation--he fired. Visible through the clearing dust, tendrils of smoke rose unsteadily from chunks of blackened metal strewn across the ground surrounding the radius of the blast.

Menasor roared. “Who wants to die next?”

As if prompted by the question, two Autotroopers came at him, shooting the gestalt with their puny guns. If not for the flashes that the edges of his vision ensnared, Menasor wouldn’t have known he was hit. He felt nothing--his chest plate did not register the contact that was made with it. Puny.

Compressing his actuator into a fist, Menasor, snarling, brought it down on the pair, jackhammering the Autotroopers until their bodies submitted to the tremendous force crashing into them and broke apart, the dispersion of sparks and fluids horrifyingly abundant.

The gestalt reared to his full height. He cast his gaze out, searching for their next victim. No. For his next victim. They were all his. Not theirs.

“Fight me, Autobots! Fight me, you fraggin’ cowards!”



Deep within their gathered consciousness, swirling about violently with the others at the mercy of the currents of this psychological cauldron, he managed to reach the relative calm of the surface and separate himself from them. A moment of lucidity. Of individuality.

Wildrider said, “Yeah! Yeah! Bam! Squish!”

Mining Site

Swoop had crashed to the ground, ripples of electricity from the blast of Menasor's sword rippling around him before fading away.

One limb at a time, the Dinobot painfully transformed back into his robot mode. Air was good. Flying good. But maybe it wasn't the best idea right now. 'Cons had new toys and he was a bigger target in the air than on the ground with everyone else.

>>“Swoop, this Snarl. You okay?!”<<

Okay? Not really. Every servo either ached or burned.

"Swoop....functional,"<< the Dinobot sputtered out as he pushed himself off the ground and accessed his rifle again. A flash of white not far off caught the Dinobot's attention and he saw a stream of new Cybertronians coming through. He almost fired on them before spotting the Autobot insignia. Friends. Ok.

A heavy series of blasts hit them, sending a good number of them up in flames and pieces. Swoop hoped they weren't new Protectobots. This no place for them.

He turned his rifle on the Stunty titan and fired, trying to land a shot square in his face and pull his attention away.

Mining Site

One of Divebomb's wings was still smoking from the damage it had sustained from the Stunticon gestalt's chaotically-aimed first volley, but that same volley had nailed Swoop--a fact which provided Divebomb with endless amusement. But there was still a battle to be won here.

Finish Swoop? Perhaps.

Snarl...Slag....Sludge....oooooohhhh, it seemed as if Grimlock had got himself targeted by all of his fellow Predacon warlords. Headstrong was recovering from an attack but regrouping. Tantrum was charging the mighty Dinobot. Razorclaw was regrouping as Grimlock appeared to now be focused on decapitating Rampage.

This was a golden opportunity and an arena where the Predacons shined: taking down a larger and arguably more powerful foe as a pack.

In a burst of flame, Divebomb shed his camouflage and stretched his metallic wings across the sky before arcing downward. Grimlock was outnumbered and outmatched. If Tantrum's horns didn't get the Dinobot commander, Divebomb's talons would. And if anyone could capitalize on their coordinated attack? Razorclaw was one of the finest to do just that.

Mining Site

Devastator howled, holding onto his prize like an angry cyberwolf to keep it from falling into the hands of the car bots. They could go find their own! Not have his!

He wanted to make them pay for even trying to grab the bot away. Smash their face. Head hurt. No. Cars stupid. Not enemy. Focus on enemy. Dinobots.

Dinobots.

"Grahhhhhggh," Devastator cried out as pain surged through his hand and he dropped the spiky Dinobot.

Stupid Dinobot bit him with sword.

Devastator attempted to stomp the Dino with his tractor-foot in reply.

Mining Site

Snarl fell to the ground once Devastator had let him go. The Desert Warrior didn’t have time to rest, though, as the green behemoth attempted to stomp on him with his gigantic right foot.

“Fraggit!” Snarl yelled, quickly rolling to one side as the huge foot came crashing down just inches away from him. “That too close!” The spiked Dinobot exclaimed as he got back up to his feet and put some distance between himself and the Constructicon gestalt. Stopping near the tree line, Snarl turned back towards Devastator and took aim with his missile launcher.

“Take this you green monster!” The Desert Warrior shouted as he unleashed another volley of rockets directly at Devastator’s faceplate and upper torso region.
_______________

Menasor was enjoying blasting the Autotroopers who had been foolish enough to try and challenge him. The various voices within the Stunticon gestalt made it difficult to remain focused, but Menasor managed to continue taking out Autotroopers as quickly as they arrived.

”Stupid Auto-frags! You all die under my might!” Menasor roared as he blasted away with his gigantic rifle. Then a shot from elsewhere hit the gestalt’s faceplate. Then another and another. The shots did little damage but they did succeed in drawing his attention away from the Autotroopers.

“Who dare attack us, I mean me!? Who attacks me?!!” Menasor bellowed as he quickly found the source of the shots. It was the Dinobot known as Swoop. He had survived his crash landing and was now challenging the might of the Stunticon gestalt. “Pathetic Dinobot! You no match for Menasor!”

Menasor then took aim with his huge rifle and opened fire on Swoop before following that up with an attempt to step on the bombardier. If the massive laser fire didn’t get him then the gestalt’s massive foot would.
_______________

Slag had kept himself busy taking out vehicons one after the other, but he was getting bored quickly. The Dinobot flamethrower needed something much more challenging.

Then Slag noticed that the Predacons were beginning to gang up on Grimlock. The Dinobot Commander was currently under attack by no less than three Preds, two of which he saw, but one of which he did not know was coming at him from behind.

The metal triceratops wasted no time and quickly charged at Tantrum while opening a comm line to his leader: >>”Grimlock, look out behind you!”<<
_______________

Grimlock knocked the leaping Rampage away with a solidly placed backhand, having barely missed the mechanical tiger with his sword. Before the Dinobot Commander could followup his attack on Rampage, the rex-former’s attention was drawn back to Headstrong again, who had gotten back up and was now cautiously approaching him.

“You want more of what me got, Headstrong?” Grimlock growled, still gripping his sword in his hand. “Come get some, aft-licker!”

It was then that the rex-former received Slag’s transmission. He spun around to see Tantrum coming right at him as Slag came charging in from one side. Grimlock stood his ground, looking back at Headstrong before returning his sights to Tantrum. He was ready just in case Slag failed to hit his target.

Unfortunately, Grimlock was not ready for yet another attack from above as Divebomb swooped in and slashed the Dinobot leader’s head and faceshield with his serrated talons. One of the talons raked across Grimlock’s right optic, damaging it and leaving him partially blind in that eye.

“Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!” The rex-former roared in pain as he then wildly swung his sword up into the air with the hopes of slicing one of Divebomb’s wings off and grounding him for good.

Tantrum roared in frustration as he caught Slag charging at him from the corner of his vision. The bull had no choice but abandon his attack on Grimlock to save himself from being impaled by Slag’s horns. And man, did that piss him off.

Headstrong though - had no chance to follow up on how the situation developed between Slag and increasingly furious Tantrum for he was standing face to face against Grimlock again. Grimlock whom had just been caught unaware by an aerial strike by Divebomb, leaving the Dinobot’s right optic clearly damaged to a point. How badly though?

”Rampage!” Headstrong roared, inviting the tiger Predacon to join him against the Dinobot commander. He knew he couldn’t win alone. One or two optics, Grimlock was just too tough for him alone. But Grimlock’s reaction to Divebomb’s attack did buy him an opening to strike. An opening Headstrong took by firing a plasma sphere at Grimlock’s open flank as the Dinobot tried to reach Divebomb with his sword.

(OOC: Continued from the Guardian thread. Moving the strike team along.)

Skies Over the Congo

”Get right on board, Smokey! Seems like them Dinobots stirred up some slagpit down there! We’re gonna bust some ‘Cons for that!”

Smokescreen finished checking his rifle after having done the same with his launchers as Warpath welcomed his help on the upcoming mission. “Ah, the Dinobots are involved, huh? I guess ol’ Grimlock couldn’t stay out of trouble. Can’t say I’m too surprised.”

The rallybot then gave Overclock a nod as the stealth operator joined them. “Welcome aboard, ‘Clock. I think this mission will be more exciting then our last one. Heh.”

Smokey chuckled as the shuttle made its way down through the atmosphere and over the jungles of the Congo. Soon the volcanic site of the battle came into view, the two combiners being the first thing the shuttle’s occupants saw over the treetops.

“Holy frag!” Smokescreen exclaimed as he peered out of one of the passenger compartment’s windows. “There appears to be TWO gestalts down there! I see Devastator, but there’s another one that’s just as big! No wonder the Dinobots need our help!”

Suddenly, the Autobot shuttle came under fire and was quickly struck by multiple blasts. The autotrooper pilot tried his best to steady the craft but was then stuck by a laser that had pierced through the cockpit window.

“Slaggit! We don’t have a pilot!” Smokey shouted as he immediately got out of his seat and rushed into the cockpit, pulling the deactivated autotrooper out of the pilot’s chair. The rallybot quickly sat down and tried to regain control of the shuttle. He had limited piloting experience but he was better than no pilot at all. “Hold on, everyone! We’re going down!”

Doing the best that he could to keep the craft level, Smokescreen guided the damaged shuttle down over the jungle and away from the clearing where the main battle was centered. The wings struck the tops of the trees and sheered off, causing the shuttle to plummet down through the trees and vines faster than before. “Brace for impact!”

Finally, the Autobot shuttle crashed into the ground hard, skidding through the dense foliage until it came to rest near the base of the volcano. The diversion expert had been thrown out of the pilot’s chair and onto the floor, but he was fine. Only a few dents to speak of. He managed to sit up and look back into the passenger section. “Everyone okay? Warpath? Overclock?”

Wasting no time, Smokescreen crawled over to one of the windows and peered out at the jungle that surrounded the volcano. He could hear the sounds of battle not far off in the distance. It was only a matter of time before the Decepticons found them. Taking matters into his own hands, the rallybot got up and moved over to the shuttle’s hatch. After forcing the emergency lever up, Smokey pushed the hatch open, exposing the jungle beyond.

“All right, everyone, we need to move now. Let’s go!”

Mt. Nyiragongo

Grimlock's sword struck paydirt, even though Divebomb's assault had been somewhat successful. After the sword clashed against his left wing, it erupted in flame, plasma and electricity as part of the wing went spiraling down to the ground and Divebomb did the same before he could gain any real altitude.

He crashed into the mucky ground.
___

Menasor had been looking for his next victims.

He fired a blast from his sword at the first Dinobot he saw. Then another. Then, as a shuttle crossed the sky, it caught his attention. He and others fired upon it and and a wave of satisfaction welled up inside as the shuttle crashed into a nearby forested areas.

Crash site.

Victims.

The Stunticon gestalt stalked toward the forested area and slammed his sword into the first grouping of trees and knocking others back with his free hand.

"Come, Autobots! Play! Play....and die!"

He leveled a blast from his electrosword into the dense jungle.

The blast wasn’t intended as a killing blow. Menasor couldn’t have his fun if he’d already destroyed the Autobots still inside the shuttle. He wanted them to escape, wanted to watch them burst forth from the wreckage like cyber-cockroaches whose nest had been exposed and whose safety was severely threatened. Then the fun could start. The blast and the sweeping aside of the trees previously concealing the craft served to clear the area somewhat, enabling Menasor to better survey the Autobots’ movements.

It wasn’t concern they could harm him, hilariously inaccurate as that was. It was robbing the Autobots of one of the few advantages at their disposal--taking something crucial from them, and revelling in the panic certain to afflict them as their chances of survival, already scant, dwindled further. That amused Motormaster greatly.

Amused Menasor. That amused Menasor greatly.

Still, the Autobots could vanish into the jungle, but the distance between them and the cover it provided depended upon their swiftness. Menasor didn’t like that idea. He stomped his way towards the shuttle.

“What’s wrong, Autobots?” he asked. “Don’t you feel like playing?”

The gestalt laughed. With or without their consent, he would have his fun.

Mt Nyiragongo

Rampage heeded Headstrong's call, and kicked off with his hind legs, roaring in the direction of Grimlock, who had been distracted by Divebomb's play. He sprang right towards the Dinobot commander, firing off while running, and leaping to strike in tandem with Headstrong.
-
Offroad's devilish grin only widened as he turned around to look up at the two giants that were now laying havoc across the jungle. Brandishing axe in one hand, gun in another, he blew smoke out of his exhausts and shrouded himself in a thick smog, demon optics barely visible through the blur.
-
Razorclaw's point-blank missiles were a strong explosive force against Sludge's hide, and the towering jungle warrior let out a long, drawn out howl. Sludge swung his neck around, readied his footing and hoisted himself up on his hind legs, fully intending to crush down on Razorclaw on his way down. The gestalts would have to wait, he wanted to get rid of the Lion first.
-
Overclock and Warpath recovered from the crash, and promptly followed Smokey outward. There was no time to waste - they had to get to the scene of the fight as soon as possible. And yet there was a swing from a large electroblade, cleaving through the foliage like ripping apart paper. Overclock's optics widened, and promptly drew his rifle out, ducking behind trees for cover.

Warpath was less subtle. He cast a glance back at Smokescreen, and immediately roared in the direction of Menasor, aiming his prized chest cannon upward. "I'LL PLAY WITH YA," he said, unloading a series of heavy artillery rounds, "WHAM UP, DECEPTIFRAGS!"