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Sector 7 - Neutral Ground

It looked like Torment needed the help more than her commander at the moment so she begins pursuing them as fast as she can, dodging and weaving through the gauntlet of projectiles, getting scorched and singed now and then from enemy fire looking to come up behind them.
She radios her comrade,>>Torment, let me assist in disposing of that autobot hitchhiker! Slow down and I'll shoot him off or pry him off of you.<<
She looks to get closer and closer, aiming her shot. Ideally she'd want to transform and beat him senseless, but Torment might not enjoy another person riding on him.

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground


Torment blistered with anger as the self-absorbed bot punched him again. The orange and slate sweep bucked in attempt to transform but could not because Sunstreaker had hold in just the right place to interfere. From out of nowhere a signal transmitted to him. Discord was in close proximity. Torment scanned her position and turned.

“Discord Get this PARACITE off my hull.”

He sped toward the femme sweep, anger caused him to ignore her request that he slow down. The hunter, fumed with anger as he was punched by the Golden Autobot.

“What’s your name Autobot? So I can write it on your grave?”

The clones under his command continued to rain fire upon the Autobots, some focused on the surface the others turned to chase Torment as he aimed himself at Discord. Torment could not see where Scourge had gone.

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground

"H-hey! You aren't slowing down!"
She forgot to radio that. It was fairly unpredictable that he actually came about.
Time for an experiment, then.
Discord transforms and readies herself to plant her foot in the face/chest (or posterior, or side depending on the orientation of Sunstreaker) Sunstreaker as they race by.
She will attempt a grab on Sunstreaker if the kick misses, and has her Heat Laser in her far hand just in case.

Sector 7--Neutral Ground

Buzzsaw had angled downward as it watched a golden Autobot, that it quickly identified as Sunstreaker from its databanks, attach himself to the exterior of one of the Sweeps. His primary assignment for the moment had been that of reenforcement. That is what he would carry out until his directive changed. He would return to Jazz as soon as this other encounter shifted in the Decepticons' favor.

Other Sweeps appeared to have countermeasure in place. Buzzsaw would continue to scan and evaluate its success before interfering himself.

The other Casseticons continue as they were directed, closing in on Jazz, their optics blazing, each of them enthused--in their own way--about the opportunity to take down an Autobot and further their creator's will.

Sector 7 – Neutral Ground

Sideswipe grunted slightly as he crashed into Scourge’s exterior plating, denting it in the process of his attack. Once he blew past the Sweep Commander he chuckled and swiftly changed direction. As he turned to face his foe he was startled to see Scourge heading right for him. Before he could evade the attack the Decepticon had sliced through the mounting apparatus of his jet-pack.

“Ughhhhhh!”

As the crimson warrior began to plummet to the surface of the moon, he twisted in mid-air and tried to grab Scourge’s forearm in an attempt to pull the unsuspecting Sweep with him, or to use the con’s natural flight capability to hold him up in the air.

Sector 7 – Neutral Ground

Scourge's smugness at having so readily removed Sideswipe's rocket pack was short-lived. Shock replaced it as the wretched Autobot took hold of his arm. While his strength was sufficient to keep them both aloft with little trouble, the Sweep's flight path became erratic. As Scourge attempted unsuccessfully to dislodge his surprisingly skilled foe, indignation filled his processors.

No Autobot shall dare to touch me and live! the hunter swore inwardly. Reaching out through his on board controls, he issued a silent command.



As the two drones in question closed on the embattled pair, Scourge reached out his free hand, intending to wrap it firmly about his enemy's throat...

The other Sweep Drones continued to offer support to the Emperor and the Cassetticons. Acting in concert, small groups of the drones encircled their Autobot foes. The drones attempted to immobilize the Autobots so that their fellow Decepticons could finish the job.

This course of action, though efficient, carried a higher chance that the Drones would receive some damage from their fellows' attacks. This was an acceptable result. The drones' self-preservation programming was a secondary subroutine, lower priority than their offensive protocols. And besides, their frames could withstand a little friendly fire.

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground

The three of them flying through a hail of laser fire from the other Sweeps, Sunstreaker held on for dear life as Torment tried to shake him loose and Discord lent a taloned hand to the task. Discord's kick streaked in and nailed the Autobot squarely in the jaw. With a vicious snarl, he lashed out to grab her foot.

"Fine, you want to join the party...you can die with us, too!"

Heat laser bolts from the Sweep drones continued to fill the air around the three of them. Someone - or everyone - would likely hit the moon surface any moment now...and hard.

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground
She growled a bit as the Autobot didn't let go.
"Hey! No touching the legs!" She wrapped her legs around Sunstreaker's arm that grabbed her leg then slid her arms around his other arm trying to restrain his arms. Her entire body's strength is used to pull the Autobot's arms back and hold them in place.
Odds are good that his arm, and and maybe chest area strength is not strong enough to overpower her entire body. It might not be a painful restraint, but he's most likely unable to use them effectively for more than hanging on as best he can, and being used as a shield with Discord behind him.
She radios Torment > her voice came with a malicious glee.

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground

Torment plowed through the second wave of drones their fire bouncing off his armor, as they dodged him. Sunstreaker and now discord attached to him as he veered off. Discord took hold of sunstreakers arm and Torment made good on her suggestion. He transformed sunstreaker still held where his shoulder and head were. The momentum of his transformation allowed Torment to cartwheel the three of them in the air. He snarled from beneath his faceplate attempting to bring his elbow up into Sunstreaker's chest, while the three of them careened wildly.

As their akward ballet progresed, Torment sent a command to his second wing of drones.
>>Continue concentrating on the Autobots.<<
He did not need any extra distractions.

(OOC - With *Silverblade's permission.)

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground

Torment's elbow swung free just enough for the Sweep to pop Sunstreaker in the vocalizer. If the egotistical Autobot was angry before, it was nothing compared to now, since the Sweep had hit him in the face. Of all places to hit Sunstreaker, the face was the most likely to provoke a brutal death for the one launching the attack. Ooooh, he will pay for that...with his miserable spark!

"No more Mister Nice Mech!" Sunstreaker hissed in utter, sociopathic rage.

More than happy to let Discord hang on tight to his one arm, he freed the other with relative ease. One did not become a top-ranked gladiator in the bad old days of Cybertron without knowing a thing or two about grappling. The arm that did remain trapped dug its fingers into Discord's armor plating to keep her from going anywhere.

With one arm free, he could now do what he had wanted to do from the start of the battle - bring at least one Sweep to the ground. Sunstreaker drew his electron pulse rifle from subspace and jammed the barrel against Torment's left foot thruster. He pulled the trigger, sodering the thruster shut with a burst of blazing electrons. The trio went into a wild spin.

"Down we go, all three of us!" he snarled. He pointed the rifle at Torment's other foot and pulled the trigger again, transforming the spin into a sudden drop as Torment was no longer able to generate any lift. The ground approached with alarming quickness.

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground
She didn't figure on the spinning out of control effect. All she could do is grasp the Sunstreaker's arms harder to hang on, restraining his arms as best she could as the world spun around her and hope that the Autobot would get slagged before she let go.

Alas it was all for naught. Sunstreaker managed to wriggle free an arm free from the grapple, but that was his mistake. She has her arms freed again, and a reach advantage with her thighs clenched on his upper arm and her leg wrapped around the rest, foot locked onto her ankle for a secure hold. She was quite thrilled to resume working over the bot with her hands. He should thank Primus she doesn't have the heat talons of her sister. He'd have been slagged instead of partly restrained if she did.

While Sunstreaker was busy shooting at Torment lowering his guard, Discord looks to grab Sunstreaker's face while using her talons to dig in violently as she tries to gouge out his optics and use the space between as a handle, her other 3 talons would no doubt gouge at his face. Her Heat laser meanwhile is jammed into the top port/hole/vent of his backpack, and she fires without hesitation looking to bypass his shiny resilient armor she noticed during their mid-flight tussle.
"You don't get it! As long as you're dead I'm happy! And you will be! DIE! DIE!! DIE!!!" she cried out with diabolical glee as her optics flared with a malicious light eager to ugly the autobot up.

Sector 7: Neutral Ground

"Tell me Megatron, after all these years..."

Prime was forced to stumble back as Megatron connected against the Autobot Commanders midsection. The wreckage that made up the surface of Cybertrons Moon shattered and scattered beneath his heavy feet, providing little in terms of solid purchase. It was treacherous ground indeed to battle upon, the ground itself giving way beneath even the slightest movements. It was in part one of the reasons that the Outpost had been abandoned, it held little purpose to either side, its terrain was too uneven to build even the flimsiest of structures upon, the planetoid was, in many respects, dead.

Much like Cybertron itself will be if this war truly does never end.

A dead world for a dying race.

How could Megatron be so blind as to not see it? How could his ambition be so total? How could his vision for the future be so all consuming that he failed to see the complete destruction of the present? How could there be an Empire is all that was left was a Grave?

In some things, Prime would never understand Megatron.

He was glad of it too.

"...how do you expect to build an Empire..."

Prime braced himself against the ground, his stance finding solid purchase, his steely blue optics bearing down on the crimson ones of his foe. He had watched this Tyrant fight once, back in the Games, a moment of curiosity, he had not imagined then that it would actually fall to himself to stop this Machine of War's rampage.

He hadn't imagined alot of things back then.

Times change.

"...when you can not even defeat your own Civilians?"

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground

The debris-carpeted ground of the moon rose up at Sunstreaker in a flash as Discord attempted to tear his faceplate off. Sharp as they were, the Sweep's talons were the last thing on Sunstreaker's mind as he plummeted toward the ground with his two foes. Chief in his thoughts was a single wish.

Primus, if you exist and you do indeed watch over us all...you'd better make sure I leave a good-looking corpse.

The Autobot crashed into the moon's surface, his fall broken only by the wreckage that covered the planetoid and his own extremely formidable armor. After the impact, all was still...at least for a moment. In the dark - if it was dark, or simply Sunstreaker's imagination, where he had no idea how much time was passing, or if he still functioned - Sunstreaker wondered how his two opponents had fared in the crash.

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground

Before the crash, she started flying letting go of Sunstreaker's face. It didn't help her much, though. It wouldn't help anyone much, if at all.
"Whup!" was the surprised noise she made as Sunstreaker crashed, and his grip nearly ripped her leg off as she was slammed down, no, rather flung down. She managed to slow herself, but she was still whipped to the ground harshly into a violent impact. Droplets of internal fluids ejected from her mouth from the force of the impact.
"Hrghk!!" she cringed in the dent in the ground. She struggles to stay conscious looking skyward through clearing static, writhing about a moment.
In her pained throes she finds that grip still on her leg. She tugs at his grip, but her armor is buckled in the grasp and he won't let go.
Her whole body is rattled, and damaged, but the Autobot seems to have taken the worst of it, at least she hoped. She was still moving, though not well at all. He was not.
Slowly, she struggles to sit up, trying to ignore the mind numbing pain in her knee and hip, and on her back. Sparks, and separated plates sparsely reveal the inner workings of her leg, her alt form's armor warped beyond transformation.
She raises her laser pistol, pointing it at Sunstreaker to finish him off one and for all!!
She coughs up more fluids "Die!" she regards him with a face twisted in agony.
She pulls the trigger!
But there's -nothing-. The pistol has been damaged in the crash. The barrel falls off, and it falls apart like a shattered toy in her hand.
It doesn't even fire.

She groans in pain while laughing a bit at her misfortune, and flops onto her back trying to recuperate then fight on.
She doesn't know how long she has to get back together as she lay sprawled out.
She probably couldn't do more than crawl around and claw at her foes even if she could get back into the fight unless she appropriates a working weapon from the other 2.
As she lay there, staring at the sky seeing other sweeps fly by continuing to fight, she hopes to rejoin them. But it won't be now.

Space above Cybertron

Despite the battles taking place on the planet below, the space around the Transformer homeworld was relatively peaceful. The Transformers had done little exploration off of their own planet as the race had found itself engulfed in a brutal war stretching over millennia. What little effort had been put into exploration before the war was quickly redirected to the war effort.

bot commander opened a channel to Iacon. >>”Autobot command, this Grimlock. Me returning from scouting mission with Insecticon prisoners. We need immediate assistance as ship falling apart around us. Send up another ship and we just take that back.”<<

Grimlock hadn’t even finished his transmission when there was an explosion aboard the ship. One of the fuel tanks had ruptured and a spark from some damaged wiring had ignited it. The explosion sent the ship into a wild tumble, plummeting towards Moon Alpha. “Scrap!”

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

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground

Megatron snickered. “You of all people should know that a civilian becomes a soldier as soon as he picks up a gun, Prime. Isn’t that the story they tell about you, the simple archivist who received the Matrix and rose up to challenge Megatron, the slayer of Sentinel Prime?” Megatron sneered and brought the mace above his head, twirling it in a circle. “It’s a pity that the story will have to come to an end now.”

Before Megatron could deliver another blow, there was a quiet *boom* and the whistling sound of something falling, fast. He looked up to see a ship plummeting towards them. A look of shock and confusion passed across his face. Was this some ploy by Prime, or something else entirely? Either way, he wasn’t going to let he and his troops get crushed by the crashing vessel.

The Decepticon commander leapt up into the air, flying back and away from the area where the vessel appeared to be coming down. “Decepticons, pull back!” He turned to look at Prime again. “I don’t know whether this is your doing or not Prime, but this is only a slight delay, assuming you even survive the impact.” Megatron laughed as the vessel slammed into the ground near them, sending out a cloud of debris.

OOC: The Dinobots and Insecticons have crashed on the moon and can start being played from there.

Sector 7--Neutral Ground

No sooner had Megatron called for the order to fall back than Soundwave's optics immediately scanned for his leader. Finding him tkaing to the air, Soundwave quickly followed suit. Whatever had prompted the order, Soundwave knew that it would be for good reason. Unsurprisingly, a ship crash landed shortly thereafter.

His own continued functioning assured for the moment, Soundwave begins to survey the rest of the battleground. Following their internal protocols after having received a command from the Decepticon Leader, the Casseticons that had been sent in to the field break off pursuit and take to the air.

Buzzsaw is the first to returning, transforming in to his cassette mode just as he arrives within a few meters of his creator, slipping comfortably in to his chest cavity. Soundwave had no doubt that the recorcdings acquired here would prove useful for further analysis.

Sector 7--Neutral Ground

To say Scourge was dismayed at the order to withdraw was something of a understatement. Anger suffused him, or as close to anger as the cold, sociopathic Sweep Commander was capable of feeling. But he was not about to disobey Lord Megatron, and in any event he had little alternative. The Drones were already pulling back, obeying the Emperor's command automatically.

He, however, had a slight problem. That detestable red Autobot still firmly held his arm firmly. He could not very well retreat with his foe in tow. His twisted mind formed a plan quite rapidly.

This Autobot fights tenaciously to continue functioning, he mused. But let us see how brave he is when he faces oblivion. Scourge's faceplate twisted into a cruel mockery of a smile. The Sweep set his thrusters to full burn, quickly gaining velocity despite his payload.

"It seems I must be going, Little Fool. I would have liked to terminate your function with my own hands. But this will have to suffice." At less than even a full arms length, the hunter fired his heat laser at Sideswipe, intent on knocking the Autobot into freefall.

"Proceed to Oblivion, Little Fool."

---

Space above Cybertron

"That was fuel tank two!" Swoop screamed from the ship's helm. As the ragtag vessel began to spin, the smallest Dinobot fought with all his might to regain control. "We venting fire into space. Port stabilizers are off line!"

Come on! the bombardier told himself as he struggled to hold onto the yoke. Dinobots counting on Swoop! Me not gonna let them down! The pterodactyl's optics frantically searched the countless alarms on the display, looking for anything that might save them from breaking up on impact.

He found precious little there to help. Structural integrity was quickly dropping to levels that wouldn't survive impact. The port engine was totaled. Most of the subsystems were slagged. All they really had left was communications, guidance, and...

"That's It!" he exclaimed. Typing out a command, he activated the fuel pumps, siphoning the dwindling supply in tank two over to tank one. Me have to time this just right, he thought. If me leave the pumps on too long, me blow other tank! Swoop watched the display intently, counting the astroseconds. A little more, a little more...Now! He slammed down on the emergency cutoff, shutting the pumps down. The fires began to dwindle.

"Me got a plan," the Dinobot yelled to his fellows. "This gonna be close!" He disengaged the governors on the starboard engine, upping it's output to well over one hundred percent. It was risky move, but if it didn't work, they were finished anyway.

Planting one foot on the console to gain some leverage, Swoop put everything he had into one concerted effort to pull the stick level again. The flying pile of scrap whined as it was pulled in two directions at once.

"Come on, slaggit! We not going out like this!" Arrrrrrrah!"

Primus must have favored the brave that day, because the plummeting vessel leveled off just in time. The ship impacted hard, screeching across the desolate surface of Moon Alpha. A belly landing in rough terrain was not something he would have preferred, but after what they had been through to get this far, Swoop wasn't about to get picky now.

Sector 7 – Neutral Ground

Holding tight to Scourge’s forearm, Sideswipe began tugging in an attempt to throw off the Sweep Commander from his intended trajectory.

“Grrrrrr. If I go down, you’re comin’ with me, ugly!”

Before the crimson warrior could tug one last time, Scourge fired his heat laser hitting Sideswipe in the middle of his chest.

“Gahhhhh!”

With his strained scream, Sideswipe let go of Scourge’s forearm and began to plummet to the desecrated surface of the moon.

“Scrap!”

With the terrain growing closer and closer, Sideswipe began to brace himself for the imminent impact. With a loud crash the red Autobot collided with the surface of the moon, leaving an enormous crater in the ground.

“Now that hurt.”

With his last words, Sideswipe fell unconscious.

Moon Base

Torment hit the ground with a clang, sliding a distance away from Discord and Sunstreaker, sparks showering the surface as metal on metal screeched. A low moan uttered from him as he shook his head to clear his optics. He was a tough sweep, possibility tougher than most. Primus be damned Autobot trash. His thrusters were damaged and would not give him lift in robot form. His back was facing the other two. He could hear Discord saying something but did not bother to pay attention to her words. Slowly he got to his feet. Still facing away he activated his Arm disrupter cannon. As he turned he raised his right arm, pointing the canon at the fallen Autobot. The Vain Golden fool was so concerned about his looks. Let’s see how he enjoyed Torment dissolving the bonds between his molecules. Can One say Disfigurement? As he readied to fire a boom permeated the atmosphere followed by Lord Megatron’s orders to retreat. Torment lowered his arm and cast a glance at where Scourge was. His leader was in the process of pulling back. His visuals then locked on Discord, her damaged frame laying a short reach away from Sunstreaker. He strode towed her and knelt a moment accessing her damage. Then opened a link to Scourge.

>>Scourge. Discord is damaged. I will have to carry her to obey Megatrons retreat. But the Autobot has damaged my Thrusters. I will order some of the Drones to return her.> Sweep units 786 and 345 land by me and prepare to escort a passenger.<<

He gathered Discord up ion his arms. Grasping the detached pieces by her side. He stared at the yellow Autobot for a moment wishing he could fill him full of holes. And slate his thirst, but it was not worth the wrath of Megatron. Torment made his way over to the two sweep drones he had called. They were ready to go already having accepted Megatron’s retreat. He turned his head suddenly as the sound of a crashing ship reached his auds. Torment placed Discord into the arms of the closest drone. Then scanned to see the ship in question. He stepped back, angered that he was too damaged to do any more. Transforming into his alt mode he lifted off and Started towards Scourge. Knowing that the two drones would follow him with Discord.

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground

Fall back? Grrgh.. She struggles to get her flight module going, but finds that another force has raised her up.
She looked at Torment with a mixture of Thanks, and Don't help me or I'll slag you! trying to put on a strong front. She couldn't help but be embarrassed, and figured she'll be punished for being disabled on the field like this. Oh, yes, she expected the worst.
Grr! How could I let this happen?! Even drones with mere numbers for designations were in better shape! Brother Torment is flying away under his own power and has a weapon to fight with! And what of me? I'm being carried away. Am I not better than these numbered drones? Am I not one of the Elite? she kept a frusterated groan to herself.
Her punishment was coming already. She was filled with a bitter feeling from this experience. She wasn't doubting herself though. She'd fight just as hard, if not harder in the future.

She looks from the drone's arms towards Sunstreaker.
"I hope you're dead, Autobot!" She spat angrily at Sunstreaker "Or you'll get worse next time we meet!"
Oh, yes! You'll pay for this indignity, Autobot! You'll rue the day we met! I hope your face is scarred, and it reminds you of my wrath to come!

She could fly. She almost had her flight module activated before she were picked up, but she knew that she couldn't fly fast enough with a damaged flight module. She knew better than to slow down a retreat. She'd get left behind, or suffer her commander's wrath. It was probably best just to be helped. The retreat would go faster to say the least.

Moon Alpha - Crashed Shuttle

"This not good.." so said the master of understatement.. or at least a journymech, Sludge.

He stumbled about, trying to keep his feet beneath him, his footing unsteady, footfalls coming in hefty thunks as he bumped against the inner hull, denting it in with his sheer weight.

He didn't know what was going on really, wasn't the ship supposed to land on Cybertron? They weren't there yet.. maybe they were going to all of the lights that were flashing on the moon below.

With the crash, Sludge was hurled back, bounced and jostled about as the shuttle raked across the planet's surface, being ground across the jagged detritus that formed Moon Alpha.

Everything went dark, a gentle weight pressing down on him as he felt the ship soon come to it's eventual stop. He wiggled, a heap of scrap in the corner of the area moving, he wiggled again, getting his hands beneath him and pushing up, shrugging off he bits and pieces that had buried him moments before, reaching a idle hand up to rub at his head, a jagged piece of scrap protruding from his helmet.. it tickled a bit, "Was that.. supposed to happen..?" asked the Dynobot, now Dinobot as he turned his attention to Grimlock, Swoop, and the other occupants

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground

Sunstreaker heard two massive crashes as he lay on the moon's surface, somewhat conscious, somewhat insensate. The first was larger, but it was the second that caught his attention. Out of the corner of his optic he had seen the source of the sound. He could recognize his twin brother at ten thousand meters, and in this case Sideswipe was not nearly that far distant from him. Nor was his tormentor...the one who had shot him and sent him tumbling to the moon's surface, leaving him for dead.

INTERNAL DIAGNOSTIC: structural damage severe. Energon reserves at forty-seven percent. Stasis lock recommended. Request immediate medical attention...

Sunstreaker had no idea if Sideswipe was alive or not at this point. But there was no way he was going to let that 'Con just walk away from this fight. Like Pit I'm shutting down. He overrode the stasis lock warning and ignored the pain pouring out of his sensory receptors.

With an agonized snarl, the golden Autobot warrior dragged himself to his feet. His leg actuators hurt, and were possibly damaged to the point of needing replacement, but he cared little at this point. The one being that Sunstreaker actually gave two pints of oil about - and Sideswipe was the only one - had just gone down. It was going to take more than a scrap with a pair of Sweeps and a nasty fall to keep Sunstreaker from doing something about it. RANGE: two hundred and seventy two meters. TARGET LOCK.

"Hey, ugly!" he bellowed at Scourge. "Eat surface-to-air missile!"

From his shoulder-mounted launcher, a guided warhead with the explosive force of a quarter-ton of TNT streaked at the fearsome leader of Megatron's Sweeps.

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground

Scourge's tracking systems pinpointed the missile the astrosecond it left Sunstreaker's launcher. His sensors identified it as a high-explosive fragmentation device. A BIG one. He began evasive maneuvers. Unfortunately, the distance was simply too short to react in time. Have to take the hit as best I can. Keep my engines safe.

Rotating to face the projectile, the tracker threw his arms in front of his faceplate. The missile hit home, the detonation sending him into a spin. Alerts and damage assessments flew across his display. Scourge ignored them, focusing on regaining control of his rapidly deteriorating flight path.

With some considerable effort, the Sweep Commander was able to right himself. He turned his attention to damage control. His right arm was severely damaged, several fingers missing. But that was not what caught the arrogant hunter's attention, nor what stoked his ire.

Raising his less damaged hand to his faceplate, he found a rather large piece of shrapnel embedded beside his left optic. The scrap had caused little structural damage, but his facial plating was severely gashed. Fury overtook the chaos hound's processors. This vain little gladiator seeks to scar me, insult me! What arrogance! What gall! Scourge longed cut out the wretched cur's spark core and devour it on the spot, but the Emperor had commanded a retreat. And when the emperor spoke, Scourge the Tracker was the first to answer. As he gained altitude, his rage continued to mount. Soon enough it found voice.

"You have wounded me, Golden One. But first energon goes to me! Do see that whatever superstitious nonsense you Autobots say over your dead is given to your twin. For soon enough, we shall meet again, and you shall join him!"

The Sweep continued to rant and rave for at least a half a breem, but it was lost to the vacuum of space.

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground – Crashed shuttle

“No, that not supposed to happen Sludge, but we close enough to Cybertron now to just hitch ride.” There was some shifting of debris and wreckage as Grimlock dug himself out. The Dinobot commander had gotten tossed around and smashed through a few things as the ship had crashed into the moon. Fortunately for him he was made of tougher stuff than their cobbled together ship had been. The same could be said for the other Dinobots. Jetfire probably made it too, but honestly he wouldn’t be too upset if he didn’t. It wasn’t that he wanted to see him dead, but he just didn’t like the ‘smarter than you’ attitude of the Autobot scientist. Then there were their prisoners…

“Scrap!” Grimlock produced his gun and began firing at the flying, retreating forms of the Insecticons. It was a futile gesture though, as the Insecticons scattered and dodged his fire as they flew away from the moon and back towards Cybertron. He grunted in frustration. Now they had to return to Cybertron empty handed. It would look like they failed in their mission, despite how long it had taken. He hated that.

His disappointment quickly disappeared as he saw some other familiar figures on the moon. He spotted the tall form of Optimus Prime. Apparently he was still functioning and had the Matrix. That probably meant the war was still going on, and that Megatron was still functioning.

And speaking which, there he was, floating in the air looking down on them. How could Prime not have terminated him by now? How could the war still be going on after all of this time? It was just another reason why he should be leading over Optimus. He never needed a Matrix to boost his power or his skills and he had the killer instinct that Prime lacked.

“Megatron!!” He switched aim to fire at the Decepticon leader. He hoped that the other Dinobots would join him.


Megatron scowled as Grimlock and his crew emerged from the crashed vessel. It appeared that the long thought lost scouting expedition. He had also spotted the Decepticons sent on the mission as well. They flew away in what he could only assume to be some sort of Earth based alternate modes. He could find some use for them in the future.

A shot struck him in the shoulder and he glared down to see Grimlock firing up at him. He began dodging the rest of the incoming fire. With him and his Dinobots on the moon the numbers and power levels were against the Decepticons, and he knew that would only get worse. He did not want to waste time and energy on full scale battle on the moon. He clenched his fists. Prime would continue to function for at least one more day.

“Decepticons, back to Kolkular!” He glanced back down at Optimus. “Enjoy this small victory Prime, as it will be your last!” With that, Megatron took off, bound for Cybertron and his fortress.

Sector 7 - Neutral Ground

"You command, Lord Megatron."

Scourge and his drones flowed the Emperor away from the desolate moon. The Tracker was already plotting to give that yellow fool his comeuppance.

He was still displeased with the retreat, but he kept silent on the subject. The Sweep turned his attention to the newcomers, these "Insecticons." He was less than impressed this motley crew of bestial mechanoids. They were small, and appeared to be antiquated models. Thoroughly convinced of the Insecticons' inferiority, Scourge payed them no more mind.

He turned his attention forward, towards Kolkular.

Transforming to a pterodactyl, Swoop came rocketing out of the wreck at Grimlock's shout. "Megatron here?" the bombardier exclaimed excitedly. "Arright! Me Swoop gonna blast..." He flew to Grimlock's side, only to see the Decepticon force fading into the distance. "...him."

More than a little crestfallen, Swoop returned to robot mode, landing next to his leader. "Me could go after them, but thirty to one get pointless real quick." He kicked a piece of debris dejectedly. Then his keen eyes noticed the Insecticons among the fleeing enemies.

"Yeah! That right, you slaggin' cowards!" He screamed at the Insecticons, regardless of the fact that they were too distant to hear. "You fly away! We kick your afts again next time we see you!" He shook his fist in their general direction. "Losers."

"Hey Grimlock," he said to his leader, calming down a bit. "Me got something for you." From out of subspace, he produced a small box. "This the flight recorder from our ship. It got all the data Tall, Brainy and Stuck-up find on Earth." Handing the module to Grimlock, Swoop produced a nearly identical copy. "And this? This the recorder from Insecticon ship! Me save it when we build that junk pile."

"It encrypted, but Me sure it got all their logs and stuff." The small Dinobot looked very pleased with himself as he handed the Decepticon device over. "It not much, but Me gonna be scrapped before we go home completely empty-handed."

Looking the area over, Swoop continued. "Me Swoop think Me should have a look around. See if Me can find ride off this rust heap. That okay?"