Transformers: Steel Reign

[SirNitram]

"Merging to Breachload." Overload reported dutifully as his massive form dropped back into trailer and undersized cab. It accelerated towards Shellshock's robot form, and began to transform.

The trailer came apart into sections, lifting up on antigravs to attach suddenly to the warbot's body, first limbs. The cab similarly bounced upwards, attaching to Shellshock's chestplate over the laser core. Power couplings activated. The raw power within Overload flowed into Shellshock and his weapon systems. The final peices slapped into place over the torso of the now-complete Breachload, the twin Autobot fusion cannons swinging over his shoulders.

Overload's mind took the backseat, watching the sensors for anything that could be missed.

[LadyTevar]

As Shellshock and Overload merged, Crimson gave them plenty of coverfire, her pistols alternating with sharp accuracy to keep the Decepticons and their Drones too busy dodging to stop the Merge.

[Dark Silver]

Around him, the battle raged.

But Omega Supreme, the Autobot's greatest weapon in this war, soldiered on. He had managed to eliminate four of the ten Sentinal Robots that made up the Decepticon defense forces - and it barely strained his servos.

Another Sentinal Robot charged Omega from the front, the lumbering gait of the robot sped it on. Omega's right arm raised, targeting the robot's chest plate with the powerful laser cannon. The beam light up the battlefield, streaking out. The Sentinal tried to avoid the beam, it's threat awareness programming barely registering the weapon discharge intime.

"Opponents: Pathetic. Victory: Assured."

Unfortunatly for the robot, Omega Supreme was quicker, sweeping the blinding beam of yellow energy across the Sentinal's chest and head. Armor crumpled instantly, then turned to a molecular mist, as Omega's Laser Cannon sliced through it quickly.

Two more Sentinals rushed in a pincer from the sides, Omega's arm swinging out to angle for the right most Sentinal. The beam once again lashed out, piercing the Sentinal's left shoulder, the massive arm falling off, causing the ground to quake.

Omega was rocked forward as the other Sentinal wrapped it's metal arms around him. The Sentinal was dwarfed still by the taller Omega, but it was soon joined by a second then third. Each of the Decepticon drones weighed Omega Supreme down, till the mighty robot was brought to his knees.

"Victory: Is mine!"

Omega's head spun around, the plasma cannon at the back swinging into place. The Sentinal holding his claw hand never knew what hit it as the full force of a exploding star struck it in the chestplate. The Sentinal robot released Omega's arm, stumbled back, then exploded in a mighty fireball which lit the twilight sky.

The last of the Sentinal Robots converged on the Autobot Guardian, their weapons pouring into the heavy, nigh impenetrable armor of Omega Supreme. With his claw arm free, Omega fought with renewed vigor. The Sentinal holding his cannon arm was gripped tightly, the head unit crushing beneath the power of the Guardian. Plasmic energon leaked out, then erupted as power transfer conduits where severed then exposed.

Defensor finished with the last of the heavy defense platforms, and rushed to assist Omega. Bolts of super hot flame flew from his rifle. Another Robot went down it's body wreathed in flame.




The Decepticons on the ground where being taken apart by the assault forces, those who didn't die from Defensor's assault where being taken apart by the convoy's attacks.

As Breachload was formed, a group of seven Decepticons rushed the mini-Gestault. Decepticon lasers and plasma rounds flew at the towering Autobot.

[Charon]

As Breachload finished merging the thickly armored giant turned to face the seven decepticons closing on them. This style of Breachload looked very different from the gritty and simplistic Breachload that the convoy had seen before. The armor was sleeker, looking almost stronger, and the mammoth war engine had a massive gun on each of it's arms now instead of just one. It spoke softly as the targeting computers filed information on their assailants, "Fools."

The gestault brought his four massive guns to bear with an easy grace of well-oiled machinery. Each gun locked on it's target, and then for a brief moment the world turned an optic-searing white as Breachload fired all four of his gestault-class weapons into the group of Decepticons.

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke fired a burst of his laser carbine into the chest of a drone, dropping it. The warbot had gotten separated from the convoy and was now fighting his way back. A drone flew out of nowhere, tackling into him. The warbot swung his fist, knocking it back and fired at it, filling the space between them with laser energy.

[Dark Silver]

Breachload's cannons glowed brillantly for a moment, before the power erupted forth. One of the Decepticons managed to avoid the outflow of pure energy that could damage Gestault armor, while the other three were incinerated almost instantly, their armor melted away by the intense beam of energy, and the robot forms beneath had no chance.


The battle was coming to a quick close, with the appearence of Breachload on the field, and the work perpitrated by Defensor broke the Decepticon's morale.

One by one, the last remaining six Decepticons, the rest having been termianted by the attacking Autobots, took to the air, those who couldn't fly in alt-mode, flying off in their robot forms.

Meanwhile, the ground shook, as Omega Supreme held the last sentinal robot in the air, his laser cannon smoking. The heavy 60' robotic corpse fell from the grip, onto the ground.

Omega's voice resounded in his monotone way, "Mission: Accomplished."

[LadyTevar]

Stryke fired a burst of his laser carbine into the chest of a drone, dropping it. The warbot had gotten separated from the convoy and was now fighting his way back. A drone flew out of nowhere, tackling into him. The warbot swung his fist, knocking it back and fired at it, filling the space between them with laser energy.

Precise pistol shots headshot the last two drones, clearing the path for Stryke to rejoin the convoy. "Got a little too eager for the fight, BigBot?" Crimson teased him as the Decepticons broke and ran.

[rhoenix]

The last MiG visible to radar was flying at top speed toward the Decepticon base, chased by a relentless, somewhat strange-looking jet. As the Headmaster pilot of the MiG swerved and dove in an attempt to escape this scourge who adapted to and countered her every move, the scourge behind her began to finally begin shooting with its pulse lasers.

A minute later, it was over - the wrecked MiG falling helplessly toward the ground, one wing missing and its engines shot out. Firetrack himself visually tracked the MiG's descent toward the ground as he changed course to meet up with the rest of the Autobot convoy, flying about fifty feet above the ground.

As he reached the others, he smoothly slowed to a stop; his grandiose dramatic stunts he was so famous for (if only because he crashed in so many of them) long ago only conspicuous in their absence. He hovered about a meter above the ground, remaining in his jet form as his passive sensor scans continued regularly. "Well, that was a good warm-up. Do we have time to re-arm before the fun starts again?"

[General Havoc]

Hornet would normally have been turning victory loops in the air at the mere suggestion that Wheeljack would allow him to paint a recognition decal for all the MiGs he had just shot down, but at present, once the last enemy had fallen off the radar, he had something better to do.

Banking around and flying back the way he had come, Hornet's passive sensors picked up a Decepticon energy signature flying away from the battlefield. Applying his afterburner, Hornet blizted across the terrain and caught up with the target, too small at present to be spotted visually or by radar.

An insect.

He reached the rough area that the energy signature was coming from, transformed, and landed, standing back up and looking around.

"Waspinator?" he asked. "Are you there? It's me, Hornet!"

[LadyTevar]

"Hornet, report your position," Crimson radioed, wondering where the little flier had gotten to -This Time-. Hopefully he wasn't on the ground needing rescue.....

[General Havoc]

"I'm uh...," said Hornet back into his radio as he looked around, puzzled for a moment as he checked his GPS map, "I'm in grid Four Twelve. My sensors said that Waspinator went this way, but I don't see him. He should be around here somewhere..."

Hornet sounded like he was looking for a toy, not a Decepticon warrior larger than he was, but it was abundantly clear that Hornet did not anticipate the slightest thing happening to him. After all, Waspinator hadn't hurt him before, and all he wanted to do was make sure the little 'con was okay and convince him to come back with the Autobots, now that the shooting was over.

"Did anybody else see where he went off to?"

[Charon]

Breachload's guns turned towards the fleeing Decepticons and fired off a few more times, attempting to bring them down so they could not give their reports in person. "What we wouldn't give for a 'bot who could jam transmission."

As Firetrack landed with the group Breachload turned to look at the much smaller 'bot. "Negative, shouldn't have wasted missiles on the headmasters in first place. Need to move out again, get to primary objective while the Decepticon's reeling."

Shellshock turned on his comm when he heard Hornet chirping on it. "Hornet, quit looking for the pit-damned War-bot and get back to group."

[rhoenix]

As Firetrack landed with the group Breachload turned to look at the much smaller 'bot. "Negative, shouldn't have wasted missiles on the headmasters in first place. Need to move out again, get to primary objective while the Decepticon's reeling."

Shrugging while hovering a meter above the ground in his jet mode was a bit difficult, but Firetrack somehow managed it. "Acknowledged, Breachload. Awaiting orders."

Meanwhile, he had triangulated Hornet's position through the smaller 'bot's communications, and was currently tracking Hornet's movements. All with passive sensors, of course - it wouldn't do to make the Decepticons more informed than they already were.

[LadyTevar]

Crimson shook her head sadly. "I know we needed the air-support, Stryke, but I'm going to be more worried about Hornet than I am of you. You at least can take care of yourself."

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke chuckled at her. "Don't worry about me, Crim. There aren't any scary, sneaky 'Cons to get me. And Hornet'll do fine."

[LadyTevar]

The red Fembot gave Stryke a quick snug. "Just watch your tailpipe. I like it in one peice."

[Dark Silver]

Hornet landed not fifteen meters from where Waspinator was hovering, in his diminutive insect form. When the small jet-bot landed, Waspinator buzzed closer to him, his voice high pitched, though still identifiably his, "'Lo Jetbot! Waspinator here!"

Waspinator, for his part, was buzzing right in Hornet's face, much like a fly would normally do to a human, never keeping in one place.

This was rather fortunate, as while Waspinator was making a loop above Hornet's head, a beam of charged photons cut through the air.

Waspinator barely had time to shout in pain, mid-transformation to his robot mode, as the body was blown to pieces. Waspinator's head flying straight up into the air....

Streamline walked towards Hornet, the smoking laser pistol in hand. The much taller Autobot sharpshooter holstered his weapon, before transforming into a HumVee, "Your lucky I took him out Hornet, that Decepticon could have slagged you. Get back to your babysitters, the rest of the battalion is already headed to rendezvous."

With that, Streamline rolled out, a cloud of dust coming up in his tracks - in the distance, the sound of military machinery being moved was coming closer...

Half a klik away, Waspinator's head fell to the ground, the red and black robot head looked up into the sky, and muttered to himself "Why Universe always pick on Wazzzzzpinator?"

[General Havoc]

Hornet's beaming smile and waved greeting turned to stunned horror as Waspinator simply exploded right above him, showering him in mech fluid and bits of debris. For several seconds, it was as thought the little Autobot had suffered a segmentation fault. Frozen in horror at what had just happened, his audio processors picking up the horrified scream. It wasn't until Streamline walked over and smugly commented on what had happened that Hornet realized that Waspinator had been shot. The shock was still wearing off, and he could not respond directly yet, but the look on his face was so clear and obvious that there was no mistaking what he would otherwise have said.

The first sign anyone else got was a single radio link Hornet opened up to the others. His voice, auto-modulated by the complex algorithms inside his systems, sounded weak, hurt, shocked, and on the cusp of tears.

"He... he shot him..." he said in a half-daze. "He... k... killed him... for... no reason..."

His voice cracked, and the radio went offline, but back over at the place where Waspinator had just been blown to bits, tears of windshield wiper fluid rolled down Hornet's face, causing streaks in the mess of burnt energon, mech fluid, dirt, and debris that coated the little bot. He flopped down onto the ground, ignoring Streamline's insistence than he return to his 'babysitters', and shut his optics tightly, ignoring whatever return signals might be sent his way for a few moments, until his scanners beeped up a warning.

A Decepticon signal had been detected about half a kilometer away.

... Waspinator's.

Hornet guardedly checked the signal, only to receive the report that it was indeed both legitimate, live, and recent. Despite the blast, despite having been vaporized, Waspinator was still alive... somehow.

He leaped to his feet and transformed into a jet, covering the 500 meters in bare seconds, before shifting back and landing on the ground next to the still-living head of the little Decepticon.

"Waspinator!" he chirped, not sure what to do. Somehow, the insectoid-Decepticon appeared to be still alive, despite his entire body having been vaporized. Lacking any idea of what else to do, Hornet bent down and gently picked up Waspinator's head.

"It's okay," he said. "Wheeljack'll fix you up. You'll be okay."

So it was that Hornet came running back towards where Crimson and Stryke, looking like he had been drenched with motor oil and set alight. He was babbling something semi-incoherently as he ran, tripped twice over the ground he was paying no attention to as he did so and fell sprawling, but always maintained his grip on a large round object, until he finally arrived before Crimson and Stryke and breathlessly begged them for help.

"They shot him!" he yelped to Crimson, though his voice this time was not shocked but frantic. "Streamline shot Waspinator when all he was doing was saying hello to me! I dunno how, but he's still alive, and we gotta help him! He just wanted to give up, and now we gotta fix him so that we can take him back to the base with us, don't we?"

Nothing Hornet was saying made particular sense, but the fact that he was holding Waspinator's still overtly living head lent some weight to his words, and the tears of wiper fluid that cut through the grime and left streaks of clean paint down his face indicated how urgent he felt the situation was.

"If we tell Shellshock that he's our prisoner, then we have to take him back, don't we? He can't hurt anyone now, and he just wanted to get away from the fighting! We've gotta help him!"

[LadyTevar]

Somedays, Crimson was close to understanding why Ironhide hated having Hornet around. The mess he'd made of himself, the senseless babbling, the way he'd brought her a disembodied head of a Insecticon....

"Hornet, calm down. Pause a milicycle, calm your CPU, and then -slowly- explain." As the teenybot hopefully took her instructions to heart, she eyed the head he carried so protectively. There was no way that Decepticon could be funct....

"Ooooooooo! Lovely Lady-Bot!" Waspinator's head exclaimed, the multifaceted eyes looking over Crimson's chassis.

... tional..? The logic glitch made Crimson's head twitch slightly as she stuttered. "He.... he.... he functions?!?!?"

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke simply stared dumbfounded at Hornet as he brought the head to them. The warbot leaned over to Crim. "Should, should I kill it?" He asked, nowhere sure what to do.

"Ooooooooo! Lovely Lady-Bot!" Waspinator's head exclaimed, the multifaceted eyes looking over Crimson's chassis.

He scowled. "Hey, that's my Lady-Bot you're ogling, you Decepticreep!" Stryke said before suddenly feeling very foolish for getting angry about the disembodied head of a small Decepticon commenting about Crimson.

[General Havoc]

Hornet was in no condition to pause a millisecond and calm his CPU. All he could think of was that Waspinator probably needed immediate repairs, and his lasercore, not exactly placid under normal circumstances anyway, was nearly frantic. Fortunately, it was Waspinator himself who took the opportunity to reveal that he was both alive and apparently intact.

Hornet nearly dropped the head of the little bot in surprise, and as it stood he jumped back a pace or two with a soft yelp. It wasn't until Stryke spoke up that Hornet reacted again.

"No!" he exclaimed at the suggestion that Stryke should kill Waspinator. "He just wants to get away from being killed! He didn't hurt me even when he could have, and he's only all smashed up because Streamline blew him up just for saying hello to me! We can't kill him!"

[Dark Silver]

While Hornet discussed the future of Waspinator's head, at the other end of the Base, Omega Supreme was disposing of the last bit of wreckage from the Sentinal Robots which used to stand guard.

"Operation: successful" he spoke in his monotone, booming voice.

"Yeah, it was.....but the loss of life...." the Protectobot Medic First Aid said, moving the burned out hulk of a Decepticon.

"War: Hell." Was Omega's simple reply.

With those words spoken, and the bulk of the debris removed to a large pile for scavenging, Omega transformed. His massive body seperated, his arms linking together to form a rocket, the great bulk of his body changing configurations into a tank, not dissimilar to the human's new Main Heavy Battle Tanks, patrolling on a yellow road which formed about it. Several wicked looking weapons emplacements bristled upon the launch-base of the rocket.

"Mission: Guard and patrol. Active."

"Wish it was so easy for all of us Omega..." First Aid spoke, patting the flank of Omega's tank, before it rolled it of reach on the track.

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

Meanwhile, several kilometers away, Rodimus and the battallion moved towards the former Decepticon base. The Autobots were hampered in movements by the human forces that accompanied them, but they didn't seem disgruntled. Rodimus, planning ahead, had sent other teams along the border, and into Decepticon Territory, hoping to clear a channel of attack straight into the heart of Megatron's Space-port.

There would be no rest for them soon. After the battallion had a chance to rest and recharge, they would be on the move again. The humans had a term for the type of strike he was using - though with radically smaller numbers then they used over half a century ago - Blitzkrieg.

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

First Aid had left Omega Supreme, and was going to check on the rest of the 'Bots. The battle had been furious, and while Omega's armor was designed to take that kind of punishment, and Defensor had his force field, the other mech's weren't so lucky.

The first ones he came across where Stryke, Crimson, and Hornet. First Aid chuckled to himself, if he had a mouth instead of a blank plate there, he'd have been smiling, when he saw Hornet. First Aid was one of the few Autobots who honestly understood what Wheeljack was trying to do when he built Hornet, and First Aid supported it.

"Hey guys, every Mech ok here," he asked. First Aid's voice had that calm reassuring quality to it, that if he was a human doctor, they would say he has a excellent bedside manner. "Hornet, you look like you got sent through the Krystanian Mud Slime Pits."

Waspinator, for his part, was still oogling Crimson, and was about to answer Stryke with a rude comment, when First Aid walked up. "Jet-bot covered in Wazzzzzzpinator's fluids!" he helpfully answered to First Aid's statement.

[Charon]

Breachload stalked up to the group and looked them over quickly. "We seem to be fine here First Aid. We think Firetrack took a missile to the canopy though."

When the head of Waspinator spoke the giant 'bot slowly turned his head towards the head that had spoken. "Well, that's an interesting trick."

Breachload looked to Hornet. "We want a damn good explanation for this one Hornet."

[LadyTevar]

Crimson's gears were grinding, as she could almost feel the Insecticon scanning her. "First Aid, Hornet made a friend," she said with sacarine sweetness. "Hornet seems to think we've time to fix this 'Con up and take him back to base as a prisoner."

From what Crimson knew of the mission, that time was lacking. Hit the base, plow their way through, keep going... that was her understanding of the mission. "However, Hornet did get hit by a drone or two," she added, looking up at First Aid meaningfully. "Can you check him over?"

Absently she wondered if Breachload would just use the head for new ammo. It was the right size....

(Editted, didn't see Breachload's post )

[rhoenix]

Breachload stalked up to the group and looked them over quickly. "We seem to be fine here First Aid. We think Firetrack took a missile to the canopy though."

By tilting one direction and then another with small movements of his anti-gravity engines, Firetrack again somehow managed to shrug while in his jet form. "It looks worse than it is. I can get it repaired when we have the leisure time for cosmetic damage."

He paused, and then chuckled. "However - First Aid, if you're packing any replacement missiles or rockets for reloads, I'd be very interested."

When he wasn't speaking, his passive sensors were sweeping over the area, as well as Waspinator's now-separate head. Hornet was a good 'bot, and Firetrack supported Wheeljack for doing what he did. However, he tried not to think about how this situation with Hornet and Waspinator almost seemed to be the human myth of Pandora's Box all over again.