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"Now to begin requisitioning the prefabricated structures that we can incorporate into this unstable terrain."

"That would advisable if we are to spend any longer in this death trap.” Hook shared his opinion with Scrapper while eyeing Motormaster suspiciously as the Stunticon leader weighed the ore sample in his actuators.

”Regardless, we’d better move outside if we are to get a shipment of building materials. I would rather start strengthening the mining tunnels from inwards from the entrance than get trapped by a random collapse caused by Bonecrusher.”

Or the Stunticons.

Underground Lava Tubes

"That would advisable if we are to spend any longer in this death trap.”

"Not so much 'if' as 'how long'," Scrapper said with a smirk underneath his faceplate. "Now that we've discovered energon and ore-13 on site, I suspect this is going to be our new home for a good while. Now I see what Megatron did what he did, frontloading the special teams here. If we'd found nothing, we simply move on to the next site. If we did, then the site was pre-emptively secure. No more of of the mistakes we made at the Yellow Sea."

”Regardless, we’d better move outside if we are to get a shipment of building materials. I would rather start strengthening the mining tunnels from inwards from the entrance than get trapped by a random collapse caused by Bonecrusher,” Hook continued as the two Constructicons made for the enrtance while the others continued their work.

"No argument there," Scrapper nodded.

Shuttle

“Activate stealth mode, Swoop, and approach with caution. Me don’t want to alert ‘Cons of our presence just yet,” Grimlock commanded.

"Stealth mode go," Swoop confirmed. The controls on this little shuttle weren't as smooth and advanced as they were on the Trion--Swoop was missing them already. But he would make do.

"There!" Grimlock suddenly shouted, and Swoop looked to see where the commander was pointing. There was no mistaking that characteristic purple insignia.

“Decepticons! Finally! Swoop, land nearby immediately. Dinobots…Prepare for all out assault!”

Swoop tensed, but only in the way he normally did when on the edge of battle. The surges came and he would be ready to scrap. For the moment, though, he tamed those wilder urges and moved to set the ship down where Grimlock had indicated.

Once the ship had landed, Swoop began checking his weapons systems. Everything was recharged, refilled and restocked since their last go around.

"Swoop ready."

With a huff, Headstrong lifted his head from his resting position. He hadn’t been very active in a while. Guard duty in a jungle surrounding a volcano was all that exiting but even a bored Predacon was an alert one. And given how Headstrong had pretty much the least acute senses of the Predacons, the others had to have noticed it too. One simply couldn’t land a shuttle – cloaked or not - on the Predacons without them noticing.

>>”Are you sensing what I am sensing?”<< He transmitted over their shared intercom. >>”I hear the rumble, I sense the vibrations. But I don’t see it. Autobots, gotta be.”<<

Jungle near Mt. Nyiragongo

Divebomb looked up. He saw nothing of consequence, but something had tripped the aerial Predacon's...instincts. Nothing was wrong on his sensors, but something felt askew.

As he attempted to attune himself more closely to his surroundings, Headstrong came through their internal comms.

>>”Are you sensing what I am sensing? I hear the rumble, I sense the vibrations. But I don’t see it. Autobots, gotta be.”<<

>>"Something felt off. I couldn't put a talon on what, but now that you're saying this, I would be inclined to agree,"<< Divebomb added on the team channel. >>"Taking to the air."<<

The massive bird of prey outstretched its wings and stepped off the branch it was currently occupying before heading up to see what, if anything, had triggered their finely-tuned instincts.

Dinobot Shuttle

Grimlock wrote:"Dinobots... prepare for all out assault!"

Grimlock said to get ready, so Sludge start getting ready. Sludge be giant Dinobot, getting out of shuttle a bit of cramp. Swoop had shuttle weapon set, Sludge grab cannon and sword, ready to head out when Grimlock say go. Sludge big bot, he take hit, he be at front on normal day, but this mission stealth. Maybe better to get drop.

Sludge step out of shuttle, turn into dino mode, keep head low below tree top. He sniff quiet, look in direction of place Grimlock and Swoop say. With rest of dinobot around, he spot flying bird, bigger than normal Earth bird. Even if Sludge brain module small, he know who that be. Grimlock make Sludge “jungle warrior” for reason good - he demolisher.

All out assault, Grimlock say. Then all out they get. In jungle, Sludge best fighter. No more quiet, now they know where Decepticon was. Sludge raise neck, rear up on back feet, and STOMP. Sludge stomp through many tree, pick big one up with mouth and use as club.

With rest of Dinobot, Sludge head right into Con mining camp, throwing big tree club into mining site hole to block way out. Rampage close, Sludge stomp him first, then stomp others later.

Jungle near Mt Nyiragongo

Headstrong wrote:>>”Are you sensing what I am sensing? I hear the rumble, I sense the vibrations. But I don’t see it. Autobots, gotta be.”<<

Admittedly, Rampage had been distracted. He was too busy watching his holovids and idly wandering around, pretending to patrol around, far enough where Razorclaw wouldn’t be able to keep a direct eye on him. But this message had taken him off his latest holovid. Grumbling, he put a pause and saved it, aiming to watch later. The grumble eventually turned into a low growl, and he gave a sniff into the air, to try and find out what it was that was.

He heard a rumble. And it was a pretty loud one. >>”Hey wait a minute. Was that an earthquake? Is the volcano blowing up? Because some of the trees just fell over.”<<

A tree went flying overhead. What the slag? Rampage turned back to look at where the tree had landed, when suddenly he felt the ‘earthquake’ right next to him. A giant fraggin’ apatosaurus was looming right in front of him, and Rampage would’ve almost shrieked like a little protoform if the others weren’t here. To save his hide, he quickly turned and sprinted, not in the mood to get crushed under the giant foot. He began voicing his worries into the comms, >>”FRAG FRAG FRAG FRA-”<<

He circled around, unraveling the gunbarrels in his hind legs, firing at the Dinobots in front of him, rather recklessly and without aim. He wasn’t the brightest anyway. Filled with a sudden drive and mindless rage at the disturbance, he roared, retaliating as fast as he could.

Mt Nyiragongo - Edge of the Lava Lake

Offroad was perfectly content staying up here on the hot, lava-drenched side of the mountain. He had helped set up some of the barriers to make sure the pyroclastic flow wouldn’t disrupt the mining operation, much to Motormaster’s chagrin, but he was under no obligation to follow that brute’s orders in any special way other than higher authority.

The extreme environments were where he thrived anyway. He was, frankly enough, quite at home in such conditions, even if this planet was full of mud and not exactly the kind of daredevil landscapes found in the sea of rust back home. Offroad smiled to himself, checking the measurements of volcanic activity.

There was some inane chatter over the comms for some time, but the Predacons seemed to be picking up on something on their corner of the camp. He looked down into the forest, wherever everyone else was. Alone on the side of the mountain, Offroad watched. And he watched. And he would continue to watch until something decided to beg for his attention. For now, they could figure things out down there. He was just going to stay up here, silent.

Underground Lava Tubes

"Once we get the pre-fabs down here, I'll contact Megatron to provide a status update and get further orders and then-"

Something slammed against the entrance to the mine that they had carved out. It looked like the bottom of a tree, roots and all.

"What the frag?" Scrapper grumbled. "If those idiots out there are messing around and decided to plug up the entrance for grins, someone's gonna get lashed."

Scrapper started to push against the uprooted tree stump. It moved, but it was also wedged in there pretty good.

"What’s with the ruckus?” Motormaster rumbled as he pushed his way through the other Decepticons between him and the entrance into the volcano.

”A tree?” He voiced out his confusion as he finally made optical contact with the blockade Scrapper was struggling with while Hook watched with dismay. ”That’s a big one. Saw few around the mountain. Makes no sense unless...”

No way this was work of his idiots, they were not simply strong enough for a trunk like this. It had to weight way more than the Stunticon leader himself. And while Tantrum likely still wanted to have his revenge on the humiliation Motormaster put his through earlier – he wouldn’t do something like this with Razorclaw still in the mines. And well, Longhaul and Bonecrusher weren’t outside either. It reeked of trouble. Big time trouble.

”Brace your weapons boys! I smell an Autobot ambush!” Motormaster bellowed and joined Scrapper pushing the tree out of their way while brandishing his cyclone rifle. Scrapper was no weakling but with the added brute strength of the King of the Roads the tree began moving fast despite of being wedged in deep. ”Anytime now...”

Skies

Once Headstrong had put the group on alert, Divebomb took to the air. He sensed it too. Something was off, but he couldn't identify exactly what.

Until a tree launched itself through the site and into the mountain. Only Headstrong or Tantrum could have done that with such ease, and none of them were keen on pushing Razorclaw's limits right now.

Divebomb traced back the trajectory of the tree to its most likely origin point and there he found....

>>”FRAG FRAG FRAG FRA-”<<

A Dinobot.

No, Dinobots.

Since when would there ever be just one? Even so, they had no idea just what a mess they walked into.

>>Dinobot company, fellas. All hands on deck!"<< Divebomb added to Rampage's frantic cursing.

Skies

All out assault? Swoop could do all out assault. It was what Dinobots did best.

Sludge and the others were gone almost as soon as the shuttle had landed. It was Swoop's duty to lock up and secure the shuttle but then he, too, was out in the field with his brothers.

He took to the air almost instantly, transforming as he gained altitude and then soared up even further. In the skies, there were very few targets, but he spotted one. The one Predacon who liked the air as much as he did. Right now, though, he looked like a feathery snack.

Maybe he'd turn him into one.

Underground Lava Tubes

"What's the glitch, boss?" Bonecrusher asked as he and Scavenger approached the Stunticon and Constructicon commanders working to remove a massive tree trunk from what had been their initial entrance into the mine.

"Autobots, we suspect," Scrapper grunted as he and Motormaster finished pushing the tree out of the mine hole.

>>Dinobot company, fellas. All hands on deck!"<< came a transmission from Divebomb, confirming Motormaster's suspicions.

He looked to the larger mech.

"Dinobots? How they found us here, I have no idea....but...they must have no idea what we can do now. Well, that's not exactly true. They must have no idea what you can do now, heh."

He then sent a comm to the rest of his unit.

>>"All Constructicons rally on my position."<<

Dinobot Shuttle / Jungle near Mt. Nyiragongo

The Dinobots were ready for battle. Once the shuttle had landed and the ramp extended to the forest floor, Grimlock’s squad stormed out of the craft with Sludge of all mechs in the lead. The pent-up rage and energy they all had was on full display and the rex-former wasn’t going to get in their way. Grimlock normally led the charge into battle, but in this case he allowed his subordinates to roar ahead of him. Only Swoop stayed behind to secure the shuttle before also joining the rest.

Grimlock quickly descended the ramp and transformed into his Tyrannosaur alt mode once he reached the bottom. He plowed ahead through the jungle until he came upon the Decepticon mining site. Sludge had already kicked a tree into the mine’s opening, effectively plugging up the hole and trapping all those within.

The mechanical T. rex did not slow down, swinging his large head side to side in order to get a full scan of the site. He spotted numerous vehicons along with four Predacons, but no Razorclaw. Him must be stuck in mine, Grimlock thought inwardly as he finally took aim at Tantrum. The fueler, along with the rest of the Predacons, had organic outer coverings, likely meant to blend in better. He was clearly too big to be a real bull, but some disguise was better than none.

“Aaaarrrgghhhh!!!!” Grimlock roared as his massive jaws bit down around Tantrum’s front right leg before flinging him off to one side. The Predacon fueler went crashing through some trees before landing hard on the jungle floor away from the mining site. The robotic T. rex then spun around and charged directly at Headstrong, jaws wide open for another bite.

Underground Lava Tubes / Decepticon Mining Site

Razorclaw heard the tree strike the mine entrance, plugging the opening completely. Scrapper was the first to respond to the disturbance, attempting to move the tree all by himself. It wasn’t until Motormaster got involved that the truth of the situation became obvious.

“What’s with the ruckus? A tree? That’s a big one. Saw few around the mountain. Makes no sense unless...Brace your weapons boys! I smell an Autobot ambush!” The Stunticon Commander warned as he then assisted Scrapper in pushing the tree stump out of the mine entrance.

“Undoubtedly,” Razorclaw agreed, joining the others. Grabbing on to the massive roots of the tree, the lion-former pushed with all of his might. Together they were able to quickly move the stump out of the way, allowing the light outside to shine into the lava tube once more.

Then came Divebomb’s clarification: >>Dinobot company, fellas. All hands on deck!”<<

“Dinobots? How they found us here, I have no idea....but...they must have no idea what we can do now. Well, that's not exactly true. They must have no idea what you can do now, heh,” Scrapper wondered aloud.

“Doesn’t matter right now,” Razorclaw replied as he quickly stepped out of the mine, his sword in hand. “We’ll figure it out later. Now, we must repel them and protect the ore! ALL HAIL MEGATRON!!!”

Razorclaw then transformed into his lion form and charged into battle. Deploying his shoulder-mounted concussion cannons, the Predacon Commander opened fire on the Dinobots before leaping through the air at the nearest one, Sludge, and landing onto his back. The flesh-covered mechanical lion then dug his serrated claws deep into the Apatosaurus’s metal hide and held on tight as Razorclaw bit down into the base of the Jungle Warrior’s long neck.
_______________

Drag Strip watched with the rest of the Stunticons as the three unit leaders easily moved the uprooted tree out of the way. Divebomb’s comm had alerted them already of the threat that lurked outside. “Dinobots. Terrific,” the yellow Stunticon said sarcastically as he readied his plasma energy blaster and looked over at his comrades. “Well, guys, who wants to live forever?”

Wow, I’m starting to sound like Dead End, Drag Strip thought to himself as he moved out of the lava tube and towards the ensuing battle. He took aim at Snarl and opened fire. The Desert Warrior was largely unaffected by Drag’s pathetic attack. The mechanical stegosaurus swung his spiked tail around and struck the yellow Stunticon full force, sending him flying through the air, over the heads of his teammates, and right back into the lava tube where he smashed into a wall. The former racer then slid down to the ground in a crumpled heap.

“Ow,” was all Drag Strip could mutter.

Mining Site

“Doesn’t matter right now. We’ll figure it out later. Now, we must repel them and protect the ore! ALL HAIL MEGATRON!!!”

"Agreed. All hail Megatron!" Scrapper said as he did his due diligence as a commander and sent an attack alert to the Thanatos.

He then turned to look at the other Constructicons, most of which had already rallied on his position as ordered. The only stragglers were...

...Long Haul and Mixmaster, who were now roaring through the mine tubes in their vehicle modes. If they were being attacked, by Dinobots no less, they all knew what was coming. They were practically raging for it.

"Constructicons! Merge for the kill!" Scrapper ordered as he began the transformation sequence.

The others began to quickly follow suit.

Mining Site

Once Drag Strip had gone flying back into the lava tube, Snarl turned his attention towards a group of vehicons who were attempting to attack him with standard issue laser rifles. The blasts bounced off his thick armor, barely making a smudge on his exterior. The Desert Warrior chuckled under his breath before swinging his spiked tail around and knocking the group of vehicons right off their feet. They were propelled in multiple directions, many losing their weapons in the process.

“Constructicons! Merge for the kill!”

Snarl turned back around and looked to the mine entrance where he just heard Scrapper give the order to his team. The Constructicons began to transform into the limb modes of the gestalt called Devastator, an abomination the Dinobots had first encountered at the bottom of the Yellow Sea. The combination sequence then commenced as each of the six pieces began to merge together.

“Oh no you don’t!” Snarl roared as he transformed into his robot mode and fired off several missiles from his launcher, aiming for each of the connection points of the still combining monstrosity. The Desert Warrior then followed up that attack by charging forward as fast as his legs would carry him. When he got close enough, Snarl leapt up with all of his might towards the center of the almost formed Devastator in the hopes that, if his rockets hadn’t done the trick, his own body crashing into the Constructicons would succeed in knocking them apart again.

“FRAG YOU, CONSTRUCTI-PUNKS!!!” Snarl roared as he twisted his upper body around slightly so that his right shoulder plate would make the initial impact which was now imminent.

Motormaster might not have been fast enough to intercept the missiles the Dinobot Snarl had fired upon the combining Constructicons but he was certainly fast enough to react to the tunnel visioned Autobot who had forgotten to pay attention to other threats on the battlefield. And Motormaster certainly wasn’t one to be ignored. The big Stunticon was more than a match to any Dynobot not named Grimlock physically and he was determined to remind them.

”You are going nowhere!” Motormaster bellowed, firing a gale-force cyclone at Snarl, throwing the Dinobot off the course and flying quite some distance away from the Constructicons.

”And you!” He roared at his troops, ”Stop playing around and assemble on my position!”

Motormaster hadn’t forgotten Offroad being around either despite the latter being nowhere to be seen. While some other ’cons might have forgotten the presence of an unseen member of their operation in a shuffle – Motormaster certainly wasn’t one of them. He was going to use every resource he had given who the five Autobots they were facing were. >>”Offroad! Stop sitting around and get us fire support! Or I will drop you into that volcano myself!”<<

Why weren’t their disguises working? The Dynobots had swooped upon them with a speed and determination Headstrong hadn’t seen in a long time. And of all the Dynobots he was supposed to face, it was Grimlock himself charging at Tantrum?!

Headstrong had no illusions of grandeur when it came to facing the notorious leader of the Dynobots but he was smart enough to know his own strengths and ramming into other Cybertronians at full force was certainly his forte.

Two could play this game of chicken - as Grimlock hurled Tantrum away, Headstrong fired both of his plasma-sphere launchers at Grimlock and charged forth towards the tyrannosaur, determined to skewer the Dinobot with his horn while giving Grimlock one heck of an acid burn in the process.

Mt Nyiragongo - Near Central Lava Lake

Divebomb wrote:>>"Dinobot company, fellas. All hands on deck!"<<

It seemed that staying silent and conducting measurements was going to be interrupted. Oh well. Offroad knew that if there was action to be had, he was going to be in on it. He quickly packed up his tools and rolled back into his truck mode, revving his engine loud and heading down the side of the volcano at maximum speed. Normally, any sane driver wouldn’t even think about driving so recklessly, especially on such jagged and harsh terrain, but this was Offroad’s specialty. He drove even more freely than some of the Stunticons, because there was little to fear in a situation like this. He knew what he was doing.

It didn’t take him long to get into the treeline, and within a few sharp turns and dives, he could see some of the commotion happening up ahead. Plenty of craziness was already going down, and right in the middle of all this was Motormaster, his part time boss. He received a comm from him when he was no more than a hundred meters away.

Motormaster wrote:>>”Offroad! Stop sitting around and get us fire support! Or I will drop you into that volcano myself!”<<

The daredevil didn’t even bother switching on his comm, speaking right out loud. “Good luck with that,” he said, sassing Motormaster back, as he zipped right past the brute, transforming in mid-air, guns out, “I got the news already.”

Taking good aim with his carbine, he quickly unloaded a slew of bullets at the closest Dinobot to him, Slag.

Mining Site

Razorclaw had jumped on Sludge’s back, which was no good. Sludge wanted to get him off, but even his neck wouldn’t curve backward that far. There was only one thing to do - and he would use it to his advantage as well.

The absolutely gargantuan unit of an apatosaurus raised his front legs, lifting himself until his body was almost vertical, hoping that gravity would tug at Razorclaw hard enough to pull him off. And with all this moment, Sludge brought down his body like a monstrous sledgehammer to the ground.

BOOM!

The sheer weight and force of Sludge’s body created an impact heavy enough to send a shockwave through the ground, hoping to knock all the Cons on the floor off their feet. And in one smooth motion, the jungle warrior used his momentum to stand up tall in robot mode, hoping to get some better damage done here. Rising above the treeline, he now had a clear view of everyone here. In one hand, he drew his sword, slashing at Razorclaw to try and fend him off. With his other hand, he unrooted another tree and threw it with mastodon-like force towards the Constructicons.

Mining Site

The incoming missiles pelted the steadily-comining form of Devastator, some striking his armature and others striking certain key connecting points that temporarily interrupted the combination process, sending the six green mechanoids crashing back down.

Before they could get their wits about them to respond, Scrapper looked up to see a charging Dinobot that was thankfully blown off course, quite literally, by one of Motormaster's assaults.

"Constructi-"

But before Scrapper could get out the first word, another huge piece of forestry had been rocketed in their direction and slammed most members of the group back even further.

Mining Site

“Dinobots. Terrific. Well, guys, who wants to live forever?” Drag Strip said, mustering up his usual bravado. Breakdown had subtly raised his hand.

"I'm not exactly against the idea, heh," he chuckled nervously. Dinobots. Just wonderful.

Good thing they weren't alone.

Drag Strip fired his opening salvo at Snarl while Breakdown hung back a few steps. Just as he got his rifle raised, Drag had managed to find himself in Snarl's grip and was summarily launched right back into the mine, clipping Breakdown in the process.

"Ow," Breakdown grimaced, firing off a few shots before noting that the Dinobots seemed to have the majority of their focus on the greenies. That suited him just fine.

"Ow," Drag Strip grunted as Breakdown jogged over to help the fellow Stunticon to his feet. They might take the slag out of each other every waking cycle, but when it came down to battle, brothers were brothers.

"Let's stay out of the Dinos big ol' meathooks, eh?"

”And you!”

That voice. Unmistakably Motormaster.

Equally unmistakable: who he was referring to.

”Stop playing around and assemble on my position!”

"Oh yeah, this is barrels of fun," Breakdown muttered, only loud enough that Drag Strip could hear over the cacophony of battle.

"Coming!" he yelled back to the King of the Roads as he ran to meet up with the others.

Mining Site

Snarl made short work of Drag Strip. Total victory clinched by the Dinobot. There was nothing else to say.

Bearing witness to the former racer’s defeat, Dead End couldn’t ward off the tension coiling itself around him and trapping him in place. The brutality and sheer power demonstrated -- merely a sample, to worsen the situation -- provided more than enough doubt of coming out of this encounter unscathed. He wasn’t delusional about battle and the wounds that went with it, but dear Primus... Drag Strip had been swatted aside as if he were an irritating cyber-gnat that’d hovered too closely for too long. Should it be a trend set in motion, the Dinobots’ raw power smashing the Decepticons around, this was going to be a slaughter.

“Stop playing around and assemble on my position!”

A slaughter from either end, if the warrior wasn’t careful. The Autobots’ assault, packaged as an unlovely surprise, he had plenty to deal with, but as usual the violence wasn’t restricted to that of only his enemies. Motormaster could be just as dangerous.

Ah, the delight of being a Stunticon. No wonder Dead End felt doomed all the time.

Muttering to himself, the warrior made a dash for Motormaster, noticing Breakdown ahead of him, scampering to their leader’s position. Scant moments ago, Breakdown had tended to Drag Strip, saving Dead End from checking on the former racer. But as he passed Drag Strip, inspiration struck, and he patted his brother on the back.

A rare act of camaraderie. And it was awkward. Dead End wasn’t sure if he’d do that again, but wasn’t he being unreasonable?

He thought for an astrosecond.

No. Never again.

A rocket attack by Snarl had interrupted the combination attempt by the Constructicons with Motormaster thankfully slowing down the Dinobot’s attack. The Dinobot attack was hardly over though for Sludge caused a minor earthquake that threw plenty of Constructicons off balance long enough for the giant Dinobot to hurl yet another tree at them which knocked down most of them again. Most. But not all. At least two resisted.

Longhaul wasn’t quite the warrior the Dinobots were but he was pretty much as big and strong as they were. And Bonecrusher didn’t fall too much behind on strength department even if he gave up some size to them. A tree Sludge could throw at them one handed was a tree that had not enough concussive force to knock Longhaul down. Especially after already knocking Scrapper, Mixmaster, Hook and Scavenger around silly.

And Longhaul stopping the tree was at least good enough opportunity for Bonecrusher to hurl a concussion bomb towards Sludge’s direction.

The scowl on Motormaster’s face told everything that any bystander needed to know about what awaited Offroad in the future. Stunticon or not, if one was to backtalk the King of the Roads the way Offroad had – he’d be in line for a beating for Motormaster did not forget. But the Stunticon leader was not stupid enough either to play into the pockets of their Dinobot attackers either. Infighting was not going to win this battle. There simply was no room for such against foes like the Dinobots.

Offroad’s arrival came in handy though for it allowed Motormaster to take few steps back and put the other Decepticon between himself and Snarl as the rest of the Stunticons converged on his position.

”Okay boys! Time to give it a test run!” He roared as unusually tardy Wildrider joined the rest. Truth to be told, Motormaster wasn’t really that certain how this combination thingamajig Shockwave had put them through was going to work but with Devastator’s forming put to a hold and Dinobots properly distracted by the seemingly greater threats that Constructicons and the Predacons brought to the fray - gave the Stunticons a perfect opportunity to try it out.