[G1 RPG] Terminus: The Tempest (Protihex)

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zigzagger
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Post by zigzagger »

Wasteland-Protihexian Border, Trion

Prowl continued to observe the battle, high above the Wasteland borders within in the Trion. The Autobot command ship was flanked by several smaller vessels and flightmechs, and beyond that the perimeter; hundreds of soldiers positioned around the entire city-state, established only moments ago by the General himself.

Protihex was under quarantine; no Imperials or infected Cybertronians were permitted through.

While there were restrictions placed on how to handle infected comrades and allies, Prowl had no such compunctions for the enemy, and thus no such mercies had been extended to Imperial soldiers.

As far as the General was concerned, clemency was at the discretion of the troops.

---

At ground level, the 1st through 8th Autobot platoons stood vigilantly along Protihex's borders, all under the strict and watchful supervision of Major Thunderclash; hundreds of Autobot optic sensors looking into the city, ready and waiting for any Imperial or infected soldier that dared to cross.

When Mindset, seemingly alone, approached the southwest border, it was the 7th and 8th platoons stationed there that spotted him.

Flash snorted. "Ain't that bold. The Impie must think he's better than he actually is."

Scorch held his hand above his eyes and squinted across the metallic plain. "Hey, TC!" He called out. "You seeing this?"

"Yes, I am. We have our orders, however...." Thunderclash began.

When the Turbomaster Commander raised his hand, the company understood. In unison the Autobots raised rifles at Mindset. "Send him a warning round."

And as instructed, the Autobot soldiers fired at the ground around and above the approaching Imperial tank.
__________________

Constructicon Field Hospital

Pointblank scowled back Mixmaster. He then turned to Perceptor, leaned in toward the science officer's audio receptor and whispered, "Please tell me that one didn't work on me. Please..."

Perceptor gave the Targetmaster a dismissive wave and resumed his discussion with Hook. "Yes, of course," said the science officer. "I shall...contact...them....right....?"

He trailed off when Long Haul towed the lifeless Thunderwing shell into the makeshift field hospital, delivered courtesy of Highbrow.

"Is -- is that what I think it is?" Pointblank inquired.

"Ah, one of the Thunderwing facsimiles, I gather. I had heard reports of this on the Steelhaven's com-channel," said Perceptor. "Begging your pardon, Hook, but what do you intend to do with this?"
________________

Imperial Landing Zone

Optimus Prime sighed. "So be it."

The Autobot Leader raised his twin rifles and brought the double-barreled particle cannons at his shoulders forward, meeting Trap's barrage with his own. The Predator's missiles only got as far as Optimus's continuous fire would allow, setting off Trap's projectiles well before meeting their intended target and dividing the two combatants between a large ball of flame.

---

The bridge of the Mirror Manifold rocked when Bad Boy zipped overhead and strafed the Autobot shuttle with his gatling guns. The sudden impact flung Sprocket from the captain's chair and onto the floor.

"Hey, Sprocket, what the hell's going on up there?" Rotorstorm commed the bridge. "You guys still online?"

"Rrr, stupid, fraggin', spawn of a glitch, knockin' me to the floor in front of everyone..." the Actionmaster grumbled as he climbed to his feet. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, Stormy. We're still in the air, aren't we?"

"Uh huh, for now we are." Rotorstorm snidely replied. "Want me to take care of the bogey?"

"Nah, I got it cov--"

"Too slow, man. I'm all ready heading out there."

"D'oh, then why the hell did you--" Sprocket groaned. "Nevermind."

---

Rotorstorm took several steps back from the Mirror Manifold's side hatch, leaning his body forward as if waiting for a starting gun to sound off. The Turbomaster then sprang for the opening and jumped out into the sky, high above the Imperial landing grounds.

Rotorstorm started his turbines engines and shot across the sky, arching over the Mirror Manifold and flying headlong toward a swarm of Imperial flightmechs.

"Okay, a lot to chose from. So help me out here, Sprocket, you got a target for me?"

"Sigh, yeah, just give me a klik while I transmit you the details," the Actiomaster transmitted back. "Annnd there. You get it? The little jerk should be marked. Small off-white jet. You see him?"

"Heh, yeah, I see him. So that's the guy giving you trouble, huh? You're losing your touch, Sprocks, but I totally got this one."

Closing out his comlink, Rotorstorm retrieved a pair of machine guns from his subspace cache and brought them out in front of him. Locked and loaded, the Turbomaster tore towards Bad Boy, guns blazing.

---

As Hurricane and Boss ran toward the landing strip to attend to a few remaining drop ships miraculously left unscathed by the landing Autobot forces or the Omega Sentinel, several meteorites, quite suddenly, sailed overhead and finished the job for them.

The subsequent explosion generated a small shock wave, knocking the two Turbomasters to the ground.

Hurricane looked up bewilderingly. "What the hell?" he said. "Were those meteorites? Where are those coming from?"
_____________________________

Hate Plague Danger Zone

"A safer distance," said Fortress Maximus. "Cog has just informed me that Hoist and Road Hugger are en route, carrying weaponry and medical supplies," he told Bluestreak. "Hopefully we'll be able to rendezvous with them -- Besides, I doubt anyone here wants to contend with a Hate-Plague infected me."

Shockwave soon rejoined the others just as the last of the survivors climbed onto the large Headmaster. The former-Decepticon hung above Fortress Maximus and the others, his mono-optic fixed on the proximate infected Cybertronians.

"Withdraw now, Fortress Maximus. I will see to it that you are not pursued."

Shockwave converted into ray-gun mode. The tip of the hexagonal-shaped barrel glowed and crackled with electromagnetic energy.

"Thank you," said the Autobot Commander. "Follow us when we are clear, understood? We can't afford losing you, too."

Shockwave, naturally, did not respond, being unaccustomed to such sentimentalities...

---

The Headmaster slowly lifted off the ground, rising upward until he hovered several hundred feet over the site where the Steelhaven and his crew were once stationed. Before he departed, however, he opened his comlink and said on an open channel, "Siren, Countdown -- Change of plans; we're regrouping. Make one last 'hit-and-run' against the Morphobots, then rendezvous with us."

"Understood. We're en route to Siren's position now, boss," answered Countdown.

"Really? I'm not sure, but I think I'm hurting them, but all right, said Siren. "See you soon."

With his communique sent, Fortress Maximus then ignited his thrusters and propelled himself away....

---

Shockwave, meanwhile remained behind, holding the line while the Autobot Commander and his passengers made their escape.

With his ambient energies channeled, the former-Decepticon unleashed a wide electromagnetic pulse upon the brawling Infected Cybertronians.

The attack would at very least divert any unwanted attention away from Fortress Maximus, placing it firmly onto Shockwave.

----

"Judging by the dark storm clouds overhead*, the Scraplets won't be a problem for much longer," said Countdown. "Hopefully the rain will prevent that red mist hanging ominously over the battlefield from spreading as well," he told Barricade. "But, I don't intend to drive us right smack in the middle of it either, so don't worry. Just a quick drive by. We shoot and we run."

(OOC: * - @ Warcry; Did this happen yet, or did I miss it? Shockwave was able to draw some clouds over the area for Acid Storm to seed. Not sure if the rain has started or not. Is it even doing any good?)

The ATV - along with its passengers and Turbofire - circled along the battlefield, keeping a fair distance away from the combatants and the slowly sprawling Morphobots at the center of the former Steelhaven site. Freeway, meanwhile, had swung the armored vehicle's x-ray cannon to its rear and picked off the steadily growing swarm of Scraplets that continued to hound them. For all the good it did....

"Better be right, CD," said the Throttlebot. "Cos, the little buggers seem real interested in Groundshaker's bucket here."

In perhaps a display of irony, a stray Scraplet zigzagged its way over to Freeway and sunk its razor sharp teeth into his arm. "OW! DAMN IT!"

The blue Autobot grabbed at the parasite as it attempted to bore into him and squeezed down. He tossed it hard against the hull of the all-terrain vehicle and brought one foot heavily down on it. Freeway ground his foot against the hard metal surface, twisting it back and forth until he was certain the Scraplet was dead. "That, or they're interested in me. Not that I'm flattered or anyth--"

"Look!" Overflow blurted out. The Micromaster leaned over Turbofire's bed and pointed. "There's Siren."

"All right everyone, hold on!" Countdown called out from the driver's compartment.

The ATV veered slightly inward, moving in a path that brought it closer to the Morphobots, but not close enough to being caught in the red mist hanging over the center of the battlefield. Siren was not far off, who was already engaging the robotic plants.

As it drew closer, the armored tank deployed its 'sonic boomers' and unleashed a concussive blast of sound - joining it with Siren's sonic screams - at the Morphobots.
_______________

Manganese Mountains

Hoist's shuttle rose from the hidden shaft of the Manganese Mountain base.

The small vessel hung over the jagged landforms as it corrected its trajectory -- to the southeast, where Protihex lay. Then with a flare of its engines, the shuttle was off.
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Ulcrain
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Post by Ulcrain »

Border

Mindset transformed upon the firing of the warning shots. "I'm not here to fight, I'm here to talk" he broudcasted at the ship.
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Blackjack
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Post by Blackjack »

Constructicon Hospital

Long Haul snorted at Nightstick’s reply as he dropped Thunderwing’s shell roughly on a gurney. “Yes. We have to wait for the bloody Matrix, while us steel-and-iron soldiers die by the hordes, while we wait for Prime to open the Matrix at the rightfully dramatic moment. Like, when Unicron has razed Cybertron off its Decepticon population so they can ship us off to Charr.”

Mixmaster turned to face Topspin. “Situation? Bad, of course, if you and I are expected to be in the same room without trying to kill each other. Hee hee hee!”

“No, it was myself that had returned you to operating conditions, Autobot.” Hook told Pointblank, ignoring his two buffoons of fellow Constructicons. At least Bonecrusher knew to keep the ball rolling. He cut off the flow of energon from Moonjet’s arm, then turned to face the Thunderwing shell.

“We tend not to let Mixmaster anywhere near sharp objects.” Long Haul quipped.

“True.” Hook agreed, then turned to Perceptor, giving a hand gesture for them to ignore Long Haul’s very undiplomatic comments. “What indeed.” Hook said, smirking. “We were thinking that if we are able to hack into Thunderwing’s neural net through the frame, we would be able to pinpoint where the inner robot is… or, failing that, disrupt the rest of his walking facsimiles.”
_______________________________________

Darkjet looked up at Thunderwing, mouth agape. There it was, Thunderwing, strung up, dead, an effigy… “He booby-trapped his shells. We’ve seen them.” He offered.
_______________________________________

Battlefield

“Hey, I don’t bitch about it. Even though I’m allowed to, seeing how I get seasick and am afraid of heights and all.” Broadside replied to Sandstorm, chuckling. “I’m not the one who got himself stuck under rubble, after all.

Broadside broke into a jog, easily keeping up with the other two vehicular Wreckers with his larger strides.

The triple-changer chuckled at Twin Twist. “That’s why we keep him around, Sandy. So we can feel smart. Come on, let’s go get ourselves a Scoop.”
_______________________________________

Hate Plague Danger zone

Breakdown continued to scream, his break-down field tearing down the scraplets and Morphobots and insane infected mechanisms that were coming towards the building he was hiding in.

Of course, it was a matter of time before the spores reached him…
_______________________________________

Wildrider roared as he Sinnertwin and Rippersnapper charged him.

Had he been lucid, he would have picked Rippersnapper first. Take out the weaker one, then move to the bigger threat. Even lucid, Wildrider knew how to battle properly. He was, after all, a terrorist and he took pride in doing his job effectively.

Now, though, he cared not for anything, only to kill them… and infect them.

Wildrider lurched forwards, folding into his vehicular mode, twin concussion cannons appearing out of subspace, and opening fire at the two Terrorcons, all the while accelerating…
_______________________________________

“So much for survival…” Sandstorm mused, as he saw Dust Storm fall towards the ground. He took aim at Dust Storm, intent on getting at least one kill… but Bootleg and Thunderflare’s missiles slammed onto his side, ripping up his entire right flank in a massive explosion.

Sandstorm shot straight down in a diagonal arc as he tumbled out of the sky, completely lifeless as he smashed through a building, and landed onto a pile of dead Imperial troopers, a charred, gray corpse.
_______________________________________

“Anywhere but here would be nice.” Hyperdrive told Bluestreak, grunting as a stray plasma blast tore onto his back. “Damn infected seems to have rediscovered the use of guns.” Hyperdrive grinned and tapped his chest. “Hear that, Detour? Road Hugger’s coming for us.”

“Road… Hugger? Is he a… friend?”

“Yes, he’s a friend. A massive prick like dear old Blackjack, but he’s our friend.” Hyperdrive told Detour, grinning, proud of his comrade.
_______________________________________

Brawl and Thunderhead looked at each other, and nodded. “No, Fort Max, we would not.” Brawl told the massive Autobot. Brawl mentally took stock of the remaining Combaticons. Brimstone, Oil Pan, Chopsaw, Undertow, Grimstone, Steamhammer, Breacher, and several more that Brawl hadn’t cared to remember the name of. “Tend to the wounded.” Brawl told Steamhammer, the closest thing they had to a medic.

Also, some injured ones… Brawl didn’t know what to do. He relied on Onslaught to give him orders. Even Swindle. Now, he had to wait for Road Hugger… he wasn’t much of a planner…

He watched as Shockwave covered their escape, and figured he should chip in to. Leaning onto Maximus’ side as much as he dared to, he opened fire at the infected below.
_______________________________________

Jetblade and Salvage, both infected, attempted to leap into the air to attack Shockwave, but the singular electromagnetic pulse slammed onto the two infected Combaticons, frying the two, turning them into skeletal ashes that dropped back onto the ground.
_______________________________________

(OOC: Rain’s started, and it’s killing the Scraplets, albeit a bit more slowly than usual. Acid Storm was doing it before Sandstorm harassed him anyway…)

“Hopefully being the operative word.” Barricade said, scowling at the rain droplets tearing onto his exostructure. “The forecast was for sunny skies. And here I am, without my umbrella…”

He watched as Freeway ground the Scraplet. “Watch out, Autobot- it might’ve latched onto your feet instead.” Barricade said, his voice quite fearful.
_______________________________________

Skydive cackled as Overcast and Stratosphere dispelled his attacks. How refreshing was it to come against enemies that were prepared with proper equipment!

The lightning blast dissipated lightly against Skydive’s forcefield.

Ooh, and those two Trargetmasters… Skydive didn’t care much for the cyclone cannon; it was passé, but Skysickle’s constricting attack was beautiful to comprehend. Of course, Skydive threw the Lightning Bug in the way of the tendrils of filaments, allowing the weaponry to be bisected into little bits.

The cyclone cannon, however, managed to blow Skydive away, although he managed to right himself after a short distance. “Probably so. Have it your way then…” Skydive snapped his fingers, and a fleet of black jets shot towards the Aerialbots. “I believe none of you have met my little Dreads?”

“Oh, not these jokers again…” Blast Off muttered as he transformed into robot mode and crippled one of the jets, sending it tumbling down into the infected mass below. The Dread jets transformed mid-air, attempting to bring the Aerialbots down with their weight, or, failing that, tear onto them with claws. Those that missed their targets would fold back into their alternate modes and fly away.

“While you’re distracted…” Skydive pulled out yet another pair of wacky-looking cannons from his subspace. One was an Implosion Cannon, which would create a localized, miniature black hole that would literally do the opposite of an explosion. The other was a maniacal quintuple-barreled launcher similar to those wielded by the rotor force.

Skydive whooped as he opened fire, sending a blast from the Implosion Cannon at Overcast again, and launched no less than twelve rapid-spinning, fast-moving rotor blades at Skysickle and Thunderstick.
_______________________________________

Blurr sprouted gibberish as he moved faster, faster than he had ever did before. His arms were a blur, and time literally slowed down for him. Punch. Punch. Punchhhhh…..

Blurr saw the sword coming, and dashed aside to avoid the attack, but it was as if he did not want to dodge, did not want to move faster… was not fast enough. Not fast enough to save Haywire, to save Inferno, to save Kup, to save all the rest…

The spark tore through Blurr’s chest, and Blurr felt pain shooting all through his body as Snarl’s sword tore through his chest, then found his spark. His spark erupted, so beautifully, so painless in the end. Blurr smiled sadly, the plague gone, the plague gone, the hate gone… his life gone…

-Sorry, Hot Rod, I’ve failed… I’m not fast enough…

Not fast enough to cheat death…
-

Blurr’s spark energy flitted away in less than a second, going to whatever afterlife it would go. Energon ceased to flow, Blurr’s fuel pump pumped once then was still. Blurr’s eyes faded away, and the blue-coloured Autobot that was always a blur fell to his knees and was still and grey.
_______________________________________

Jackpot felt a pang of horror as Snarl killed Blurr, but the horror at what they were doing was eclipsed once more with hate. “I’ll kill you!” Jackpot yelled, as he charged Snarl again, trying to tackle him while he was preoccupied with murdering Blurr.
_______________________________________

By the time Ultra Magnus had ducked under his lunge, Sixshot had finished folding into his jet mode, taking into the air, attempting to roast Ultra Magnus’ outstretched feet with his exhaust.

“Fool of an Autobot! You’ve got no chance against me!”

Sixshot took to the air, then turned around and began launching blasts from his cannons down at the Autobot City Commander.
_______________________________________

“I’m not the coward! I’m going to win this, I’m going to-“

Drag Strip was silenced as Rage impaled him through the head, cleaving through his skull and crushing the sensitive circuitry inside.
_______________________________________

Imperial Landing Zone

“Drill Bi-“ Buckethead rolled aside to avoid another similarly-sized meteor. He continued to duck randomly, the meteors missing him by inches until things were silent.

“What do you know, I survived-“

A tiny, pebble-sized chunk of ice, zooming at high speeds through Cybertron’s atmosphere, slammed onto Buckethead’s right optic and out the other side of his head. It had the same effect as a sniper round, and Buckethead collapsed face-first onto the ground, dead.
_______________________________________

Swipe, these guys are giving us the silent treatment!” Windcharger quipped as he moved next to Sideswipe, using one hand to steady his surfboard and the other to open fire at Demon.

Griffe squawked as the magnesium flares blew up all around him, completely blinding him. He fired randomly, one of the missile blasts slamming onto Demon’s face. “you shot me in the face, idiot.” Demon growled.

“Hey, what do you know? They can speak.” Windcharger told Sideswipe.
_______________________________________

“Firing at usss, Autobotses, yess. They mustn’t kill us, no, they mustn’ts kill Hyena. The master will be terribly upset!”

Hyena twirled through the air, Artfire’s missile shooting past him. “They’re trying to hurts us! Trying to hurts poor Hyena! We will not let them!” Hyena raised his cannons and opened fire, sending two missiles flying at Artfire.
_______________________________________

“Maniac.” Arcee told Artfire as she opened fire at Hyena as well. Gears opened fire at any Imperial trying to flank Arcee and Artfire.

“Guys? Hate Plagued guys are coming this way…” Gears squeaked.

A completely-red Knock Out hopped through the debris, screeching, followed by an infected Brake-down, and the wounded Tailwhip shot out of the air by the Aerialbots… and around a dozen other Imperials and Protihexians, all red… charging into the fray.
_______________________________________

Searchlight, peeking out of his pod, watched the red-hued insectile Knock Out slam onto his pod, and the Throttlebot slammed the door shut, watching through the window as Knock Out hissed and slammed and slammed and slammed at his window, gangly legs splayed like some sort of sick predator toying with its prey.

"Guys? HELP!"
_______________________________________

(OOC: ROTORSTORM YAY)

Trap pulled up as Optimus Prime so generously took out his missiles without hitting him.

“Must be nice, isn’t it? The freedom to choose?” Trap asked the Autobot leader conversationally. “Shame we don’t get the luxury. At least this way, I die at the hands of the Prime. Not a bad death by any means.”
_______________________________________

Drift slashed at Buzzard’s back, and Pyro lashed out, sending round after round of plasma charges onto Buzzard’s face, and yet he still continued to charge them. Buzzard launched smaller missiles that blew apart on Pyro’s form and knocked him backwards.

Drift’s slash tore through the armour, but it also caused Buzzard to lash backwards with his legs, knocking Drift backwards for the second time, causing him to land near Boss and Hurricane.

Buzzard roared, and launched another nuclear IMBC at the Mirror-Manifold.

“Captain Sprocket! Incoming nuclear missile!” Pyro yelled, as he launched his own barrage of six missiles to intercept Buzzard’s missile… which left him open to a savage kick to the face, sending the large Autobot skidding away. Buzzard roared, aimed his pulse rifle at any of the Autobots nearby and opened fire wildly.
_______________________________________

Hoist’s Shuttle

Road Hugger leant back, optics narrowed as Protihex's war-torn landscape once more came into view. “So much for peace. Some idiot’s got to screw up anything we do.” He glanced at Hoist, and snorted, “Must be strange, isn’t it, listening to a Con talk about peace?”

It was strange for Road Hugger not to consider himself a Decepticon anymore, at least not in allegiance. He still had the Decepticon pragmatism and values and everything, but he had no desire to conquer anything at all, had no desire to betray this Autobot who is helping him...
_______________________________________

Steelhaven

Brainstorm looked up at Groove, scowling. With his transector, he was a valuable asset, an airborne Autobot. At the very least, he could at least reach computers and work out something, anything, to help the war effort. Like this, stuck in his miniature robot mode? Why does this never happen to Chromedome or Hardhead?

"This sucks. I can't do anything like this, cooped up here..."
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Bartmanhomer
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Post by Bartmanhomer »

Steelhaven

Mauler continues to drive at Steelhaven and notice Brainstorm and Groove. He continues driving.
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zigzagger
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Post by zigzagger »

Wasteland-Protihexian Border

Flash sneered. "Pff, that's rich. Unless you're here to go over the terms of your unconditional surrender, we ain't interested in talking," he shouted back at Mindset.

"Enough, Flash," Thunderclash snapped. The Turbomaster commander signaled to the troops to keep their weapons raised, then shifted his gaze back to Mindset. "Very well, Imperial -- talk."

"And don't try anything stupid, you hear?" Flash added.

(OOC: @ Ulcrain -- By the way, you missed Rotorstorm. He's decided to make Bad Boy his new playmate.)
__________________

Constructicon Field Hospital

Perceptor nodded. "Mm, yes -- yes, that would be feasible, provided the real Thunderwing didn't have time to install fail-safes in his constructs," he told Hook. "Do you require any assistance?"
________________

Imperial Landing Zone

Optimus Prime narrowed his eyes. "And you assume I have a choice in this matter?" he answered Trap.

The Autobot Leader sent another volley of charged particles at the Predator. "But it was you're people that instigated this, so do not speak to me of freedom."

---

As Boss and Hurricane collected themselves, seemingly out of nowhere, Drift fell from the sky and landed near the two Turbomasters.

"Look, it's that 'peerless under heaven' guy, whats-his-face," said Hurricane.

"Drift," Boss corrected. "It's Drift, correct? You alright?" The blue Turbomaster offered his hand to the downed Autobot. "Up and at 'em."

---

Detecting that several infected Cybertronians had managed to find their way over to the landing site, Omega Sentinel 03 diverting it's attention away from the Imperial drop ships and took but a few steps, moving weightily across the landing zone, toward the throng of afflicted Transformers.

The Omega Sentinel then raised its arm and splayed it's giant three-fingered claw. At the center, a ball of blue electromagnetic energy formed, held tightly in place by a containment field that was being generated from the Guardian Robot's claw-tips.

It was a relatively small, but quite powerful 'EMP bomb' -- which the Omega Sentinel unleashed upon Knock-Out and the mob of Hate Plague infected mechanoids.

---
(OOC: Gizmo added as a crew member of the Mirror Manifold. It just sounds awkward constantly referring to an NPC as "bridge officer" all the time. They can have names too.)

"I see it, Pyro, I see it," said Sprocket. "Gizmo!" He shouted over at the bridge officer. "Shields up now, and take evasive action!"

To the best of its abilities, the Autobot space craft spun and twirled away.

Though the Mirror Manifold was indeed fast, is was not as equally maneuverable. Only recently had the old science vessel been retrofitted for combat.

The missile exploded against the hull of the ship, rocking the interior and its passengers. Miraculously, Sprocket was not flung from the captain's chair this time.

But while the deflector shield absorbed the blunt of Buzzard's attack, it still manged to cause hull damage. The array would not last against further assault.

"I've had just about of enough this crap," said Sprocket. "Take us up higher," he told Gizmo. "We're too big of a target down here. The shield barely held up against that one."
_______________

Over the Wastelands, Hoist's Shuttle

Hoist shrugged. "Eh, not really, but clearly you believe the stereotype. Feel free to talk about peace 'til you spark's content. I promise I will not judge you," he quipped back at Road Hugger. "Besides, you're a Combaticon now. You're supposed to subscribe to a whole different school of thought, correct?"

--

As the small shuttle drew closer to the Protihexian border, Hoist was alerted to several dozen vessels hanging overhead. An uneasy sensation grew in the Autobot mechanic's combustion chamber.

"Imperial ships?" A slight panic was in his voice.

Hoist reduced his speed, daring not to proceed further. But, as he looked over the make and models of these unknown spacecrafts displayed on the monitor, he found, to his relief, that they were familiar.

"No, Iaconian," he said. "About bloody time."
_________

Manganese Mountains, Steelhaven

Groove offered a sympathetic smile. "I know what you mean. Not while there are so many back in Protihex fighting on our behalf," he answered Brainstorm. "I am comforted that we were at least able to evacuate as many civilians as we did. Protihex is nothing without it's people, after all.

They soon found themselves moving down a windowed hallway. But, as the former-Protectobot gazed through them, all he saw was complete darkness.

"Where are we anyway?"

On cue, from the opposite end of the corridor came Ratchet, returning after seeing Road Hugger off in the hangars at the lower level. The Captain wore a somber expression and appeared to be lost in thought. He was barely aware of Groove or Brainstorm's presence as he walked down the hall.

"Maybe Ratchet can tell us." Groove raised his hand. "Um, excuse me, Ratchet -- I mean, Captain?" he said. "I don't mean to trouble you, but where are we exactly?"

Ratchet stirred from his thoughts and perked his head up. "Hm? Oh, Hello Groove, Brainstorm..." He stopped in front of them. "A decommissioned base, hidden underneath the Manganese Mountains. About 25 or so stellar cycles ago Fortress Maximus and his crew inhabited it. The Steelhaven was built here in fact."

Noting that both Groove and Brainstorm appeared restless, and understandably so, the Captain then added, "I was about to inspect the ol' base for myself. For what I understand, it's actually quite large. You two are welcome to join me."

---

(OOC: @ Bartmanhomer -- You seem lost. The Steelhaven is now out of plain view, hidden beneath the Manganese Mountains in Fortress Maximus's old hideout. It's not even in Protihex anymore because it was forced to evacuate. Half of the city's population is aboard the Steelhaven now, with the remaining crew charged with keeping them safe. Also, Groove and Brainstorm are inside the ship. No one should be able to see them if they were just driving by...even if they were in the underground hangar where it's parked.)
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Blackjack
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Post by Blackjack »

Constructicon Field Hospital

"We have to hope that we are fortunate enough that his pride would not allow him to do such a thing." Hook told Perceptor. "No, I do not think- which is, I mean to say, your assistance would be most welcome. Long Haul, finish him up."

Hook moved away from Moonjet, now sporting a mis-matched Imperial arm, Long Haul taking his place, and walked over to the inert Thunderwing shell. Hook's gaze looked up at it, and he pulled out his surgical blade.

"Now, I would not fancy myself an expert in Pretender technology, but from what I have repaired, the neural net that connects the Pretender to the robotic central nervous system should be near the head and chest." Hook's laser-tipped blade began to cut through the Thunderwing's neck and a repugnant smell, a smell that was a mixture of burning flesh and rusting metal, filled the air.

"Ahh, how exquisite." Mixmaster sighed, sniffing in the chemicals.

After making a precise cut, Hook parted the outer layers of the shell near the head down the small of Thunderwing's back with a pair of forceps, bracing himself for anything that may come out.

Mixmaster and Tinker had their weapons pulled out, aimed at the shell.
___________________________

Imperial Landing Zone

"Meh, you're the leader of the Autobots. Freedom is the right of all beings and all that. Obviously that excludes enemy soldiers sent to their deaths." Trap spat out, dodging the charged particles. "We? We did nothing. Thunderwing instigated this. Skyquake, Calcar, they're the ones you want to blame. The other Imperials are either brainless buffoons, or, like me, have a bomb in my head set to go off should I do a single thing that's against my orders."
___________________________

Drift muttered under his breath as he shook the cobwebs off his system. "Without peer. It's 'without a peer under the sky', that's the name Dai Atlas gave me. Where did 'peerless under heaven' even come-"

Taking Boss's hand to help himself up, Drift smiled, "Yes, it's Drift. You're one of Thunderclash's men, aren't you? Boss and Hurricane?"

Drift took his runed greatsword from where it's fallen, some distance next to them, and glanced at Buzzard, kicking the downed Pyro. "Come on, let's kill that Imperial."
___________________________

Knock Out was banging onto the duraglass window of Searchlight's pod when Omega Sentinel 3's EMP bomb shot into the ground nearby. Brake-down and Tailwhip managed to duck out of range, but most of the red-hued Imperials and Protihexians fell onto the ground, stunned.

By rights Searchlight should be protected by his pod, but an EMP bomb was strong enough to knock him out as well. He wasn't unconscious, which was more than he could say for the limp Knock Out nearby, but he was dizzy and thus unable to really move much.
___________________________

###

Brainiac's giant robot was rampaging through Metropolis, tearing into buildings with giant steel tentacles, opening fire with laser blasts, killing all the people down there. Policemen and lesser superheroes -- brave souls like the Plastic Man and the Blue Beetle, led by one of the Green Lanterns -- are fighting against the giant robot, and seem to be holding him back.

Superman shot through the air. The multiple metahuman sightings nearby... Metallo, the Parasite... they were all apparently just distractions while Brainiac tears through the city... or is Braniac another distraction as well?

Superman didn't really care. So long as he's putting innocent souls in harm's way...

Superman's blue eyes glowed red, and two streams of pure red heat shot out of his eyes at Brainiac. Superman took a deep breath and let it out, sending a stream of icy, subzero wind to accompany his heat vision. His fists outstretched, he hoped it would be enough to tear through Brainiac's armour, whatever alien metal he might have used...

###


Sky High armed his paralytic lasers and missiles, and opened fire at the Predator Skydive, while flying straight at him.
___________________________

Over the Wastelands, Hoist's Shuttle

Road Hugger chuckled. "The stereotype's kind of true, you know? There's a reason even sensible Decepticons never try to talk it out with the Autobots. There's too much hate, too much crazy fanatics on both sides of the party that without Protihex, we'll never have peace... freedom or tyranny notwithstanding."

Road Hugger chuckled harshly. "A Combaticon? I'm still a Decepticon at heart, as I'm sure the other Combaticons still have Autobot and Decepticon values at heart. I'm born a Decepticon, you know, Hoist. I don't have a choice. I kill, I murder, I lie, I meet undead zombie Autobots, and when slag hits the fan, we- my patrol- find themselves lost. I was originally just babysitting Hyperdrive when he went off on a tantrum, making sure he doesn't get himself killed... and we hooked up with Onslaught, really, just waiting for the Decepticon Civil War to die down."

"Then, I saw, that I could be something else. I could bring peace... the Autobots' compassion, the Decepticons' pragmatism... we need both of them to usher in a new peace. That is the dream of Protihex. That is Onslaught's dream, Groove's, Shockwave's, that is a dream I will see to fruition." Road Hugger closed his optics. "It's not a different school of thought. It's just that, I've seen the other side... and found it lacking. Even you Autobots, you're nowhere near peace. You hate us Decepticons too much even in this recent detente that you just know someone's going to blow something up. It's hopeless. Yet Protihex exists. It's why Thunderwing is razing it down. He's trying to kill hope."

Road Hugger smiled, as Hoist pointed out the Iaconian ships. "And Polyhexian." Road Hugger added, seeing the Polyhex shuttle's vivid carcass near one of the giant Thunderwings, now being feasted on by Scraplets. Another shuttle lay where the Constructicons had set up shop. "What do you know, the dear faction leaders actually did something after all."
___________________________

Manganese Mountains, Steelhaven

"Yeah. Our friends..." Brainstorm muttered. "My fellow Headmasters, your fellow Protectobots..." Brainstorm nodded at the notion of civilians. They reminded him so much of Micro, and the war that had laid waste to it as well...

"The Manganese Mountains?" Brainstorm spoke out loud. "Sure, why not? Beats gathering cobwebs here."

(OOC: Springer had set up shop in the Manganese Mountains between the time of the Quintesson invasion and present day, it's a fair bet they'll find his stock of weapons and energon and whatnot there.)
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Blackjack
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OOC: assuming Springer's role with Springer85's permission :)

Post by Blackjack »

Battlefield

He shook off the dust and debris covering him. Where was Thunderwing?

He had been fighting Thunderwing, he leapt, stabbed his blade onto Thunderwing's back... and then nothing.

Was he dead?

No, he decided, he hurt too much to be dead.

What the hell happened- then it hit him full force. Whirl was dead. Thunderwing was rampaging, there were multiple Thunderwings, then-

Springer's blue optics sparkled and shone to full brightness. The former Wrecker leader pulled out his blade and his wind tunnel cannon, and his optics darted around. Whirl's corpse still lay nearby, unmoving, twisted, gray. His expression... well, Whirl's face didn't have much in lieu of expressions, but Springer hoped that, for his friend's sake, that he went out with a smile. It would be appropriate.

Springer walked over to Whirl's body, and knelt down nearby.

"I'm so sorry." Springer whispered.

He wasn't sure whether it was for not being able to save Whirl, or for leaving the Wreckers against Trypticon when they needed him, or for not going into contact with them for so long...

"I'm so sorry, my friend." Springer said, touching Whirl's limp head.

A human would've closed his eyes (eye), but since Whirl had no eyelids to speak off, Springer laid Whirl's head gently against his shoulder. There will be time to gather his body; Whirl would not want Springer to waste time burying what amounted now to scrap metal.

There will be time to mourn later...

Nearby lay strewn the pieces of what used to be Stalker, and the burnt, crispy bits of Shadowjet. Springer scanned the area. Roadbuster had been fighting here. So had Topspin. And, considering the flames, that Jazz lookalike as well... Ricochet? No, Stepper. Considering the corpses nearby, they were the victors.

Springer honed in to the communique channels nearby, and is assaulted with information. Giant Thunderwing shells... the Hate Plague... Scraplets... Meteors... Iacon reinforcements... Constructicon hospital... Infected...

Then there was someone speaking from a death list...

Neutrals, Decepticons, Combaticons... Autobots...

Two names shouted out at Springer. Swoop... Slag... Springer felt his spark fell. The Dinobots had always seemed indestructible, always swaggering, always being all scary and funny. To think that the pyromaniac Slag and the loyal Swoop were now gone...

More Autobot names shouted out to greet Springer. People he recognized, people he had worked with. Even Decepticons that he loathed, some that he had grown to respect...

What about his other friends? What about the other Wreckers, or Perceptor, or Blurr, or Ultra Magnus, or hell, Arcee?

Springer crouched, and leapt into the sky propelled by his powerful legs, and transformed into his helicopter mode. One thing's for sure, he had to know. He had to know...
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optimusskids
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Post by optimusskids »

Hate Plague contamination Zone

Crush was angry , very angry they'd killed all his friends.

He transformed and started lumbering across the ground on his take off run . As he strived to get off the ground.
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Bartmanhomer
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Post by Bartmanhomer »

Steelhaven

Mauler spotted Groove and Brainstorm. He transform into his robot mode. Mauler asked Groove and Brainstorm. "Are you guys Autobots?"
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Shine
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Post by Shine »

(OOC: Feel free to infect Ripper in your next post, Blackjack. It's all good.)

Hate Plague Danger Zone

For such a little cretin, he was quick. While the pair of Terrorcons were bringing the fight to Wildrider, anyone observing would have claimed he was, hurtling along at a greater speed and equally as eager to spill vital fluids. That was fine with them; the sooner they engaged in combat the better.

Sinnertwin and Rippernapper powered forward, their clawed limbs displaying no signs of easing, let alone stopping. They watched Wildrider transform into his vehicular mode and unleash a barrage of cannon fire upon them. They pressed onwards, disregarding the projectiles coming their way.

Before Sinnertwin could reach Wildrider, he was struck by a few concussive balls of energy. His sturdy armour-plating repelled most of their effects, but he still stumbled, eventually coming to a halt. His dazed state forced respite, only permitting him to see how Rippersnapper would fare.

“I'm gonna kill ya! Then I'm gonna kill ya again!”

Maiming the air with his claws, Rippersnapper shouted those words, concluding his threat with a snarl. Then he snarled again. Then he fired a surface-to-air missile at Wildrider, aware that it might not even effectively destroy its target.

Of course, that didn't matter. That just meant he would get to finish the job personally.
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Blackjack
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Post by Blackjack »

Hate Plague Danger Zone

"WRAAAAAA!" Wildrider roared and transformed as soon as he saw Rippersnapper fire, letting the misaimed surface-to-air missile slam onto the ground harmlessly behind him.

Indeed, the force of explosion from the missile's detonation propelled Wildrider forwards, fists balled, as he attempted to slam the Terrorcon in the face... and, considering his current affliction, infect the him as well.
________________________

Fortress Maximus

Detour looked outside the world through the yellow-tinted glass of Hyperdrive's chest.

He began to remember things.

Memories started to flash back, one by one. Fuzzy images. A disastrous outing against the Autobot Ratchet. Zombies. Micromaster against Micromaster. A illegal car rig. Tokyo in flames. The Reclamation of Cybertron. The split. Kaon. Megatron. Blackjack. A green Seeker. Running away.

Then the images started to stream in at a faster pace. Rain. Death. Thunderwing. Imperials. Death. Skyquake. Death. Shockwave. Road Hugger. Death. Hyperdrive. Heroism. Not running away.

Detour wasn't sure which was which, what the heck happened to him, who he was supposed to be fighting, but he knew that Hyperdrive was his ally.

(Hyperdrive also happened to be, apparently, a sociopath, and Detour shuddered, not wanting to know why he trusted a sociopath.

"Ooooh, my head..." Detour moaned.

"You awake, yellow? You remember everything?" Hyperdrive said, tapping his chest.

Detour groaned, the amplified noise not something he wished to wake up to, not while his mind is still reeling and trying to chain the jumble of images into a functioning chain of events. "Images. Events. Scattered all over... what the frag's happening?"

"Since you nearly got yourself killed fighting Skyquake? Giant Thunderwing shells. Hate Plague, Scraplets and these weird plant things." Hyperdrive replied.

Detour shook his head. "Hate Plague. I lose my memory for... three minutes, tops? And now we have to deal with the Hate Plague? Where's Hugger and Blackjack?"

Hyperdrive frowned. "Your memory haven't all returned, huh. You told me 'Jack's in Polyhex... hopefully he got outta there okay. They said the Imps blew Polyhex offa face of Cybertron."

"What-"

"Huggy-boy is now the leader of the Combaticons, and is trying to bring the ideal of Protihex and whatsuch kind of crap." Hyperdrive chuckled. "Always knew he was a rebel, but damn. That's one hella serious rebellion against our old philosophy."

"Blackjack's dead?"

"Never said that, yellow. We've known the big B all our lives, no doubt he's got an ace or two up his sleeve. He's either here, or up there fighting the Imps in space." Hyperdrive replied.

"Well..." Detour frowned. "I'm still confused. But I guess... I guess we can't run away now, can we?"

"Heh. You've changed too. Like Hugger." Hyperdrive sighed. "I'm with you till the end, brother."
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Shine
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Post by Shine »

Hate Plague Danger Zone

The missile sailed passed Wildrider harmlessly as if it had been affected by blindness during its flight, and exploded behind the Stunticon. Stupid, stupid thing.

Rippersnapper thought it had achieved nothing until he realised Wildrider, courtesy of the explosion's invisible hands carrying him with unnatural rapidity, was practically flying at the Terrorcon. It might have been only for an astrosecond or two, but it was more than enough for him to remove the distance between himself and Rippersnapper and deliver a powerful strike.

Owing to the momentum borrowed from the explosion, the blow lifted Rippersnapper from the ground, sending him backwards a few metres, before casting him back down violently. Emitting a groan he picked himself up. He growled as Wildrider was standing where he had struck him, a few metres away.

He was going to kill

A crimson incandescence swallowed his creature mode voraciously, the Hate Plague not forfeiting even the slightest part on his amphibious design. Where his blue and white colour scheme once ruled, an overwhelming tide of crimson took over. Where consciousness had existed, madness caused its extinction and began spreading its seed.

He screamed, a hideous sound filling the air. Everyone and everything around him was wrong, simply wrong—and they had to die. Rippersnapper could not offer a reason why. They just had to be annihilated.

Starting with Sinnertwin.
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Blackjack
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Post by Blackjack »

Hate Plague Danger Zone

Wildrider landed on the ground on his feet as Rippersnapper was knocked backwards. Incredulous to the fact that the Terrorcon was infected, that he himself was infected. All he knew was that he has to beat the rest of them down. Wildrider roared and pulled out his scatter blaster, opening fire, sending plasma blasts flying at Sinnertwin...

Although if some of the scatter blaster blasts hit Rippersnapper... well, Wildrider wouldn't really care, even if he was sane at the moment.
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Post by Ulcrain »

Border

Mindset transformed and walked up to the Trion. "Okay then, take me to the commander of this vessel. I want to make a deal with him"

Underneath his faceplate Minset smiled. His plan was beginning.

Imperial Landing Zone

Bad Boy watched as the Mirror-Manister shook. Deep down inside he groaned, knowing there woulden't be any callenge for him, something he always wanted in battle.

Then Roterstorm came out to fight him in a dogfight.

Bad Boy barrel-rolled out of the Autobots fire. With that he swerved under him and turned towards the top.

"Should of stayed at fly school, throwback"

With those words, Bad Boy flew stright at the Autobot, gaulting guns fireing at the roters in an attempt to down him.

_______________________________

Treds transformed as he slammed to the ground, takeing the brute of Warpaths blasts. He had also been grinded to a hult, haveing one of his treds dameged in the crash.

"Eat this, slagpipe!" he yelled as he unleashed his artillilery, his cannon, his missiles and his machine guns, at the minibot.

_______________________________

(OOC: We now have a new redshirt...)

Arcalight tore through Autobot solider like slabs of meat. He grinned widely as he ripped entrails apart at the seems.

He wanted somthing to eat, something deliceos. He needed something that satisfied his taste, he needed it now.

And then he saw it, two Autobots in distance he would like. He ran at them with everything he had.

Ignoreing Arcee, the fight crazy fembot, Arcalight lept at Gears, a small, wounded, target. He fired his missile luanchers at the Autobot, just to make sure he woulden't fight back. He then put his claws on the shoulders, mouth open as he prepered to rip Gears entrils out.

He wanted to eat.

(OOC:This guy is a recoulerd verion of Sixshots wolf mode, in case your wondering)
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Blackjack
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Post by Blackjack »

Imperial Landing Zone

Warpath grunted as Treds' firepower slammed onto him. Not only did the Imperial look like him, he hit as hard as he did as well. "CH-KAW! KRAKAKOOM!"

Warpath's cannon returned fire -- it was about the only thing he could do. Evasion really was not an option, Treds' shots had damaged his tank treads.
_______________________________

Arclight moved fast enough that Arcee did not see the Imperial coming. Between shooting at Hyena and the dizzying effects of the EMP bomb, the lapse of concentration was enough for Arclight's blasts to shoot at Gears.

Arcee had hoped that someone would be able to intercept the missiles. Optimus Prime, Pyro, Artfire, Windcharger, Drift, Sideswipe, one of the Omega Sentinels- someone-

Gears let out a startled scream, and he was silenced as the missile blew him apart, dead.

As Arclight leapt onto Gears' nonliving corpse (the largest chunk, anyway), Arcee dashed towards the Imperial. "GET OFF HIM!" The female Autobot yelled, voice full of hatred, as she swung her lightsabers at Arclight, intending to behead the Imperial. Above her, Hyena cackled.

Cackling, eating, screaming, death... insanity. All of this is insanity...

Arcee screamed.

Another friend had been taken for her... and by god, someone is going to pay.
_______________________________

Pyro grunted as Buzzard threw the Autobot bodily across the battlefield, slamming against the ruin of an Imperial spaceship, sending Pyro flying into the air. Pyro slammed onto the ground hard on his back, moaning.

The Autobot found himself looking into the sky, looking at Rotorstorm and Windcharger and Sideswipe battling the flying Pretenders. Pyro briefly wondered why there seemed to be a sort of fuzz around them, and assumed that it was some sort of odd weapon the Imperials are using...

Then he realized it was the fact that one of his optics was cracked.

Probably his right one.

Some distance away, Buzzard roared, turning around to face Drift, Hurricane and Boss. "I'll kill all you Autobots! I'll kill you all!" The drug-crazed Predator charged at them.

Pyro forced himself to get up, but his head was still fuzzy.
_______________________________

Falcon zipped into the edge of the Imperial Landing Zone, snorting. Without Skyquake or Calcar to guide them, the troops are lost. The troops there were idiots like Buzzard and Treds, or fools like that Trap.

Where the hell was Mindset?

-Skydive, I need-

But as Falcon had just begun, Skydive cut him off with a curt -BUSY-

Snorting, Falcon snapped his fingers. This was not supposed to be used without Skyquake's permission, but damn the dead. Three of the remaining dropships that had not been destroyed by Jury Rig's meteor shower or the Omega Sentinels began to rattle and rumble upon Falcon's gesture, and the Predator smiled. Skydive may be busy testing out his funky weaponry, but Falcon was sure that if his estranged brother was paying attention, he would be smiling along with him.
_______________________________

Skies

Springer flew through the air, surveying the battlefield below. The landscape was in flames, debris lay all around... corpses lay all around. Imperial corpses piled up, bodies ripped apart beyond recognition...

Bodies that were able to be recognized, however, were worse.

Whirl lay still where Springer had left him. There was the unmistakable form of Slag down there. And the mangled form of the ex-Decepticon Vortex.

The Hate Plague hung like an ominous, mocking blanket over nearly half of Protihex. Figures were moving around the clouds. Morphobots, Scraplets, Transformers... Above them, aerial combatants battled. Below, those consumed by the disease battled.

Were his friends overtaken by the disease? It didn't seem implausible...

Where did he need to go now?

Arcee? Magnus? Blurr? The Wreckers? Where are they?

As if answering his ruminations, a shrill cry, soft compared to all the noise, rang out. It was faint. But Springer recognized the cry. It belonged to Arcee. Springer adjusted his course and headed towards it...
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

Constructicon Hospital

Nightstick shook his head. "No, no. You've got it backwards. We're not waiting for someone to open a Matrix. We're waiting for Cyclonus to shut one. That's the only way this is going to end."

The Nebulan was confused by his own speech, because it simply wasn't something he would say...at least, not before he and his partner had been bathed in the deep purple light of the Decepticon Matrix. He'd spent the days since then listening to people tell him that Cyclonus had changed...and doing his best not to admit that he had, too.

He didn't like to think about that.

Pushing the thought out of his head, he said, "The best thing we can do is track Thunderwing down before he can conjure up some new horror."
_______________________________________

Battlefield

Sandstorm laughed. "So you're a big wussy. Good to know, Broadside," he teased his fellow Wrecker. Steering to the right, he homed in on Scoop's location.

Twin Twist fell behind a bit, his slow vehicle mode unable to keep up with the Triple Changers and his mind not motivated to hurry anyway.

This is what Wreckers do now? Shit, I haven't even killed anyone yet. Some war this is.

"Fine," he told the other two, "we'll find the newbie, but then we hook up with Springer and make some corpses. Deal?"
_______________________________________

Hate Plague Danger zone

Acid Storm was still seeding the clouds, practically invisible now as the roiling black thunderhead grew around him and poured acid rain down on the Scraplets below.
_______________________________________

Dust Storm spiralled down after his doppelganger, exploding when he hit the ground and spreading the Hate Plague spores even farther.

Bootleg and Thunderflare, meanwhile, looped around to look for another target.
_______________________________________

Bluestreak shivered. "Yeah, that's an adventure I could do without," he told Fortress Maximus.
_______________________________________

"Stratosphere, take them!"

"Got it, boss!"

The gigantic Aerialbot transformed to robot mode, sweeping his arms out and trying to gather as many of the Dreads into a deadly bear hug as he could.

Gunbarrrel meanwhile, swept out of the way and looped around, hoping to come around on the tails of any of the Dreads who were lucky enough to avoid the giant's grasp. Overcast blocked the Implosion beam with his over-shield again, disrupting the black hole before it could suck him in.

Thunderstick pivoted, using his cyclone cannon mode to blow the incoming rotors off course while Skysickle slashed them apart with his monofilaments.

"I'm really not. Distracted, that is. My people can take care of them selves." Skydive transformed to robot mode and closed range with his namesake and threw a punch at his head.

"You, on the other hand, are in deep trouble."
_______________________________________

Snarl kicked Blurr's corpse, snorting contemptuously. "Weakling," the Hate Plague-afflicted Dinobot said as he looked around for another target.

Jackpot would do nicely.

The Actionmaster tackled him, knocking the sword out of the Dinobot's hand. As they tumbled to the ground, Snarl threw a wicked haymaker at the other infectee's head.
_______________________________________

Ultra Magnus laughed at Sixshot's bravado. "No," he said as he pulled his feet away from the jet's exhaust, "I have every chance, because you're nothing but a scared child wearing a real mech's body. You're a coward, Sixshot, and you always have been."
_______________________________________

Rage just snorted as he watched the defeated Drag Strip fall to the ground, regretting only that he didn't seem to have a chance to kill the irritating Stunticon's commander as well.

Then he looked around, trying to set eyes on anyone else foolish enough to attack him. Would anyone dare, he wondered? Or would they know better? Would they realize, even through their Hate-blinded eyes, that he was the agent of their destruction?
_______________________________________

Imperial Landing Zone

"They won't be able to for long," Sideswipe assured Windcharger as he drew his sword, flying closer to Griffe and slashing at the Imperial's wings. "This guy's about to crash the party on the ground!"
_______________________________________

Artfire dove away from the incoming missiles, avoiding being blown to pieces only by the proverbial skin of his teeth. He didn't get a chance to retaliate, though, because his head snapped around just in time to see Gears torn apart by Arcalight.

This isn't going to end well, he admitted to himself, still a bit dazed. Not well at all.
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Blackjack
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Post by Blackjack »

Constructicon Field Hospital

“We are?” Long Haul asked Nightstick. “Oh, okay. So we are. Where is ol’ bunny-ears anyway? And why aren’t you with him?” The Constructicon shrugged, scratching his head. All this talk about Matrices and stuff… and he thought he had it all figured out!

Hearing the conversation, Darkjet walked up to Nightstick. “I could fly out and try to locate Thunderwing. More eyes in the sky and all that. It’s the least I could do for sparing my life.”
_______________________________________

Battlefield

Broadside snorted at Sandstorm’s comment, as he followed the other two Wreckers on foot. “Be a Triple-Changer, they said. You’ll do great on any terrain, they said.” The Wrecker muttered under his breath.

Broadside nodded at Twin Twist’s words. Calling out to Scoop, Broadside said, “Scoop! Get your aft over here. Explosions are happening all over the city and the fact that we’re not causing it and that is just wrong.”
_______________________________________

More familiar faces, but these are alive, at least.

Springer felt the need to go to Arcee, straight to Arcee, but as distance grew closer he could see that Arcee was still fighting. Although there was a dead Autobot... Gears? Probably what caused Arcee to snap.

Thus, Springer decided to greet some... old friends.

Let's hope they didn't greet him the way Roadbuster did.

Springer transformed mid-air, plates shifting, helicopter rotors retracting, and dropped down like a rock, landing slightly crouched in front of Broadside, Sandstorm, Twin Twist and presumably Scoop as well.

His face was dark and serious, mouth drawn in a taut line. There was no trace of the familiar confident smirk usually there.

"Hello, Wreckers."
_______________________________________

Hate Plague Danger Zone

Brawl snorted as he glared at the Combaticons as they licked their wounds. “You never fought a Maximus, Bluestreak? You’ve missed a great deal of adventure.”
_______________________________________

The Dreads clawed and snarled as they bit and dug their claws onto Stratosphere’s arms, even as the large Aerialbot crushed the lives out of them.

Blast Off nodded appreciatively as Skysickle, Gunbarrel, Overcast and Thunderstick beat back the rest of the Predator Skydive’s insane weaponry. “You young Autobots are good. Good thing I’m not a Decepticon anymore, eh?”

Skydive nodded as the Aerialbot Skydive closed the distance. The Predator took the punch, not resisting and moving backwards with the punch, minimizing the damage from the hit. It still hurt and dented the right side of his face, but it didn’t exactly slow him down. “Deep trouble? Hardly.”

Skydive raised the Implosion Cannon and the Rotor Blade Launcher and fired them at his namesake. Hopefully, the close range would mean that the Aerialbot won’t be able to dodge.

“Also, sometimes you have to admit that your people… just can’t.” Skydive purred as he sent a mental command.

Without warning, Stratosphere would find that the Dreads he had bear-hugged (and are not caught in death throes trying to attach themselves to the large Aerialbot) are starting to beep loudly, and would soon detonate…
_______________________________________

“We could dance all day, Dinobot.” Jackpot grunted as Snarl knocked him onto the ground, and sent a haymaker to his head. The Autobot grunted, as he was sent flying over the battlefield, towards where Rage was, landing roughly on the ground.

Ignoring the Decepticon, Jackpot transformed into vehicle mode and shot off back towards Snarl.
_______________________________________

“A coward? Me? Says the guy hiding behind a suit.” Sixshot mocked. “I am power incarnate, Ultra Magnus. I am a six-changer, the most advanced killing weapon ON! THIS! PLANET!”

The Decepticon transformed mid-air into his weapon mode, and launched a barrage of hypersonic missiles at Ultra Magnus, careful to keep in the air out of the Autobot’s reach.

Behind his head, Sixshot thought he heard a whispering voice speaking to him, a disappointed whispering voice. -You lack the drive. Black Battle Convoy is able to focus his hatred, anger and rage. That is what drives him.- Bludgeon?

Then, Sixshot heard his own voice reply, -So I have to focus my rage and anger, right?-

Bludgeon's voice whispered again, -You lack infinite levels of rage and hatred not just of everything around you, but of yourself.-

Sixshot remembered, through the rage, his first short lesson with Bludgeon. Where he had levitated the piece of metal. He focused upon hatred. Upon his hatred for one person, really... Thunderwing.

Rage. Focus the rage on someone that deserves it.
_______________________________________

Imperial Landing Zone

Griffe squealed as Sideswipe’s blade tore through his wing, cutting it off completely. The Predator spiraled towards the ground, landing with a crunch on the ground, moaning as he attempted to pick himself up.

Windcharger raised his hand, and Demon’s missile launcher leapt out of his hands, knocking the Predator straight in the face with a sickening crunch, sending the unconscious Predator tumbling down to the ground as well.

“Idiots.” Windcharger sighed as he hovered next to Sideswipe. “Do we finish them off now, Swipe?”
_______________________________________

Hyena cackled. “Good dog, Arclight, yes, excellent workses. Autobotses will all die today!” Hyena opened fire at Artfire again. “Fat Autobot distracted, yes, we kills you now, WE KILLS YOU!”
_______________________________________

Pyro looked up as the shuttle next to him started to shift. His first thought was that the shuttle was a large Transformer... but Pyro was wrong.

The shuttle was part of a large Transformer. The shuttle shifted around, folding upon itself until it formed a pair of massive legs, which soon combined with the two other Imperial dropships until a massive purple-and-black Imperial stood towering in the battlefield, as tall (if not taller) than the Omega Sentinels.

"Tidal Wave." The giant Imperial announced, purple optics flaring onto life as he surveyed the battlefield.

The artillery ports on Tidal Wave's chests began to hum to life...

Pyro gulped. This was decidedly not a good development at all.
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Bartmanhomer
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Post by Bartmanhomer »

Steelhaven

Mauler transforms into his alt. mode and drove off.
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zigzagger
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Post by zigzagger »

Wasteland-Protihexian Border

(OOC: The Trion is the sky. Waaaay up there. It never landed.)

Thunderclash frowned. "Don't take me for a fool, Imperial. I won't let you anywhere near him," he told Mindset. "That isn't how this works. You will tell me - and please be more specific - what business you have with the General and I will relay it to him. If he likes what you have to say, he will consider having an audience with you. Not until then."
_________________

Constructicon Field Hospital

Pointblank took Mixmaster and Tinker's cue, pulling a rifle out from his subspace pocket and aiming at the Thunderwing shell. Perceptor, however, dauntlessly looked on and watched as Hook cut into the Pretender's copy.

"Erm, Perceptor?" Pointblank said in a hushed tone. "I hate to spoil your fun, but what about the refractive web antennas that were left on the field? Shouldn't we be out there getting those back?"

Perceptor shrugged. "They may still prove necessary, yes," he answered. "But, with this shell," the science officer extended his hand to the Thunderwing shell, "we may able to learn how the real Thunderwing is able to not only control his facsimiles, but quite possibly a means to counter his synthetic hate plague virus. It is at least worth exploring, wouldn't you agree?"

Pointblank looked to Perceptor, then to the exit of the field hospital. He could hear the sounds of battle transpiring in outside. The Targetmaster sighed and shifted his optics back to the science officer. "Mmm, I don't know, Perceptor. I guess so."
________________

Imperial Landing Zone

Optimus Prime stood ready and kept his rifles raised while Trap said his piece.

"And where are these 'Calcar' and 'Skyquake'? Or rather, where is Thunderwing?" the Autobot Leader inquired. "You have my sympathies -- Even so, if you are truly blameless - that you are acting against your own volition - then tell me his whereabouts and be spared from your fate. If you, however, continue to disrupt the peace of this nation and the ideals it represents, I will stop you -- regardless of your predicament."

"Chose - now."

----

Rotorstorm twirled aside as Bad Bay sailed over him, raining machine gun fire as he made his pass. Stray bullets pierced the Turbomaster's right arm and leg, but caused no damage to his anti-gravity systems or turbines.

He looked vainly down at his forearm, noting the tiny holes now riddling his plating, and smirked. "Meh, I've been dealt worse by better," Rotorstorm jeered. "Much, much better."

A wide grin stretched across his face. "C'mon, punk. I dare you to try that again."

---

Hurricane and Boss gave each other a affirming nod, then followed Drift as he charged toward Buzzard. The Pretender, having just finished battering Pyro, met the advancing Autobots with enthusiasm.

With a machine gun gripped in each hand, Boss opened fire on the Imperial. "Hurricane, go help Pyro. We'll cover you."

"I'm on it."

With Drift and his fellow Turbomaster keeping Trap preoccupied, Hurricane ran to Pyro's side as he struggled to climb to his feet. "C'mon, we need to move," he said as he propped up the dazed Autobot. "Let's find us some....?"

Hurricane trailed off by the the sound of whirling gears and sliding panels.

Slowly, he turned his head around and saw three Imperial drop ships, directly behind him, transform -- and then combine. From it, a giant form rose, casting it's shadow over the Turbomaster and Pyro.

When it was finished, it then announced its name -- Tidal Wave.

"Oh hell..."

---

Over the Wastelands, Hoist's Shuttle

Hoist snorted. "Yeah, they have their uses from time to time."

The Autobot mechanic looked back to the monitor, bringing his gaze to the dropships and troops stationed at the borders.

"Hmm, hold on a klik here. It looks like they've formed a perimeter." Hoist typed in a frequency code on the console to hail the Trion, which he recognized hanging high above the Wastelands. "Hello, this is Hoist of the --" The Autobot mechanic paused. "What is the name of this crate anyway?" He looked over to Road Hugger and shrugged. "Never mind. I am a crew member of the Steelhaven, under the command of Fortress Maximus. We're running a supply convoy -- weaponry, medical supplies. Requesting permission enter the city-state."

---

Autobot Command Ship, Trion

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Autobot Command ship, Hoist's transmission was received.

Mainframe looked up from the monitor at his station and back toward the captain's chair. "Sir?" he said. "An ATTT model vessel has approached the border and is now hailing us. Pilot ID checks as Hoist. He claims to be on a supply convoy from the Steelhaven. He is requesting permission to enter Protihex. Your orders?"

"On the screen," Prowl answered. When the green Autobot mechanic appeared on the main monitor, Prowl simply nodded. "So -- the Steelhaven remains intact?"

"And a good day to you too, Prowl," Hoist snidely replied. "At any rate, yes, that's right, and as many civilians we were able to corral into it. They're both safe."

"Optimus will be pleased to learn of this." The General's tone - nor his cold, blank expression - revealed whether or not he cared of the fate of the refugees.

"Listen, Prowl, I'm not quite sure what's happening in there, but I noticed you've set up a perimeter. We really need to get in there. We're carrying weaponry and medical supplies."

"For the safety of the planet -- and yours -- I cannot allow you to continue on your current course. Protihex is quarantined," the General told him. "However, I have been informed that a field hospital has been established near the _____ border. I will provide you with an escort and they will see you safely there. Do not deviate from the flight path."

"And what if do? Hypothetically speaking, of course?"

"Your vessel will be shot down."

Hoist's eyes widened. "Well -- I'll, uh, I'll be sure to stay on the path then," he said. "Thanks for the escort either way. It was lovely chatting with you, Prowl."

----

Over the Wastelands, Hoist's Shuttle

Hoist switched off the monitor and looked across cockpit to the passenger's seat where Road Hugger sat.

"What a jerk," he grumbled. "At any rate, I'm sure you caught all that. Apparently we're headed to a field hospital. Contact your people and let them know where we'll be landing. I'll get in touch with Fortress Maximus."
__________

Manganese Mountains, Steelhaven

"Great," said Ratchet. "All right then, right this way." He motioned Brainstorm and Groove to follow.

As the captain continued on his way down the corridor, he glanced over his shoulder and added, "Oh, you two wouldn't happen to be armed?" he said. "Cog ran a preliminary scan of the base and assures me that there isn't anything to be worried about, but you never know."

Groove nodded. "Mm hm, I still have that pistol Perceptor gave to me when he and Fortress Maximus rescued me -- Oh! And two vaporator cannons." He deployed them from the hidden compartment in his arms to demonstrate.

"That'll do," said Ratchet. "I picked up a few spares while I was in the armory with Road Hugger, so don't hesitate to ask if either of you two need them."

"So, why are we inspecting the base?"

"As I said, Fortress Maximus's old crew inhabited the place," the Captain told him. "As well as quite a few refugees. It was a safe haven, and a rather large one at that. Living quarters, plenty of space to set up a medical facility, among other things." Ratchet looked intently to Groove. "Surely you must see where I'm going with this."

"I believe so," the Governor answered. "

"It is our purpose - well, mine and Fortress Maximus's - to make it one once again. Right now we have a ship full of refugees, most if which have lost their homes to the Imperial invasion. Chances are there will be a lot of rebuilding to do back in Protihex once our boys win the day. And they will, but it'll still be sometime until Protihex inhabitable again...

"But, I'm getting ahead of myself. First, we need to determine if it's safe before we start moving people in."
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Blackjack
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Post by Blackjack »

Constructicon Field Hospital

"Moving stuff? We'll get Long Haul to do that for you." Mixmaster told Pointblank, optics not moving away from the Thunderwing shell. Long Haul made a loud harrumph from the other end of the room.

Hook cut open the outermost layers of Thunderwing's shell, frowning. "It seems that Thunderwing had not seen fit to booby-trap his smaller auxillary Pretender shells... not this one, at least. Come, Perceptor, take a closer look. While I am certain that I could solve this conundrum personally, time, I am afraid, is of the essence."

(OOC: Warcry, what exactly are we expecting to find here?)
_________________________________

Imperial Landing Zone

"Calcar and Skyquake? Dead." Trap snorted in disgust at Optimus Prime's question. "Thunderwing sent them to their deaths. Just like he's sending me, and my brothers, and my men, out to my death. Xal knows where Thunderwing is now."

The Predator raised his missile launcher, in a gesture of peace. "I really want to escape, I really do. But I can't, you see?"

"I can't not shoot you, in case Thunderwing or one of the captains choose to take a peek and see me working with you, but I can shoot to miss, you know? Give them a good show while you murder the rest of the Imperials?"
_________________________________

Buzzard roared as Boss's machinegun fire slammed onto his armour, tearing holes in it... not that the Syk-powered Predator cared. Drift spun around, slashing with his two shorter swords, spinning around, gouging gashes in the Predator, but Buzzard ignored the pain.

He roared and attempted to swat Drift away, while his shoulder-mounted Megavisor missiles took aim at Boss and launched.

Drift darted aside in a movement that was animal-like, almost feline, getting behind Buzzard, and with one swift movement threw his two blades at Buzzard's back. One of the swords thrust into Buzzard's left shoulder, all the way that the tip of the blade poked out in front, while the other blade slammed into Buzzard's side.

If Buzzard noticed the two blades sticking out of him, he did not show it.

"What does it take to stop this guy?" Drift muttered.
_________________________________

Pyro nodded as Hurricane helped him up, and gulped as he watched Tidal Wave. "Yes, yes, I think we should run away. Like right now."

The larger Autobot took a step backwards, and the broke into a run, dragging the smaller Hurricane with him. "Do any of you have the number of one of the Omega Sentinels? Now would be a good time for them to join the battle."
_________________________________

Warpath swiveled his turret to regard Tidal Wave, who was slowly moving his gaze through the battlefield.

Looking for Optimus Prime, no doubt.

Warpath sighed, moved away from targeting Treds and launched a bunker-blaster shell all the way to Tidal Wave's face. The shell exploded in a brilliant ball of fire and a "KRAKOOOM!", but when the smoke cleared, Tidal Wave's face was not scarred.

Warpath did, however, manage to divert the behemoth's attention.

Namely, to himself.

"Tidal Wave." The giant chanted, as his massive head turned slowly to face Warpath.
_________________________________

"Crush them all, Tidal Wave! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Falcon said as he transformed and hovered mid-air, watching the troops below. Buzzard and Hyena were doing reasonably well, considering their idiocy. The twins... m'eh, with Talon dead, no one's going to whine to him about letting those two idiots die. Trap... where was Trap?

He was unstable. Skyquake placed a bomb in his head in case he disobeyed orders, such was Skyquake's hatred against anything not completely evil.

Falcon snorted, and pulled out his two missile launchers, ready to find targets.

"Tidal Wave, ignore the small fries. Kill that thing!" Falcon pointed at one of the GADEP units nearby.

"Wave." Tidal Wave rumbled, turning away from Warpath and facing the GADEP Omega Sentinel, the tiny turrets that dotted his torso and abdomen opening fire, sending mortar shells, laser blasts and all sorts of weaponry at the Omega Sentinel.
_________________________________

Hoist's Shuttle

Road Hugger shrugged, and waited- and listened as Hoist spoke to the Autobot commander. Prowl, most likely. The Combaticon listened.

He very nearly let out an outburst of rage when Prowl was about to deny him access, but decided to suppress his anger. Prowl will be dealt with when the time comes.

"This is why," Road Hugger spoke, his voice venomous, "This is exactly why the Autobots should not be allowed to run the planet."

Road Hugger shook his head. "Most of you are decent folk, and I can say the same for the Decepticons... those that aren't total nutjobs, anyway. But a completely Decepticon government means tyranny, and a completely Autobot government means another Senate. No, this is Protihex. The Autobot military have no right to deny us entry."

Road Hugger's optics narrowed. "Threatening to shoot us down if we deviate... while we mean to help... tell me, Hoist, how is that different from Megatron?"

The Combaticon shook his head. He's ranting too much lately. "Combaticon captains... uh... Blast Off, Brawl, Bluestreak, Doublecross... anyone? Sound off."
_________________________________

Fortress Maximus

"Brawl here, Commander." The Combaticon replied almost immediately. Road Hugger flinched at being addressed as such, it reminded him again of Onslaught. "I'm with whatever's left of our forces on board Fortress Maximus. Blast Off's with the Aerialbots, fightin' some sort of Imp weapons geek. Oh, yer buddies are here too."

Brawl could hear Road Hugger's sigh of relief at his patrolmates' survival over the intercom.

Almost methodically, as trained under Onslaught, Brawl continued with a simplified version of current events. "Most of our forces are lost to the Plague. Bunch of Autobots and the Polyhex guys are too. Menasor and that Bruticus lookalike are dead. We had to retreat with Fort Max before we got eaten by the Hate Plague, Scraplets and Morphobots."
_________________________________

Hoist's Shuttle

"How convenient." Road Hugger told Hoist, raising his eyebrow. "My troops and Fortress Maximus are together."

"Orders, sir?" Brawl's voice came again.

"Stay with Fortress Maximus. We're coming in in the field hospital... the Constructicon one, I think." Road Hugger replied. "We'll reassess the situation later."
_________________________________

Manganese Mountains, Steelhaven

Brainstorm shook his head. "All my guns are left with my Transector. What's left of it, anyway. The Brainstorm of this universe won't happen to have a spare stashed somewhere here, would he?" He sighed. "And I suppose those vaporator cannons don't come in planet Micro size, do they?"
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