[Original RPG] Eye of the Storm: Take Arms Against a Sea of Troubles (Polyhex)

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Chip1123
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Astrotrain's Office, Darkmount

Post by Chip1123 »

Clench cursed as Megatron forced Vindicator between them, forcing the two bots to come at him one at a time. As Vindicator was knocked back, Clench dodged to one side, avoiding getting thrown to the ground with the ground commander.

Seeing Vindicator get back up from Megatron's hit, Clench turned and came at the clone from the side with a kick, intending to double him over and give Vindicator a clean shot.
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Post by Warcry »

Astrotrain's Office, Darkmount

"I don't have a teleportin' buddy..." Ramjet frowned. "Oh, you mean Warpy. He's aight, I guess..."

The battered seeker tottered forward in Megatron's general direction.
____________________________

Scrapper rolled forward and barked, "Move out, you argumentative rabble! We have work to do!"
____________________________

Megatron didn't see Bombshell coming, but the Insecticon's cerebro-shell pinged harmlessly off of his shiny Quintesson armour. Blackjack's cards did likewise. Under other circumstances he would have roared with rage and threatened to liquidate them, but the Decepticon leader was a tad preoccupied.

"LIES!" he roared in the face of Vindicator's accusations. "I am Megatron, you pathetic traitor!"

The Decepticon leader tried to dodge the soldier's next attack, but Vindicator's blade hit home again and another chunk of his armour went flying. This time, a narrow slice of Megatron's inner workings had been exposed by the cut.

"Enough of this! I'll-ugh!"

Megatron fell to the floor when Clench's foot connected with his wound.
____________________________

Corridors

Soundwave received Hightower's report as impassively as he could, considering the Constructicon had basically told him they were all going to die.

"Very well," he said. "Join Kickback and provide cover fire for myself and Starscream. The two of us will, hopefully, be able to apply the coup de grace to our ersatz leader. Try not to die."
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Post by Selkadoom »

Corridors

"Yes sir" replied Hightower " ,but what about the comm situation? we might need more backup should things fail to playout in our favor."
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Post by Blackjack »

Astrotrain's Office, Darkmount

Blackjack continued to fire ineffectively at Megatron, cards pinging off the ceramic armour. Shaking his head, he pulled out his mini-shotgun and opened fire. The shot also did nothing.
____________________________

"EAT THIS, BUCKETHEAD!" Bonecrusher roared, treads spinning and the drill attached to the Devastator limb spinning as he charged Megatron, trying to add his own might to Vindicator's and Clench's, to give the tactical saboteurs like the Insecticons to do their job.
____________________________

Tinker aimed Hightower's poison-tipped crossbow and fired, sending chemical-tipped darts at Megatron. He watched the dead all around him, and narrowed. Astrotrain... dead. Laserbeak... dying if the impalement didn't already kill him. And they just brought him back... to be sent back into battle to die again? And... oh, scrap.

Tinker knelt down beside the broken form of Thrust, and began his best to repair the other Seeker. "Stay with me, red. You're going to be fine."
____________________________

"Well, scrap." Bombshell growled, as his cerebro-shell pinged off. "That sucks." He considered buzzing up to Megatron's optics and shooting the shells there -- optics tend to be soft, after all -- but decided not to risk it in case Megatron had some sort of optic beam thing or whatnot.

Shrapnel, on the other hand, hung on for dear life on Megatron's rail gun, still trying to chew through the clone's weapons and disable it. But when Megatron toppled away, the Insecticon was knocked aside.

"Ace, Vindicator, Vindicator!" Shrapnel muttered as he charged himself with electricity from his antennae, and buzzed towards the open wound.

Bombshell did likewise, launching cerebro-shells that would hopefully enter through the wound and travel towards Megatron's brain. The potential of having the Megatron Clone under his thrall...
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Post by miked23 »

Astrotrain’s Office, Darkmount

Vindicator looked on in satisfactions as Clench’s attack dropped Megatron to the ground. He gave a nod to Clench in approval of the other Decepticons handy work.

“You are not the real Megatron, you existence only sullies the name of our once great leader.” Vindicator growled back at the clone.

“The real Megatron would not have lost the loyalty of his closest officers let alone a large group of his troops.” Vindicator said as he raised his energy blade before stabbing downwards at Megatron.
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Post by Warcry »

Astrotrain's Office, Darkmount

Ramjet saw Blackjack hopelessly attacking Megatron and smiled crookedly.

"Well, if the runts can try, I guess I'd better too."

He raised his laser rifles and started blasting away, although in his bleary condition he would be just as likely to hit Vindicator or Clench as Megatron.
____________________________

Scrapper rolled forward, but unlike his comrades he didn't attack. Unsure of the efficacity of his weapons and not wanting to spray his allies with fire, he concentrated on providing cover for the other Decepticons.
____________________________

Megatron rolled away from Bonecrusher's drill, hardly noticing the veritable forest of darts that now adorned his thick armour.

"FOOLS! I AM MEGATRON!"

He swung his right arm at Vindicator, deflecting the other Decepticon's blade toward Clench in the hopes of damaging his other attacker. He didn't see the Insecticons buzzing around him, and nor did he notice when Bombshell deposited a cerebro-shell into his nervous system.

Something else did, though.

Megatron's Quintesson shell program detected the cerebro-shell and did what came naturally to it. It tried to infect the shell (and with it, Bombshell himself) with its' simple, straightforward directive: take the Decepticons down through any means necessary.

(OOC: I was waiting for Starscream to join the fight, but I don't think I can anymore. :( )
____________________________

Corridors

Soundwave cocked his head to one side.

"You make a good point," he told Hightower. "Are any of Megatron's loyal troops still active, or has he turned on all of them?"

They had drawn close, now, the sounds of battle coming clearly from around the next corner.
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Astrotrain's Office, Darkmount

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Clench jumped back, angling away from the blade Megatron had deflected from Vindicator in his direction. As he jumped back, Ramjet's lasers hit him in the back, knocking him forward to the ground, and severly scorching his rear armor.

"Slagging idiot! We're dealing with a deranged clone of Megatron and now we have to worry about friendly fire!" He said, voicing his thoughts out loud.
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Post by Blackjack »

Astrotrain's Office, Darkmount

Bonecrusher transformed into robot mode and charged Megatron, aiming to bring him down from the side. "Yeah, and I'm Bonecrusher! Nice to meet you, Megatron!"
______________________________

Shrapnel had been knocked off his perch on the railgun, unsure about the damage he caused there. Buzzing back up, he opened his mouth and bit down on Megatron's leg, more to distract the clone for Bombshell or Scrapper or any of the others to do something than for any real harm.
______________________________

"Until the end, Ramjet." Blackjack told the Conehead, continuing to shoot cards ineffectively at Megatron. "Though doing this is a wee bit redundant. I say we find a way, the proper leverage, to take out this pretender. But what?"
______________________________

Bombshell felt a tendril of mental stream enter his cerebro shell.

Fool!

Already today several disembodied mental thoughts had tried taking him over. This simple programming would not do so.

Bombshell considered disconnecting his mind from the cerebro shell. It would take too long, and it's too risky to take over Megatron's mind, not with that Quintesson program. But Bombshell wasn't sure what he could do physically that the likes of Vindicator and Ramjet hadn't tried; his mortar shells can't be that good.

So he buzzed off the Decepticon leader and perched beside Tracer, exerting a mental command to push the Quintesson programming. Best case scenario: Bombshell takes over Megatron's mind, and makes him shoot himself. Worst case scenario: The Quintesson programming would win out, and Bombshell would disconnect himself from the cerebro shell.

Most likely it would give Megatron a bit of a migraine, but that may give his fellow Decepticons an edge in battle.
______________________________

Skywarp had recovered his bearings and teleported into the room, appearing in front of Megatron and opening fire with his machineguns onto his leader's face, screaming incoherently.
______________________________

"Soundwave!" Tinker chirped as he spotted the Communications officer arriving with Starscream, Hightower and Kickback. "Thank Primus. Megatron's killing us here. Not sure what we could exactly do against this thing."
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Post by Warcry »

Astrotrain's Office, Darkmount

"If ya can't take the heat," Ramjet told Clench, "then, uh...don't go jumpin' in front'a laser blasts, I guess. Mook."

Turning to Blackjack, he said, "Don't ask me. I'm muscle. I just do...uh...did what Astrotrain said." His voice notably sad, he added, "Without the boss around, all I can do is hit stuff."
______________________________________

Megatron turned to Bonecrusher, raised his railgun and fired, expecting to see the Constructicon's corpse explode out in all directions. What he actually saw was the other Decepticon bowling him over as the railgun made a soft click and didn't fire.

What? It hasn't been damaged...

He tried to shove the Constructicon into Skywarp's machine gun fire (which was streaking above his head), but a sudden headache stabbed bright needles of pain into his head and for a minute he couldn't make sense of anything going on around him.
______________________________________

Soundwave turned to Tinker.

"I know exactly what to do with him. Where is Bombshell?"
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Post by Selkadoom »

Astrotrains Office

"No, Its all of us against him" replied Hightower to Soundwaves question, hen then subspaced out two rather large knives dripping in a luminecent green substance and charged into the room at Megatron screaming and slashing his acid covered knives at Megatron"TIME TO DIE YOU IMPERSONATING BASTARD!!!"

(OOC: If my language is too ofensive I'll edit it.)
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Post by Blackjack »

Astrotrain's Office, Darkmount

"With my Patrol, I might be able to coordinate a distraction for- eh?" Blackjack watched as Megatron tried to fire, but failed to, and suddenly seemed to be in pain for a bit.

"I don't know what happened, but I'd wager that's an opening! Let's take him!" Blackjack shouted, opening fire not at Megatron but at the ceiling above him, aiming to bring down the hanging lamps down onto Megatron's head.
______________________________________

"YEAH!" Bonecrusher growled as he slammed onto Megatron, but soon grunted as he was shoved into Skywarp's machinegun fire. "IDIOT SEEKER! I hate Seekers!"

"Yeah, well, I don't feel all bubbly about you either!" Skywarp yelled. He teleported a short distance away, reappearing behind Megatron, and opened fire again.

For his part, Bonecrusher tried to pick himself off the ground.
______________________________________

"He shrunk and flew towards Megatron." Tinker told Soundwave, watching as Hightower charged into battle. "They're all going to die, aren't they?"

"Bombshell's injected a cerebro-shell, cerebro-shell." Shrapnel spoke, transforming into his full size robot mode and spitting out a chunk of Megatron's armour. "No idea what he's made out of, but it sure ain't tasty, tasty. And the railgun jam is my fault, fault. That one is tasty, tasty."

With most of Shrapnel's arsenal -- lightning bolts and shrapnel grenades -- being utilized to attack several Transformers at once, there isn't any way for him to open fire on Megatron now, not without killing Hightower or Clench or Bonecrusher first.
______________________________________

Bombshell chuckled as he felt Megatron's headache. Not a big deal, but that success!

At last, after his recent luck, the fortunes have turned in his favour.
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Post by optimusskids »

Astrotrain's Office, Darkmount

Scavenger fired his missile launcher at Megatron.

~*~

Slicer tried to live up to his name and use his exo suit to slice at Megatron as he drove towards in the Beast.
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Post by Warcry »

Astrotrain's Office, Darkmount

Megatron's head cleared and he swung his railgun arm at Hightower, disengaging the magnetic clamp that held the now-ruined weapon on half-way through the swing so it would take off and fly at the medic, hopefully driving him and his painful, acid-dripping blades away. Then he used his now, unencumbered arm to bat away the lamps that Blackjack had knocked toward him.

With his free hand, he drew his fusion rifle and fired a blast toward where he thought Skywarp was going to appear, half a second before the seeker's machine gun fire started to pepper his armour again. Then he spun and fired another shot at Slicer's contraption, before Scavenger's missile detonated and threw him away from the crowd.
______________________________________

Ramjet stopped and looked around, momentarily confused when Megatron wasn't where he'd been just a second before.
______________________________________

"Get Bombshell now!" Soundwave snapped at Shrapnel. "Unless Starscream catches up, he and I are the only ones that can put an end to this. And we need to do it together."

Turning to Tinker, he said, "If we fail, then yes. And even if we succeed, some of them won't make it. It's a tragedy, but a necessary sacrifice if we're going to survive as a race."

Then he tapped the button on his chest and said, "Buzzsaw, Slugfest, Howlback: eject. Operation: distraction." He paused for a beat, then added, "Try to survive."

"That's the plan," Buzzsaw told him as the cassettes rushed into battle.

With those three gone, he tapped the button again. "Garboil: eject. Operation: psychological warfare."

"What's the plan, boss," the blue bird said as it settled on Soundwave's shoulder.

"You, Bombshell and I are going to end the fight," he said, "or we're going to die trying."
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Post by Clogs »

(ooc: sorry guys - real life intervened, but I'm back now and picking up the threads :wave:)

Corrdiors

Starscream stood, discretely, beyond all the fighting and the noise, leaning up against one wall with his arms folded, smiling darkly.

When they've worn him down...

Then he spotted the fact that Megatron was, apparently, suffering from some dysfunction or other.

So: at last, he moved, that smile hovering on his lips as he brought his new null-ray guns up to target Megatron standing tall among the throng.

~~~

For his part, Hook also hung back. He was not, he would freely admit, a great warrior; his natural inclination towards repair work made him assess the fighters' injuries rather than techniques. He put in one or two shots, ineffective as they were.

Thus it was that he, first of them all, spotted Starscream emerge from the shadows and walk, casually it seemed, towards the melee.

"Ah, I see..," he murmured and fell in at Starscream's right, acknowledged only by a curt nod from the Seeker.

He hoped his handiwork would stand the course.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Communications Room

The whole system was jammed - jammed by a signal coming, patently, from inside Darkmount. Nothing in and nothing out.

Relay, seated in a cubicle and attempting to upload his latest broadcast about Megatron's positive approach to uniting the Decepticon forces and moving towards Cybertronian peace, finally admitted defeat. He rose, stepped out into the semi-circular hallway around which many similar cubicles radiated; he was, he suddenly realised, alone.

The only sensible thing would be to find out what was going on...
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Astrotrain's Office, Darkmount

Post by Chip1123 »

The same missle that knocked Megatron back also sent Clench sprawling away from the battle. He stood up, more than a little dazed, and took a moment to gather his thoughts, and look for his gun or any type of makeshift weapon.

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

Thrust stood, raising both of his arms to fire at Megatron, only to belatedly realize he did was still missing an arm. He started to retreat, being the coward that he was, but realized that help had arrived with Soundwave and Starscream entering the fray. "Took ya long enough he said to the new arrivals."
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Post by miked23 »

Astrotrain’s office, Darkmount

Vindicator has been forced out of hand to hand with Megatron. The supporting fire from their allies had grown to the point that it was becoming more dangerous than it was helpful. He had even taken a few rounds in the back from Ramjet.

He was about rebuke Ramjet for his poor aim, when he noticed that Soundwave and Starscream had arrived. He couldn’t say he was happy to see the either of them, But he was relieved knowing that it was with them that they would defeat Megatron.

Vindicator’s shoulder mounted cannons flipped forward and took aim at the clone. He fired a blast of energy from each cannon at Megatron in an attempt to keep his attention away from Starscream.
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Post by Selkadoom »

Astrotrains Office

Hightower got hit with the damaged weapon and was knocked flat on the floor, the blade in his left hand was let go and it skittered across the room stopping next to Megatron.

The medic than stood up and charged the clone again, aiming to impale his right knee with his remaining blade.
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Post by Clogs »

Corridor outside Astrotrain's office

Starscream targeted Megatron's gleaming helmet as the erstwise Decepticon leader floundered. It was not, however, a clear shot; Hightower sprang up, blade shimmering in the overhead lighting, effectively blocking.

"No," Hook hissed urgently.

"You worry too much," Starscream replied. "I know better than to shoot my own side..."

"We need all the medics we can get," Hook reproved.
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Post by Blackjack »

Astrotrain's Office, Darkmount

Shrapnel nodded. He espied Starscream on the edge of his vision, and things clicked together. Soundwave was reviving Starscream to get rid of the Megatron pretender. Shrapnel did not know or care (at the moment) where they got Starscream's body or Spark, but was glad that the backstabber was on their side.

The Insecticon gave Starscream a weary nod, then opened out his mouth and let loose a shrill battlecry. "BOOOOOOOOMMMBBBSSHHHEEEEEEELLLLLLL!"

There was a flurry of movements as a tiny ten-centimetre weevil transformed into a twenty-foot tall black and purple robot that rushed towards Shrapnel and Soundwave.

"Soundwave, I'm in Megatron's mind." Bombshell told the Communications Officer. "But he's got some sort of program that's resisting me. I'm pushing back, but it's doing nothing more than giving him a headache. Screamer, this is where you do your part."

"You knew about this, this."

"About five minutes ago. Don't you have something better to do, Shrap?"

Shrapnel snorted, transformed, and followed Buzzsaw's charge towards Megatron, antennae crackling with energy.
______________________________________

"Pity that. We'll have to get through this then." Tinker told Soundwave. "Hold up, Thrust, you ain't fully fixed yet! You are in no condition to do battle!"

The medic aimed his tranquilizer darts and fired another salvo at Megatron.
______________________________________

Laserbeak, halfway between this realm and the next, was back to that familiar white space that he visited about a week or so before.

I guess my moment of reprieve didn't last too long, eh.

From the corner of his optics -- if it still applied to a spirit -- he saw Soundwave arrive. Buzzsaw and the others charge Megatron. Part of him want to scream out a warning. No, don't, you'll all die! Another part wanted to beam in pride at seeing them battle. Buzzsaw, Slugfest, Howlback, Garboil... I'll miss all of you. Overkill too. And Ravage. And those stupid twins, Frenzy and Rumble.

I'll miss Soundwave the most, his master, a father figure, even though he isn't the most approachable of friends.

And Buzzsaw, my art snob of a brother.


But unlike before, he was now... at peace, knowing he had died to prevent something catastrophic from happening. No wonder the Autobots do stupid heroic stuff like this all the time. Laserbeak felt so... giddy. So... like he's done something he's proud of. And he was.

A tunnel made out of Sparks yawned open, and Laserbeak allowed himself to be drawn in.

And then... there was bliss. Simple bliss.

(OOC: RIP Laserbeak... for real :()
______________________________________

"Well, so much for the lamps..." Blackjack murmured. "Now, what else could be a gamble... ah. That." Blackjack raised an optic ridge when he spotted Soundwave, Shrapnel, Kickback, Hook, and of all people, Starscream gathered near the edge of the room. "That must be the biggest gamble of all, I say. Come on, Ramjet. Your old pal Screamer is here. Let's help him do what he does best-"

Blackjack's words were interrupted by an ear-splitting scream of agony.
______________________________________

Skywarp materialized, atoms trying to reform into their proper position... and was then met with the searing energy from the fusion blast.

Unstable matter and fusion energy did not mix well.

Part of Skywarp, what used to be his stomach, simply disappeared and imploded into nothingless. Physicists might be able to figure out where the mass went, but that was the least of Skywarp's concerns. The unstable energy from his now-ruined teleportation chamber, coupled with the heat from the fusion blast, simply caused him to teleport randomly, around the room, losing bits of him in the process. The tip of his wing, a chunk of his feet...

He screamed in agony, in pain, in rage.

Well, that wasn't how he expected to go out. He expected to go out with a bang, yes, but not one that was this painful. And certainly not against Megatron...

Although he did try...

Energon sprayed everywhere, and soon the teleportation matrix ran out of energy and Skywarp collapsed down on the corridor outside the office, a mangled husk. "So. A third go at life and I still... die..."

Life flashed through Skywarp's mind. His first not-death, after being shot down by Optimus Prime during the first Battle of Autobot City, kicked unceremoniously out of Astrotrain, low on Energon, then drifting until he was remade by Unicron into Cyclonus... or was it his Armada?

Life, pain, bliss, as Unicron recreated him back into his true Skywarp form. As he soared the skies again... and as he was killed by Grimlock, bisected into two.

Bliss. He knew peace, drifting as a spark. Funny thing, the AllSpark... but he didn't want to die. He had unfinished business. The Matrix... called him. He was a Decepticon, why would it want him? But he went, with Thundercracker, back to life. And now? Now... it seemed like the Grim Reaper wanted him again, his overdue meeting with the Reaper.

His vision started to fizz out, and he thought he saw a heavily armoured Transformer standing at the edge of the corridor, wreathed entirely in flames, faceplate divided by several vents, optics burning like that of the Dark God Unicron yet at the same time like the Light God Primus.

Before everything gave way to white.

A smile bisected his face, though, as if he found the idea of facing death funny. Or probably at seeing the Reaper. Or probably at meeting death again. Or probably the method of his death, or probably at life in general.

(OOC: RIP Skywarp. I'll kill one more this battle, and no prizes for guessing who :()
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Post by Warcry »

Astrotrain's Office, Darkmount

Buzzsaw let the cassettes' charge, firing on Megatron with his mortars. He was sure that he'd scored several hits, but there was no evidence of damage on the Decepticon leader's armour.

"You dare?" Megatron roared. Fusion rifle in hand, he snapped off three shots. Buzzsaw narrowly dodged the one aimed at him. Howlback stood her ground, smiling slightly as the energy blast bounced harmlessly off of her Feedbacker Shield into a nearby wall.

Slugfest wasn't so lucky. The dimwitted dinosaur was trundling slowly toward Megatron, his dorsal plates reciprocating like a power saw, when the third fusion blast turned his head into an ashtray.

"That went well," Buzzsaw muttered angrily.
____________________________________________

Megatron picked up Slugfest's corpse with his free hand and threw it at the oncoming Hightower, hoping to knock the medic down or even shred him to pieces with the dead cassette's still-buzzing saws.

Then he saw Starscream, standing a few dozen paces away with an insufferably smug expression on his face and a null ray pointed at his rightful master.

"You!" he said, his voice boiling with hate. He didn't get a chance to say more, though, before Vindicator's shots blew him through an office wall.
____________________________________________

Ramjet was about to answer Blackjack with a quip about how they'd probably have to kill Starscream too, when Skywarp's scream cut through the din of battle.

"Warp!" he shouted. His face morphed into a mask of rage. "Astrotrain, Laserbeak, now Skywarp...who else, ya waste of metal? You gonna kill everyone wearin' the Decepticon badge? Not if I get a say in it, you ain't!"

The conehead charged toward Megatron, his laser cannons forgotten as his hands balled into fists. He saw Megatron fly through a wall, saw other Decepticons between him and his supposed leader...but none of it mattered. Lost in his rage, Ramjet's world disappeared into a blood-red, murderous haze.

"I'll kill you!"
____________________________________________

Soundwave glowered at Starscream. "Stop smirking and attack," he told the seeker. "We need Megatron distracted."

He pointedly ignored Thrust -- much more polite than his first inclination of shooting the seeker for cowardice -- and addressed the group as a whole.

"Shut up," he told them. "All of you. Bombshell, I need you to continue pressuring Megatron's mind. Pick one part of it, concentrate and press as hard as you can. You won't be able to beat the shell program, but you won't be alone. Garboil will use his voice to induce panic in Megatron...and, unfortunately, everyone else around him. At the same time, I'm going to start planting thoughts in his head that the shell program will have to fight to suppress. If we attack from three different directions, we might be able to break the shell program. And even if not, sustained mind-rape from three different sources may distract him enough to give Starscream the opening he needs."

"What about us?" Kickback asked.

"Kickback, Shrapnel, Thrust and Tinker, help Starscream as best you can and try not to get yourselves killed."

He saw Slugfest get blown to pieces and winced in spite of himself. "Get to work now!" he ordered.
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