Transformers: World War II

[General Havoc]

"Oh scrap..."

Cavalier had expected Onslaught to go stampeding by him, perhaps even giving him a free shot at his unarmored (less armored anyway) rear. As it happened however, Onslaught jackknifed himself and went crashing into Cavalier at an unfortunate rate of speed.

And the next thing Cavalier knew, he was laying in the ruins of a copse of trees some quarter mile away.

Well... he'd wanted Onslaught angry...

Muttering to himself, Cavalier stood back up, ignoring the white phosphorus residue that was running off of him, setting the nearby fallen trees alight. Overload was still a considerable distance away, but plainly visible, having resumed his humanoid form and pulled out a rifle that promised, just based on the size, to be bad news for all concerned.

Any sane Autobot would have called for help. Cavalier just decided that was his first target.

He rose to one knee, extending his right arm and steadying it with his left, sighting down the barrel with his targeting scanners locked onto Onslaught's enormous rifle. Such at least was the plan, but something, either the blow he had taken or some interference, was preventing him from getting a clean lock. He dismissed them without a thought and cited by optic, not even bothering to read his own damage reports.

Cavalier slammed an armor piercing shell into his gun and fired, aiming for the center of Onslaught's rifle, his autoreload systems ejecting the case and pushing in another round even before he could determine what effect the first one had.

[Charon]

Hunter let out a laugh that sounded like a hyena as the explosion lit up the sky and tore through the German position and their Artillery cannons. By then practically the last of the German resistance shattered and they were more interested in running than fighting now. Once the roar of explosions finally died out, he heard another loud crash and perked his head up in time to see Cavalier sent flying by what he could only assume was a Decepticon. Picking up his tommy gun Hunter leapt the tree he'd used as cover and ran for the nearest Artillery tank that hadn't been demolished by the explosion or any of the secondary explosions. A quick look showed that it wasn't loaded though and he cursed silently as he ran to the next Artillery tank, after having to gun down one German that had looked like he was about to fight.

A surviving machine gun nest turned as he rounded the corner of a tipped over tank and Hunter dived back under cover just as they opened fire. Hunter took a few deep breaths before climbing up on the rolled over tank, getting a good look at the gun and it's crew. He pulled the pin on a grenade and threw it into the hole, sliding back down to the ground as it went off and killed everyone inside. Hunter kept moving, barely glancing at an artillery tank that had taken a shell directly to the gun. The wreck was spread across the ground.

Finally, the Joe found something with promise. Looking around to make certain no one was sneaking up on him or preparing to gun him down, the Joe hopped up on the tank and slipped into the crew chamber. He nodded as he noticed that it was loaded and ready to fire. Popping back out he slipped into the driver's seat and started to turn it to get a clear shot on the Decepticon.

[Cynical Cat]

Deathstrike lumbered forward, shrouded in smoke. Phosphorus was widely used in human smoke munitions and for good reason. The burning Decepticon;s form was heavily obscured by the vapors.

A 37mm antitank round hit him in low on the left side of his back, an area armoured by steel-ceramic composite constructed by the Canadians under his direction. The angle was poor and the round glanced off as Deathstrike staggered forward. Another shot missed as whizzed by or glanced off Deathstrike's form. A third antitank round hit cracked Cybertronian maximal plate and flattened itself. A fourth hit a weaker, human constructed armour, but still failed to penetrate.

Deathstrike dispassionately decided he needed to return fire. An x-ray laser was a limited antipersonal weapon as the energetic x-rays tended to overpenetrate. An IR or microwave laser was vastly superior for killing organics. He would have to make do. At least organics were fragile and unarmoured.

He turned towards the antitank gun. Under other circumstances he would have been able to trace and calculate the gun's location based on the projectile's flight path, but his systems were buggy because of the heat. Direct visual confirmation was required. Not that his optics were working at one hundred percent either.

Muzzle flash. A direct hit dead center, which was one of the worst places they could have chosen. Of course he had repositioned his remaining pieces of serviceable armour to maximize protection of his vitals. He wasn't a fool. And the 37mm was a lousy gun. The 40mm Bofors had twenty five percent more kinetic energy, a higher rate of fire, and better armour penetrating ammo. Of course, the eighty-eight was even more fearsome.

He had the solution. He fired, brief pulses. The gun fell silent. His laser was back into the red. No matter. The phosphorus was burning off and the Germans were fleeing from him. He half turned and lumbered back towards Brawl. The Combaticon already had his hands full with Overload. The perfect time to launch an attack from the flank.

[LadyTevar]

Groggily Pathfinder rose to his feet, his audio receptors still offline from the sonic beating they'd received. "I really. Really. hate sonic weapons," the Autobot muttered to himself at a much louder volume than he realized. He was covered in soil, grass, wood, and other things he didn't want to think about at the moment. In the corners of his optics, his repair circuits were detailing all the damage done -- nothing to put him out of the fight, but enough that Pathfinder would be wise to stay out of close-range combat. His armor had taken a beating.

With this in mind, Pathfinder looked over the battlefield to check the sitrep. It looked good -- Germans fleeing, explosions raging, Deathstrike blasting something, Onslaught tossing Cavalier like a puppet...

"Wow... Good distance on that one," Pathfinder absently noted as Cavalier hit the tree. Overload, however, nearly outdid it by throwing Blitzwing into Swindle and sending both of them flying. "Oohhh.. *that's* gonna leave dents," Pathfinder said with a huge grin. He was going to have to remember to tease Swindle about that one next time they met.

However, Brawl was still up and causing a problem, charging Overload like a lugnut. The problem with Brawl was he made such a huge moving target, and Pathfinder owed him one. Using the Mark-One Optic Sensor, the Autobot aimed his shoulder cannon and fired two shells into Brawl's path, one towards his mid-section, the other towards his legs. Even if it didn't hit Brawl's legs, a shell detonating in the ground at his feet would throw off his gyros and balance. Overload should be able to use that to his advantage.

[SirNitram]

Overload grunted as he found himself under fire from Brawl. Thank the powers he was a bad shot at this range, especially under scrambling. Running wouldn't help the aim either. The massive Autobot turned and planted his feet, blasting a series of scrambling pulses back. If any hit, it'd ruin Brawl's day. More likely, it'd just slow him down as he was forced to avoid fire.

[Dark Silver]

Cavalier succeeded in doing exactly what he set out to do. Get Onslaught angry. Infact, the fact that Cavalier's shot went wide of Onslaught by the time the towering Combaticon Leader did little to ease the anger any.

In fact, it only stoked his ire more.

The ground shook with every one of the rapidly increasing strides of Onslaught, and while his sensors screamed jamming, Onslaught still layed out a path of withering fire at Cavalier. Some shots fired wide, some few hit.

But it was enough to also make Cavalier's shots go wide, and between shots, Onslaught had closed the distance.

His metal-shod fist struck at Cavalier's head, as the other, freeded suddenly of the weapon which disappeared into subspace, gripped the barrel of Cavalier's gun, and forced it aside. A second punch stopped just short, instead of slamming into Cavalier's head, the hand opened wide, and grabbed on, metal fingers digging into metal head.

Onslaught lifted Cavalier up just then, holding the Autobot in mid air as if a rag doll, and squeezed. The metal of Cavalier's cannon groaned and deformed ever so slightly, as Onslaught's rage fueled his attack.

"Pathetic Autobot! Do yo know what you have wrought! I will crush the very SPARK from you!"

This was before the sound of Brawl's cry of pain over the TacCom.

Onslaught hurled Cavalier away, as Onslaught began to stride across the battlefield. To Onslaught's sensors, he saw Brawl go down, the ground exploding under the Combaticon tank, and the warrior himself flung backwards, sparks crackling from his torso and legs.

Onslaught transformed into his vehicle mode, wheels sinking into the ground half a meter, as the engine revved, and and Onslaught was enroute to retreive his injured compatriot.

[Cynical Cat]

The fires shrouding Deathstrike slowly died. One of his heat exchangers failed from overwork, but the others continued to function and without his laser firing or his thrusters operating his heat burden was well within their capability to handle. His temperature dropped and his motivator systems resumed functioning at full capability. This would have been more impressive if so many of them weren't kludged together repairs and replacements.

His sensors were still a mess, courtesy of Overload not the heat. As his missile racks were offline and his laser was still cooling that was actually favorable. He had fallen far to reach this point. He was Deathstrike and now having limited targeting abilities was a favorable condition. He was a shadow of his true self.

He stomped forward. His left arm was useless, his weapons were offline. He still had one arm. Brawl was just ahead and would already have his hands full with Overload. It wouldn't take much to insure that the big Autobot won the fight.

There was a dip and then a rise in front of it. He crossed the dip with long, powerful strides and began rising up to see Onslaught cross in front of him in vehicle form. He was close and his primary sensors wouldn't be focused on him. With Overload's jamming he might not have seen him at all!

Deathstrike sprinted ahead. The soft ground slowed the big Combaticon just enough for Deathstrike to close the distance. Onslaught was powerful, not fast and Deathstrike had surprise on his side. He slammed into the huge missile truck, causing the vehicle to rock up and tilt away from him. Deathstrike pushed Onslaught up with his right hand and kicked the Combaticon's undercarriage with all of his might. Metal deformed under the force of the blow.

He pulled back his leg to strike again. He had no illusions about how hand to hand combat with Onslaught would go. He had to hammer the Combaticon leader hard before he transformed into robot mode and beat Deathstrike into scrap metal.

[Charon]

Hunter was just setting up his shot when another Autobot, the one that had just flown in, spoiled his shot. "God damn son of a scrap heap!"

Hunter tried to get the radio working to tell the Autobot to get the hell out of the way, but all he got for his troubles was static and fuzz. "Dammit dammit dammit dammit."

All the Joe could do was continually reposition the tank, hoping that he would get a clear shot on his target before someone got killed.

[LadyTevar]

Onslaught in vehicle form was a smaller target than Brawl, so Pathfinder had a harder time using the Mark-1 Optic Sensor to pick him out. "Overload! Can you drop the Scrambler? I Can't Aim Worth SLAG!" the lighter 'bot yelled, his Audio still in self-repair from Brawl's sonic attack.

Still, Pathfinder fired a couple shells in front of Onslaught, just in case. Even if they didn't hit, they'd make the Decepticon think twice. Right?

[General Havoc]

Frankly put, Cavalier felt that he'd gotten off easy. Sure, his cannon was deformed and thus useless, his head had gotten clobbered and dented, and he'd been thrown into something again, probably another strand of trees, but given that he'd pissed Onslaught off and gotten into a fistfight with him, he figured that he should expect to get at least that much punishment at minimum.

Of course, in tossing him away, Onslaught had refocused his attention on someone else, and that just wouldn't do. Cavalier wasn't insane enough to think that he could defeat Onslaught single-handedly (though a bot could always dream), but merely diverting Onslaught's attention for a while was enough to completely cut the heart out of the German attack, or what was left of it.

Besides, whatever Onslaught was preparing to do was likely a bad time for all concerned.

He scrambled back to his feet and raced after Onslaught. His cannon was useless, his treads snapped, and he could not fire his rockets in robotic form, but he charged ahead anyway, blasting at anything German and nearby with his laser blaster as he ran.

If nothing else, he would make more of a mess.

[SirNitram]

A few moments later, the scrambling fell away. The Cybertronian sensors could see again.

For Onslaught, the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, was an oncoming train.

Overload couldn't hit full speed without rails, but he was still pretty fast. More importantly, his sheer mass, coupled with the energized front, meant that impact would not favor the Combaticon.

[Cynical Cat]

Deathstrike, unlike Onslaught, had a very good view of the onrushing Autobot. He dived to the side.

[LadyTevar]

Pathfinder also had a great view of Overload, from the safety of behind. "WoooooooHOO! Go OVERLOAD!" he shouted, still mostly deaf from the sonic beating.

[Dark Silver]

And as such, the tide of war was coming to a grinding halt.

Where as Onslaught's previous plan was masterful and will ordered, his enemies, as all to often happened, threw his plans into chaos. His human soldiers were routed and had mostly cleared the battlefield, the Autobots and their allies had defeated his Combaticons and Blitzwing, and in his anger, Onslaught allowed himself to become flanked, grappled, and now...

Now he was about to be hit dead on with a Autobot train.

In a moment of decision, Onslaught transformed, switching from vehicle to robot mode, even as the traitorous Deathstrike kicked him.

"I will not be denied!" Onslaught shouted, and while Overload bore down on him, Onslaught fired his weapon.

Laser bolts, each as hot as the fires of the Sun, struck, some reflected off of Overload's energized cowcatcher, some hit the train's "boiler stack" and body, and the last missed completely as Overload smashed into Onslaught.

The Combaticon leader has no dreams he would win the confrontation, as powerful and well armoured as he was, he could not taken on a entire Autobot strike force...


The impact smashed into Onslaught, flinging the Combaticon away, flipping head over feet through the air. By the time Onslaught landed, mech fluid leaked from the impact site, the armor ruined and broken.

During this, Brawl had gone down, but not into stasis lock. He wasn't a stupid warrior, and when the Autobot's attention was turned, had made his way off the battlefield.

When Onslaught's massive form slammed int the ground, Brawl was there, as was the damaged Swindle, helping their leader backto his feet, and pulling him away from the field of battle.

The last three operation Combaticons didn't look back, taking to the air on their own boosters, and flying away.

The Battle was over.

[Cynical Cat]

"Well struck," Deathstrike said to Overload. The Decepticon regained and swiveled his head toward the departing Combaticons. Victory had been achieved. Pursuit and liquidation was inadvisable at this time. His mind processed data.

Of his available options, salvage retrieval was rated the highest priority. The Decepticon turned back into the fog and stomped methodically towards the projected impact points of the Combaticons severed limbs. He had suffered heavy damage. Battered Cybertronian parts were his best option.

[LadyTevar]

"Where are -you- going, Deathstrike?" Pathfinder asked, still partially deaf and placing definite emphasis on the pronoun.

[Cynical Cat]

"To collect the parts I shot off the Combaticons," the Decepticon warrior replied without breaking stride. "Even in their damaged condition I should be able to use their components to repair the damage I have sustained and replace jury rigged parts."

[Charon]

Hunter cursed again as Onslaught turned tail and ran before he could get turned around to fire.

"I was really looking forward to blowing him up too..."

Hopping down from the artillery tank, Hunter made his way back to base.

[SirNitram]

Overload remained in vehicle mode, groaning. "I always win those fights, but by the Allspark, do I feel it afterwards." The elder Autobot slowly transformed, following Deathstryke. "I got my gear for salvage duty. Better stock up on all the good metal we can." He commented to himself the second half. "Hey! Fresh meat! You're good enough to fight, you're good enough to salvage!"

[Cynical Cat]

Deathstrike strode through the battlefield, a metal titan bestriding the Earth. Few chose to resist him. The Germans knew very well how tough their Decepticon allies were and they had been driven from the field. Twice he raised his laser and fired. The x-ray laser carved ionized tracks through the air, leaving intense bars of violet and white light in its wake. Flesh and steel were scorched into lifeless ruin by the strikes.

The German machines were slow, fragile, half blind, and clumsy compared to the Decepticon warrior. They were wise to abandon the field rather than face him. The tide of battle flowed around him as Americans took advantage of his firepower and dominance to advance.

He found the first limb half embedded in the earth. The exterior was dented and battered, but it would serve. The second limb took him longer. His memory banks held the location of its fall, but their were a number of unpredictable factors that influenced where it would land. He only discovered it by widening his search pattern.

His prizes now in his possession, Deathstrike headed back to base.

[LadyTevar]

"You say that just waking up from downtime, Overload," Pathfinder replied, rolling his eyes. His audio processors were coming back online, and he was catching some of what was being said around him.

Unfortunately, he was also finding out what he'd landed and rolled in, as he pulled a mangled twisted bit of flesh that used to be a leg out of his elbow actuators.
"Oh. oh.... scrap me..." he muttered, looking down at himself. "Maybe I should go.. wash down... Before the humans see this..."

[General Havoc]

"Yeah," said Cavalier, "that's right! Run, you miserable bastards! You run. And you better hope you can run faster than me!"

He felt great.

His arm was mangled, dents smashed into his back and side. His tread was broken, his cannon warped out of alignment, and Onslaught had carved finger grooves into the top of his head (the bastard). But none of that mattered right now. He didn't even notice the pain or the alerts of his damaged systems. All he felt was the warm glow of victory.

Limping slightly, covered in dirt and debris and burnt engine oil, Cavalier nevertheless had a big grin on his face as he walked towards the other Autobots. All of them had various forms of damage visible on their frames, but all of them, best he could tell, were still alive.

"Well," he said with a broad grin on his face. "That was bracing!"

[Charon]

Hunter had made his way back to base. The Autobots were already beginning to celebrate their victory, and a hell of a victory it had been.

Hunter was congratulating the rest of the Joes on the victory, and already taking stock of who hadn't survived the first encounter. As Hunter got his first look at Cavalier he could only shake his head.

"Damn they're resilient sons of bitches..."

[General Havoc]

Despite the damage he'd sustained, there was nothing wrong with Cavalier's hearing.

"What, this?" he asked, gesturing down at his various battle injuries. "Pits," he said. "I've had much worse from better fighters than these scrap-eating cons. If you think this is bad, you should see the other guy."

Cavalier was in a jubilant mood. Not even the sight of Deathstrike could bring him down. He'd done precisely what he had intended to do, crush the German flank all by himself, tear the heart out of their collumn, and tangle with the biggest, meanest Decepticon bastards to be found. A little bit of structural damage and a warped weapon system was a small price to pay. He was honestly surprised to still find himself with all four limbs.

"How'd yours do?" he asked Hunter.

[LadyTevar]

Pathfinder was creeping in, very unlike his usual self. It was surprising how stealthy a giant robot could be when they worked at it. Cavalier could boast as much as he wanted, but Pathfinder was feeling very dirty and nearly sick to his spark-housing. If what he'd seen caught in his arm joint was anything to go by, there had been several humans nearby when Brawl sent him flying.

Pathfinder could only hope the humans had been dead before he landed on them. As it was, he simply wanted to take a bath to get all the mud, grass, and human goo off him, especially before any of the Joes saw him.

It pained him to think one of the Joes might.....
Pathfinder shook his head violently to get that thought out of his mind. By the Maker, these humans were so ... Fragile!