[New RPG] A House Divided: Kaon (Decepticon)

[Blackjack]

(OOC: @ Warcry and Heinrad: depending whether Soundwave jams Sentinel Prime's transmission, Tracks would be receiving a communique.)

***********

Praxus Invasion Zone

"You are murderers! Monsters, scientists- how can you even joke like- the people here never did anything against you!" Windsail snapped at Tarantulas- and watched in revulsion as the Decepticon used a Vehicon as a living shield against his torpedoes. "You use your own kin as shields? You despicable scum!"

Windsail took aim at Tarantulas -- at least he's dealing some damage, and opened fire again with a pair of torpedoes. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The Autobot turned his attention back to Predacon. That one, on the other hand, was dodging his missiles like they were nothing. How does a clanking machine like him move so fast? "I understand Cybertronian just fine, Decepticon!" Windsail snapped, but barely had time to react as cyber-venom exploded mid-air. Windsail growled, as he shot straight down... his wingmates were not so lucky.

The two Autobts flying behind Windsail took full brunt of the mist. One literally dissolved, screaming, while the other began to fall apart as joints and screws cracked apart.

"How I feel? Well, bloody brilliant, thank you very much!" Windsail snapped back at Predacon, even as he descended at a ridiculous speed. "We Autobots are much more resilient than you think!"

The mist rained down around him, and despite his quick movements, he wasn't able to outrun it, but at the very least he did not bear the full brunt of the cybervenom. It did seep onto his proud, large wings, however, and they began to change colour into a shade of green.

Not wanting to see what would happen, Windsail jettisoned his wings, allowing to tumble away as he transformed, pulling up with his jet boots in a diagonal angle that took him away from the rain. "Come, then!" Windsail roared as he shot straight as Predacon, pulling out a staff which expanded and clicked together to form a halberd, and he swung it in an arc meant to slice Predacon across the torso.
_________________________

Sixshot did not reply as Brick and Hammer argued, but chuckled slowly as Brick asked him if he needed them. Did he? Not exactly.

"Company, mostly." Sixshot told Brick. "Unless you have a better target in mind? I do tire of these faceless mooks. There is none here who give much of a challenge.... ah."

A squadron of local jets shot out of the nearby hangar, and shot straight at Sixshot. Sixshot's wings opened and several missiles shot out, and while some of them managed to dodge, Sixshot's aim was precise enough to take out several of the Autobots.

"You have not seen my sixth mode, have you not?" Sixshot transformed mid air into a giant gun, hovering on his jet boosters. "Not a conventional alternate mode, but highly... practical."

With that, Sixshot opened fire as he swung around, and there was nothing left in his wake. Half of the squadron was gone, their bodies torn apart and vaporized so quickly by Sixshot's barrage of destructive rays that not even a body was left.

Barrels smoking, Sixshot took several missiles as they exploded around him. "Needs a longer cooldown than I expected." He told Brick. "Let's do this your way then." Sixshot transformed into jet mode and shot towards the Autobot fliers. "Come, Vehicons!"
_________________________

"Onslaught is a brilliant strategist, if a bit simple-minded. He will serve you very well, my liege." Obsidian told Megatron. "Yuss and Praxus will serve as a well-footed stronghold to expand to other territories... while the latter being a... rather unexpected target."

Obsidian chuckled dryly. "Your... brother is chaotic, but he listens to you. And his fellow scientists listen to him. This makes him an asset. They are smart enough to improvise on their own... I assume you do not have need for Praxus' ruling body? From comm chatter it seems that the good Senator has gone off to murder them."

"Obie, you getting all this?" Skywarp's singsong voice filtered through the communique. "That Clench fellow and our flier boys drove the Autobots to the tunnels that go to the big mushroom castle. They were... well, I think Thrust... the yellow idiot, I mean, not the red Seeker, can shoot better than them, but they're obedient, at least."

Obsidian turned to the channel with Skywarp, and said, "A moment, Skywarp." Then switched back to Megatron. "Lord Megatron, I would like to ask permission to send Skywarp on a mission to.... destabilize the Autobot military even further."

[Warcry]

(OOC: Soundwave is mainly jamming transmissions that are to do with Praxus at the moment.)

Kaon Streets

"Heh," Black Shadow chuckled. "Heh. Well, I'd love to see it if it does," he told Triggerhappy. "Just, uh, I guess we're not supposed to cause it, is what the scary big guy is saying."

A big building grew on the horizon, and Black Shadow enjoyed the view for a few seconds.

"So, uh...this is the place, I'm guessing?"
_____________________________________

Praxus Invasion Zone

"I, uh...wow," Brick said when Sixshot showed off his weapon mode. "Hammer, remind me not to piss this guy off."

"You and me both," Hammer said. When Sixshot called them into battle, he accelerated toward the Autobot jets while his weapon capacitors charged up. "We'll take the flight on the left," he told the six-changer. "Unless you'd rather we watched your back?"
_____________________________________

The Vehicons that Tarantulas commanded gave the scientist a quick salute, then dropped to one knee and started firing up in the sky to cover Predacon.

"As you command, Creator Tarantulas!" one of them said to the scientist. If any of them had noticed that the elder Transformer had sacrificed one of their number to save himself, they showed no sign of it.
_____________________________________

Predacon laughed. "You sure don't let me forget why we hang out, do you?" he asked Tarantulas. "I'll send you my formula when we get back to the lab, and you can see if I've got any interesting wrinkles that you want to borrow."

Addressing Windsail he said, "Three things, whelp. First, watch the news more. Your government shot down a Decepticon freighter or something. Whatever. Either way, you started this. Don't cry because we're finishing it. Second, the Vehicons are barely alive. Most of them probably don't even care that they're getting shot."

His whiplash cutlass swung around as if of it's own volition, the blades at the end splitting open. The supple weapon parried Windsail's halberd, then snapped shut and tried to 'bite' through the polearm's handle.

"And third...you really don't want to get into a wacky weapon competition with me, kid. You'll lose, and Tarantulas will probably drain the mech fluid from your corpse afterwards."
_____________________________________

Governor's Palace

Megatron smiled. "Good," he said when Obsidian related his report. "The rulers of Praxus are of no use to me. Just like the leaders in Iacon, they are a part of the problem -- the cancer we need to cut out in order to restore Cybertron to it's former glory. Scorponok is welcome to them." Gritting his teeth, he added, "Predacon can be tiresome, but he has his uses. Just don't let him get too carried away showing off his toys, and he'll be fine."

When Obsidian suggested an operation for Skywarp, Megatron drummed his finger on the arm of his throne for a moment before saying, "Permission granted, general. I trust you know what you're doing."

[Blackjack]

Praxus Invasion Zone

"Let me see your capabilities... for I am curious. Take the ones on the left." Sixshot told Hammer. "Scream if you need help."

Sixshot accelerated towards the other flight, and threw himself into action, launching barrage after barrage of concussion blasts at the opposition, either blowing up enemy jets straight off, or knocking them out of the sky.
_____________________________________

Windsail scoffed. It was difficult enough maneuvering in the air without wings, let alone to think up of something witty to reply to Predacon. "You're imagining things. We did nothing like that!"

Predacon's weapon attacked his own, however, the 'teeth' (it was the best thing Windsail could think of to describe the end of the now snake-like weapon) bit through the handle of his halbred. The metal bent, but it did not snap. Windsail doubted it could withstand another blow, though.

"Well, how about some normal explosives, then?" Windsail's shoulder panels opened, and several micromissiles shot out at Predacon. "Tell you what. I'll kill you, I'll kill this Tarantulas, and then I'll let the drillworms drain your mech fluids."
_____________________________________

Scorponok allowed the Vehicons to clear a path through the landmines. In the meantime, he and the tank Vehicons had picked off several of the pesky Autobots that are trying to take potshots at them. The tank Vehicons are highly durable, however, and they were clearly dealing with a trapper group. They had only lost three or four Vehicons as opposed to the opposition's one dozen.

"Why are you doing this?" The smallish, squarish Autobot commander demanded. Scorpnok's anti-gravity blast had gotten him and he was floating, comically, mid air, trying to reach for the gun he had dropped on the ground. "Praxus is a peaceful people! The Autobots, I get, but the people? Why?"

"Spite, really." Scorponok replied. "And to make a point. Pity you'll be dead by the time the others got it."

His tail charged, and launched several thousand volts of electricity condensed into one single blade of lightning which lanced out of his tail cannon, striking Fastback through the head and tearing a clean hole through it. The corpse, with a hole where the face used to be, was still floating and convulsing and spurting mech fluid everywhere as the tank Vehicons rolled past.
_____________________________________

Governor's Palace

Obsidian nodded. "Understood. I shall not interfere in Scorponok's charge, then." The General heard the slight gritting of teeth, and imagined Megatron does not always get well with his insane brother. He filed this information away for later. "You do not have any agents within the Autobots which you want spared, do you?"

[Heinrad]

(OOC: Which probably means Tracks can't hear it.)

Praxus Shuttle Port:

Tracks slowed to a stop and transformed. He'd looped around, coming towards Praxus away from the staging areas. It was a small shuttle port, and hopefully nobody would notice him.

Or.... He wouldn't be unduly noticed.

He moved over to a cargo transport shuttle and boarded it, moving to the pilot's compartment and hitting activation switches, reaching out and tabbing the comms console as he clicked the headset onto his head.

"Shuttle 4930-Tango Whiskey, you are not cleared for takeoff."

"Sorry for the lack of warning, but I've been sent to commandeer a shuttle for the invasion of Iacon. Call sign for the invasion is being changed to Ranger-3, copy?"

"Oh..... Uh..... Okay?...... Good luck with the....wait. We're invading Iacon?"

"Don't feel too bad, control. I'm not sure why we're doing it, either. Something about territorial imperatives.". With that, he shut down the comm and activated his commlink. "Jazz, this is Tracks. Do you read me?"

********************************
Tunnel:


Hot Rod kicked the grating open, bringing both photon blasters up and opening fire at the guards.

[Chip1123]

Thrust banked hard left, trying to get free of Clear-Out's fire, but his wing was clipped as he did so. Thrust grunted as several bullets shot through his wing. "Ok. so maybe you aren't complete rubbish." He said to his combatant, making a hard turn to bring him back aligned with the other fighter. "Let's see if you can go the distance." He said, firing a missile at Clear-Out as soon as the target lock registered.

_________________

Tunnel

Topspin balked as Jazz said he'd need his help, but kept his mouth shut. More than likely, the commander did not know how strong Topspin actually was, but he wasn't going to correct his commander in the middle of a battle. And there was always the possibility Jazz just wanted Topspin able to fight more easily as well.

---------------------

Rapido turned to Hot Rod, opening his mouth to coordinate with the other bot, when Hot Rod kicked open the grate. So much for that...

Rapido brought his gun up and focused his shots at the guard on the right, making sure he went down.

[Springer85]

Tunnel

Jazz watched as Rapido and Hot Rod disposed of the guards. He'd expected more opposition here, but such was not the case. Tracks' came in just before he wanted to enter the Palace. "This is Jazz. I read you Tracks, but this line better be secure. What's up?" he said as he entered the palace and pulled his rifle from subspace and readied himself for action.

_____________________

Praxus Invasion Zone

"A murderer? Me?" Tarantulas said. "I haven't even killed anyone. Well, not that you know of anyway," he added with a giggle. I'll have you know that I'm never joking! Especially not when I finally get my hands on your brain module! Bwahahaha," he cackled. "And please, Predacon. I'm not some kind of dweller from the depths, although the idea does sound interesting enough."

Tarantulas managed to dodge the incoming torpedoes just in time to prevent some serious damage. "Ha! If that's the best you got then this fight is going to be over a matter of kliks," he shouted as he mocked Windsail. "Spyders! Use the flying Vehicons to transport yourself to that fool's position, jump him and take him apart!"

_____________________

Kaon Streets

"Just as long as I don't get the blame," Triggerhappy replied to Black Shadow, "My former boss always blamed me when stuff got destroyed. Anyway, if an Autobot is dumb enough to shoot at me, I'm gonna fire back at him!"

Triggerhappy transformed and landed in front of the Palace. "I guess this is the place," he said. "What do we do now? Knock on the door and tell 'em that the Awesomecons have arrived or do we wait for slow and ugly?"

[Heinrad]

Cargo Transport Shuttle, somewhere over Praxus:


"Of course this is scrambled, Jazz. I'm using inter-Autobot comms. They sent me here to bring you guys out."

[Springer85]

Tunnel

"That's good news," Jazz repied to Tracks. "We can use all the help we can get." Tracks is a good and reliable soldier, Jazz thought. "I'm asking about the comm because I think we might have a leak somewhere, but lets deal with that later. Make sure your area is secure. I have a feeling a lot of nasty stuff is going on right now and that we'll be coming in hot and bringing a lot of uninvited guests."

(ooc: I can't remember if Jazz was informed about the change of escape routes, but I'm going to assume he was.)

[Blackjack]

Praxus Invasion Zone

Clear-Out spun to his side as Thrust fired a missile at him, but he couldn't bank fast enough. The missile slammed onto his hull, rupturing several of his systems. The Autobot transformed mid-air, grunting as his jet afterburners struggled to keep him airborne. With his left hand he gripped his abdomen, where a smoking hole had been punched through by Thrust's missile. "Lucky shot. You're a Seeker, you know. You guys were meant to fight to defend our world. What happened to you?"

Clear-Out pulled out his sidearm and began returning fire, although it's clear in his condition he couldn't really hit Thrust unless he stood still.

"Sometimes we need Seekers to deal with Seekers. Starfall, Rainstorm, take him out!"

Two Seekers pulled out of Clear-Out's squadron, and opened fire at Thrust.
_________________________

Windsail was too engrossed in his melee with Predacon to pay attention to Tarantulas, not even to see if his missiles finished him off. He did hear the order, though, and as airborne Vehicons shot towards him, Windsail yelled at his own men. "Onyx Squadron, take them out!"

However, best as his fighters could do, the Vehicons were numerous in quantity, and Windsail screamed as first one, two, then more and more Spyders latched onto his frame and began to tear his own exostructure apart.
_________________________

Scorponok's group had slowly advanced towards Praxus' Legislature. It was a serene-looking building, build with simple tastes and not like the grandiose Decagon or the High Council Pavilion in Iacon. Scorponok did not particularly care, though. The Praxus Council had offended him in more than one way, and it is pretty liberating to return the favour in kind.

"Vehicons, tear open the walls. I will handle the guards." Scorponok clacked his claws as he transformed, and stalked towards the blue-armoured guards that stood before him. His tail locked onto attack position, he pulled out his anti-gravity gun, and began blasting away.

[Warcry]

Praxus Invasion Zone

"Need help with four Autobots?" Hammer muttered under his breath. "That'll be the day."

Brick, naturally, charged forward without a plan and without giving his brother any warning. But Hammer, being the wiser of the two, had already expected that. Brick flew through the Autobot formation, not even trying to dodge and picking up some damage along the way -- only avoiding serious injury because of his blazing Vehicon speed. When the Autobot flight broke formation and collapsed on itself, turning to follow Brick and fire on his unprotected rear, Hammer fell in behind them and opened fire. The two nearest Autobots exploded and fell from the sky before their wingmen realized what was going on, broke off pursuit and scrambled to reform and attack as a pair.

"Get back in formation, Brick!" Hammer yelled. "That trick won't work twice."

"What trick?"

Hammer just sighed.
_____________________________________

The Jet Vehicons and Helicopter Vehicons swooped down, hovering at ground level so that the spyders could climb into their wings like little self-propelled bombs. Dozens of them did so, even after Windsail had been grappled, making themselves easy targets for any Autobots fliers willing to risk getting attacked by spyders themselves.
_____________________________________

"Oh. Then I suppose every news agency on Cybertron is in on an evil conspiracy to give the Decepticons a pretext for war. That totally makes more sense than you just not knowing everything that goes on here, right?"

Predacon saw the missile launchers firing and disengaged, swinging his thrusters around to rocket away from Windsail and sweep the explosives with fire at the same time. They detonated close enough to blacken and pit his armour, but far enough away that they didn't do any serious damage.

"Sorry, but that's not going to do the trick either," he told the Autobot as he arced gracefully through the sky, circling his prey.
_____________________________________

Governor's Palace

Black Shadow transformed and landed beside Triggerhappy. "Uh...I dunno. Mr. Clench didn't actually give any instructions for what to do when we got here, or what to say so they'd let us in. I don't wanna get slagged by the guards, you know?"

He looked around the building and shuddered -- there were lots of guards. But he could see why. The palace was huge and opulent, easily worth dozens of times what any of the gangs he'd worked for had ever made even before you thought about the stuff inside it.

"Swanky pad," he said appreciatively.
_____________________________________

"No," Megatron told Obsidian. "We had some agents in the city, naturally, but they have all been called away from the city under different pretexts by my top spy. Any of them too foolish to heed the warning are on their own."

[Heinrad]

Cargo Transport:


Tracks manouvered the shuttle through the streets, calling up the palace layout on the navicomp. "Where would be the best place for extraction, Jazz? Can you get to the service docks?"

**************************
Governor's Palace, somewhere in the depths thereof:

Hot Rod fired a final blast into the head of one of the guards, shattering it. "Just making sure", he said, even as a scowl crossed his face. He looked around, wondering at the lack of guards. "Shouldn't there be more guards for this Magus guy?"

[Chip1123]

Slag! Thrust thought as Starfall and Rainstorm started coming towards him. Their distance let him dodge the first few shots easily enough, but he would need support if he was going to engage a whole squadron of Seekers.

"Vehicons!" Thrust roared. "Take their fliers out. We need air superiority!" As he said the last, he hit his afterburners, trying to put some space between him and his pursuers.

[Springer85]

Governor's Palace

"Where is that guy anyway?" Triggerhappy replied to Black Shadow. "I don't remember surface vehicles ever being this slow."

Tiggerhappy scratched his head when he entered the building. He had no idea what swanky meant and figured that it must be a good thing. "Yeah. Don't think it's a bad idea working for Megatron if you can stay in a place like this."

Triggerhappy wasn't really intimidated by all the guards that were present. "I wonder what all these guards are doing here? Can't be for those few Autobots that we ran into, right?"

____________________

"We can," Jazz replied to Tracks. "From the way things have been going so far, we'll probably come in hot."

Jazz looked at Hot Rod and nodded in agreement. "You're right. It's far too quiet." Jazz pulled up the holographic map of the Palace for others to see. "As you can see here, Magnus should be in one of the holding cells on the floor above us. Getting him is going to be the easy part."

"Since the tunnel collapsed, our original escape route is not an option anymore and there are only two ways of getting out of here: the front door or the roof. None of us are flyers so the front door is our only option. We'll probably meet a lot of resistance so be ready for that. Hopefully, Magnus will be able to assist us once he's freed and not too banged up."

Jazz sent a message back to Iacon with the status update of the mission and that he had been contacted by Tracks for the escape.

____________________

Spinger walked around in the Palace. He was still trying to figure out what came over him in the Orbital Prison to lash out like that while also thinking about what he was actually doing here in the first place. The bots that alligned themself with Megatron were all .... different. He felt like he didn't belong here.

[Warcry]

Praxus Invasion Zone

A squadron of Jet Vehicons peeled off at Thrust's order, arcing toward Starfall and Rainstorm with their laser cannons firing.

"As you command!" one of them shouted in acknowledgement at the seeker, the closest to an expression of personality that that particular set of troopers seemed capable of.

As they approached the Autobots the squadron broke apart into four three-ship flights, one dropping below the Autobots' line of flight, one above and one drifting to either side.

Meanwhile a second squadron shot up from ground level, firing up at Clear Out and the rest of his unit from below.
_____________________________________

Governor's Palace

"I ain't got a clue," Black Shadow told Triggerhappy when the other flyer asked him where Clench was. "He'll catch up, I guess. Wheels aren't fast like wings, eh?"

He looked over the guards, shrugging. "Looks like more of them 'Vehicon' guys to me. The whole city's swarming with them, actually. Saw a whole bunch on the way over. Almost like someone left the mook-making machine on overnight or something, huh?"

He looked around at all the guards before saying, "Yeah, I think we definitely picked the right side this time around."

[Blackjack]

Praxus Invasion Zone

Sixshot never allowed his attention to drift away from the Vehicons. The Autobot fliers before him were more challenge than the ground-bound troops, but they were still no match. He was grateful that Brick and Hammer took out several of their enemies without incurring damage through what initially seemed to be a pre-planned bait and switch tactic.

They are

Different from the other Vehicons.

More than just drones.

Sixshot dived down abruptly, causing the missiles and laser blasts coming at him to fly through thin air, then climbed up just as sharply, spinning as he did so, his hypersonic concussion cannons sending blanketed walls of solid force, slamming onto enemy jets like a pipe bomb and knocking two jets out of the sky. Sixshot transformed mid-flight into his beast mode, roaring as he slammed onto a third Autobot, claws and teeth rending the soldier apart. Their combined momentum took them momentaril upwards, away from the remaining members of the squadron. Sixshot’s teeth struck a fuel line and the Autobot exploded into a screaming ball of flame, and as Sixshot pulled away, he transformed into his robot mode, allowing himself to fall onto gravity’s embrace, descending headfirst towards the ground.

I am

More than just a drone.

As he fell, Sixshot pulled out his cannons, and gracefully took aim at the remaining members of the Autobot squad that were disoriented from his initial attack. Sixshot took aim as he fell, opening fire, once, twice, three times, and with each shot an Autobot was knocked out of the air. He activated his jet boots, and righted himself, feet-down, but continued to accelerate as the ground screamed up towards him.

But we exist

Merely to destroy.

Sixshot landed onto a small building with a loud boom, the impact utterly tearing the building’s upper floors apart and sending chunks of metal flying. A shockwave of dust covered the point of impact, and when it settled, Sixshot’s tank turrets aimed into the air, and in quick succession eliminated the remaining Autobots assigned to him.

Destruction.

So exciting. So fulfilling.

So boring.
_____________________________________

The rest of Windsail’s squadron took advantage of the situation and began launching missiles at the Vehicons that were piggybacking Spyders onto their backs.
_____________________________________

“I- you- who the hell are you people?” Windsail screamed, not wanting to allow Predacon to influence him further. “Damn it!” Windsail roared as his missiles did minimal damage to the enemy. Windsail tossed away the remnants of his melee weapon away – they had been too damaged to be of any further use, and attempted to tear the Spyder away from his frame. “Get off me!”

This, of course, left him open for either Predacon or Tarantulas…
_____________________________________

“Don’t let him get away! The minions are secondary – we have to take out their leaders, even if it meant sacrificing oursAAAAAH!” Clear Out screamed as the Vehicon’s laser fire tore onto his armour. Already crippled by Thrust’s earlier barrage, one of Clear Out’s engines gave out completely and he began to lose altitude. He was determined not to let these faceless drones get the better of him, however, and returned fire as best as his condition allowed him to.

“There’s too many of them.” Starfall yelled, taking charge as she barrel-rolled to evade the first Vehicon squad, sending machinegun bullets after Thrust. “Rainstorm and I can take care of the leader. The rest of you… scramble!”

However, the second squadron’s arrival tore through the rest of Clear Out’s squadron, the surprise arrival taking out nearly half of the survivors. The rest spun around, some attempting to cover Clear Out, some heading after Starfall and Rainstorm to pursue Thrust.

Rainstorm, however, did not fare any well. One of the Vehicons sent a laser bolt onto his port engine, which slowed him down… and trapped in a formation as such, was decidedly very fatal. Rainstorm was bombarded with laser blasts from all sides, and exploded.
_____________________________________

“By your will, my liege.” Obsidian replied to Megatron. “I shall send Skywarp to Iacon. If all goes well, this whelp Sentinel would be the second Prime to die this day, and the Autobots will be without any leadership.”
_____________________________________

Governor's Palace

“Hola.” A familiar voice replied to Black Shadow and Triggerhappy as a swirl of blacks and purples and a loud VVOP heralded the arrival of Skywarp. “I talked to the guards at the castle. Fortress. Palace. Whatever. You guys can fly in safely. And the guards… well, let’s say our side employs some absolutely insane mad scientist, eh? And the factory that stamps out these things don’t seem to be slowing down any time soon.”

Skywarp grinned. “They’re fodder to die, so actual living soldiers like us can actually survive. The Big M takes care of his own.”

[Chip1123]

Clench rolled up behind where Black Shadow and Triggerhappy were and transformed. "The delay was due to the damage that Autobot tank did to my vehicle form. It hasn't had time to fully repair itself yet. When they show up, I'll have some retribution to dish out." Clench looked towards the guards as Skywarp finished. "What he said. They will follow your orders once you are of certain rank."

----------------

Topspin turned towards Jazz, "So... we going through the floor and making a dramatic entrance?"

Rapido didn't bother looking over at Topspin as he replied, "While theatrics do have their place in war, mainly intimidation and fear, as well as distraction and confusion, unless we know exactly which cell Magnus is in, we'd risk harming him or coming up into a squadron of guards."
________________________

Praxus Invasion Zone

Thrust smiled inwardly as the radar blip that was designated for Clear-Out stopped transmitting, along with most of his squadron. Emboldened, the flier flipped backwards, firing his lasers towards Starfall.

[Blackjack]

Near Kolkular

"Yo, Colossus!" Skywarp waved at Clench happily. "We should probably get inside, then. I mean, you guys. I'm not assigned to finding and beating up these Autobots, see."
________________________

Praxus Invasion Zone

Starfall growled as first her wingmate, then her commander disappeared from her radar, then one by one the rest of the squadron. "Dammit."

Starfall jack-knived to one side, letting the missiles pass by... just barely. She had not expected Thrust to suddenly turn around, and besides the Vehicons were distracting her...

"I'll make you pay. You're a shame to the Seeker reputation!" The flier shouted, as she attempted to swing back around and get Thrust in firing range.

[Warcry]

Praxus Invasion Zone

"So, uh..." Brick transformed to robot mode and landed on a building, rather less forcefully than Sixshot had. "That was fun. What next?"

"No clue," Hammer told him, transforming and joining his brother. "We're supposed to be helping Sixshot, I'm sure he'll be able to tell us what to do. You know, once he's done winning the war singlehandedly and all."

The more intelligent of the two Vehicons looked around, an expression of awe somehow showing on his featureless face. "Why did they make us, again? A dozen of Sixshot are all they needed."
_____________________________________

Several Vehicons exploded under missile fire from Windsail's squadron, but most of them survived and carried their spyder passengers high into the air, where they could jump off and harass the Autobot jets.
_____________________________________

After Rainstorm exploded the rest of the Vehicons who'd been attacking the squad throttled back, dropping behind the departing Autobots and firing lasers and missiles toward their relatively unprotected engines.

Meanwhile, another squad dove after Clear Out, trying to finish the wounded Autobot team leader.
_____________________________________

Predacon smiled as Windsail got distracted by the spyder, and came around again ready to split the Autobot open with his whiplash cutlass. His engines thrusted at full burn and he rocketed toward the enemy flyer, his weapon forming itself into a lance again.

"You're out of your league, Autobot!" he shouted once he figured he was too close for Windsail to evade. "You might be a soldier, but I was build to be a miner. They make us tougher than you think!"

He grinned. "But don't worry. If you survive this, I'll be sure to experiment on you until your body can take just as much abuse as mine. Or until you die screaming. Either way is fine by me."
_____________________________________

Governor's Palace

Black Shadow noticed the Vehicons glowering at Skywarp, but didn't say anything about it.

Sounds like some of the boys don't like their lot in life. Huh. Good to know.

"Rank, eh? Do we, uh, actually have ranks? I mean, you guys saved me from prison and all, so I owe you guys one. And you put me in charge of some jets -- they're hanging by the gates, by the way -- but no one's ever really said where we, you know, fit in here."

He shrugged. "Eh, whatever. You say there's Autobots to smash?" he asked Clench. "That's more important than talk, am I right?"

Since he'd been assured that he wouldn't get shot, the new Decepticon walked through the palace doors like he owned the place and took a look around.

"Heh. Yeah. Definitely a nice place. If I didn't work for the guy I'd be trashin' it already."
_____________________________________

"Keep me updated," Megatron told Obsidian. "And don't use regular communications channels while he's in the city. I assume you are familiar with Soundwave? He can route your signals away from the prying eyes of Autobot security."

[Blackjack]

Praxus Invasion Zone

"We blow up this city's defenders one block at a time." Sixshot told Brick as his two Vehicon companions landed next to him. "Good work. Are any of the others Vehicons with us wounded?"

Sixshot snorted. "I am merely a soldier. I still have much to learn. Our Creators said so." The six-changer frowned. "I am not entirely sure. I suppose they felt they needed an army? Six modes I may have, but I can only be in one place at a time... and, lest we forget, they may be afraid of losing control of, well, me."

The sixchanger looked around. This Commander Obsidian had uploaded a map of Praxus, with primary targets marked. "The Air Commander has several targets marked in the map he uploaded to me. I suppose we go and destroy them now. The nearest one is a weapons depot five kliks in that direction." Sixshot said, as he began to walk. "Let's go."
_____________________________________

"Air Vehicon Squads Seventeen through Twenty, form a perimeter around the city's edges, make sure that nobody leaves the city. Ground Vehicon Squads Six, Eight and Thirteen, back up positions on Praxus' far borders. Take out the guards on the borders." Obsidian spoke into the commlink. "Thrust, Predacon, Tarantulas, be advised. I calculate the enemy garrison's commander is going to send heavy ground forces to your position. He is probably going to go after either you, or Scorponok. Take out the seemingly-weaker groups first. Sixshot, you stay mobile. I have sent marked military targets to your HUD."

He returned to his conversation with Megatron. "Duly noted, my liege. I am assuming 'Soundwave' is the top-secret global communications network group that the military has installed? I have heard whispers about it, but no specifics. So this group, or a member, is now working for us? How splendid. I am assuming he has taken the liberty of causing a communications blackout in Praxus and Yuss, then? I was expecting them to call for help and for reinforcements to arrive, actually... but no matter, blindness is as effective a weapon as fear. I have changed the stratagem to ensure the communications blackout stays active. If information slips out... the Autobots think they have an advantage, even though it does not really matter. Fear, helplessness... those lazy, corpulent fools will learn the meanings of those words."

Obsidian paused. "Forgive the flowery language, liege. It has been a while since I have set my figurative foot on the battlefield. I have... missed this."
_____________________________________

Windsail's jets scrambled as the Spyders and Vehicons began to overwhelm them. They were trained Autobots... but not trained for this. Not everyone received Elite Guard training, after all... and slowly, the Autobots began to be picked off. The weak-willed ones attempted to flee, or were overwhelmed quickly. The stronger ones were overwhelmed by sheer numbers, or were outflanked while they are trying to cover their companions.
_____________________________________

"Looks like your purple buddies aren't interest in backing you up anymore. Lucky me." Starfall taunted Thrust as the Vehicons around them pulled back.

The Vehicons diving after Clear Out fired once, twice, and Clear Out's engine ruptured. "Damn. Damn it. I'm so sorry, Windsail, buddy. Guess I won't be-" Clear Out didn't manage to finish that sentence, as his fall led him onto a building, and he slammed and exploded against it.
_____________________________________

"Clear Out!" Windsail yelled as his second-in-command and best friend died, having heard his last words through the commlink.

This, coupled with the damage incurred onto him by the spyder (who he finally managed to crush in his hands), was enough to distract him from Predacon's assault. The lance slashed through his chest, the tearing through his armour. Windsail screamed. No more sarcastic comeback, no more confidence in his voice.

Windsail allowed himself to take a scan of his squadron...

Wavelancer, Corvo, Astrum, Rainstorm, Firestrike, Vertic, Whiplash, Steelshredder, Ashblade, Hurricane... more and more of his squadron registered as dead. Soldiers he trained, friends he joked around with...

Guess he... and them... won't be making it into the Elite Guard proper.

One thing left to do, then.

"Radiowave!" Windsail yelled as he ignited his jet boosters, aimed them at Predacon and attempted to blast some distance between him and the more durable scientist. "Radiowave, get the pit out of here! I'll hold them off as long as I can! Get a message to Sentinel Prime! The rest of you -- cover him! Cover him!"

The Autobot gripped his sparking, bleeding chest wound with one hand, aiming the wrist blasters on the other arm at Predacon, and blasted the Decepticon for all he's worth.

He had no doubt that the weak wrist blasters would slow down someone who can shrug off damage like Predacon did, and his vision is filled with red warnings on HUDs... but damned if he's not going down fighting.
_____________________________________

A young, Autobot nodded, and transformed and shot away from the conflict. Several of his still-living wingmates concentrated on punching a hole through the Vehicons, and Radiowave managed to shoot away, even as around him his teammates were blown apart, screaming as they die.
_____________________________________

Governor's Palace

"Sure we do. Kind of. Sort of." Skywarp shrugged. "Eh, all I know is that Obi, Five-Eyes and Colossus outrank me, and you never, ever mess with the scientists unless you want to end up shadowplayed... but other than that, well, for me at least, rank shows up on this nifty HUD system that someone uploaded to my head."

The Seeker chuckled. "You're in charge of your team, so I suppose you're kind of the new recruits' leader or representative or something. Just don't mouth off to anyone who looks..." Skywarp glanced at Clench. "Well, looks like they can completely turn you inside out. I mean, my buddy Lugnut, or Five-Eyes as I call him, he's got a nuclear punch of kill everything. There's also this guy with a dozen alternate modes, Sixshot, who can completely flatten entire armies of enemies. See, Shadow, we're a bunch of normal people in an army filled with freaks."

Skywarp laughed as he teleported from Black Shadow's right side to his left. "Guess I'm a bit of a freak too, eh?"

[Chip1123]

(OOC: Sorry for the absence. Work has been slammed since the new year started)

Clench sighed as Skywarp kept calling him Colossus. "That was a name some reporter for the arenas came up with. My name is Clench. And as for the freaks, I'd rather fight with them than against them." Turning to Black Shadow, "Yes. Let's go smash some Auto-punks."

------------------
Praxus Invasion Zone

Thrust smiled as he saw Clear-out fall. "Seems you're the last one left." Thrust said as he flew past Starfall, his engines roaring. "And that you chose the wrong side!"