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Refinery Complex 3 – Warehouses

Slag continued his charge towards Snarl with no signs of stopping. He either couldn’t stop or wouldn’t. It didn’t matter to Snarl which was the case anymore. The desert warrior had to do something to stop his comrade before he injuried Kup or another Autobot. Snarl planted both feet firmly on the ground and leaned forward slightly. Bracing for impact, Snarl brought both hands up in front of him. As Slag was about the strike him, Snarl grabbed the ends of both horns in each hand and then held on as tight as he could as the mechanical triceratops plowed into him, easily pushing Snarl backwards. The force of Slag’s charge was not unexpected. Snarl was well aware of his friend’s strength and speed. “Slag! Stop! Me, Snarl not enemy, either! Fight ‘cons, not us!” Snarl pleaded with his comrade as Slag continued pushing him backwards. Snarl’s feet scraped across the ground, carving deep trenches as they went. He hoped to slow Slag down, but it didn’t seem to be working. This not end well for me, Snarl thought, still trying to hold on to Slag’s horns and not get stabbed at the same time. "Ironhide! Sludge! Someone help!"

Nearby

Smokescreen tried to dodge the new round of laserfire from Carnage, but without much success. One blast pierced through his left wing while another struck his forearm, knocking his weapon out of his hand. Smokey watched as his rifle came to rest off to his right side a short distance away. Thinking fast, he frantically ran and took a diving leap towards his gun as more lasers streaked by him. Landing on his front, the diversionary tactician skidded across the ground, grabbing his rifle as he slid by. He then quickly rolled over onto his back and sat up. “Nice try, sweetheart!” Smokescreen said, firing more shots at Carnage.

Refinery Complex 3 – Warehouses

Carange, for once, had a plan and was not acting on improv. she had expected Smokescreen would go for his rifle, so she flew at him to dodge. One shot did catch her on the shoulder, but she just shrugged it off. She was too caught up in the rush of the battle to feel pain. Of course, when it was over, it would hurt like the pit, but that would be later. Moving close enough, she brought her balde up at Smokescreen's wrist, trining to immobilize the hand, while simultaneously firing her laser at his feet, as to trip him up. Dodge this.

Refinery Complex 3 – Warehouses

Smokescreen quickly got to his feet as Carnage rushed towards him, blade drawn and lasers firing. He pulled his shooting arm back as her blade grazed his wrist, causing only a surface scratch. It wasn’t deep but it stung like a frag. Smokey then took a big leap back and up to avoid her lasers striking his feet and landed on top of a crate. Without hesitation, he jumped forward, propelling himself over Carnage’s head and landing right behind her. Smokescreen turned and fired several more shots directly at the femme Sweep's back.

Refinery Complex 3 - Warehouses

"Snap out of it, you overgrown lizard!" Kup hollered at Slag as the triceratops struggled with his own Dinobot brother, Snarl. Whatever 'it' is...Slag's a nasty customer, but he's not one to charge blindly at his own allies in the middle of a pitched battle! Kup glanced around the battlefield, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Other than the dozens of weird new Decepticon drones, that is. His optics scanning, he very nearly did a double-take as he saw Mindwipe. Mindwipe. That's the explanation. A cold rage bubbled up in Kup's spark chamber. He called out to Snarl.

"Keep Slag yoked up for another minute or two. I'm gonna go deal with the root of our little problem!" The old-timer moved off from his position, using concealment and cover until he was close enough.

"You," he snarled as he sprinted toward the bat-'Con's position, firing as he went to force Mindwipe to dodge or get hit by acidic laser fire. "I'm gettin' real tired of your little games!"

Once close enough, Kup let his ancient yet very powerful leg actuators coil and then expand, launching him into a flying tackle aimed at the hypnotist. He aimed to grab a leg or wing and drag the Decepticon to the ground, where the real fun could begin.



Refinery Complex 3 - Main Pumps

"Fear never, here are we!" Weirdwolf snarled as he and Skullcruncher arrived at the Pumps. "Protection yours are we work yours whilst complete you."

Transforming into robot mode, the yellow, silver, and white Decepticon tracker found a suitable bit of cover and silently hoped that some of the Autobot interlopers would find their way to the Pumps so that he and Skullcruncher might have a bit of fun.

Refinery Complex 3 - Warehouses - Mindwipe

Had the decrepit relic refrained from such prosaic declarations of vengeance, his skill alone might have been enough to end this rematch before it began. However, fortunately for Mindwipe, Kup's fury made him both foolish and loud. The Autobot had given himself away, and lacking the element of surprise, the shrikebat's agility was more than sufficient to turn matters to his advantage.

Kup impacted with the hypnotist as he had intended, but it was not he that secured a grip. Within astroseconds, the veteran learned the error of underestimating the commando's strength. Razor-edged talons dug furrows into chipped paint and thick, tough armor. No real damage was done, but Kup was well and truly in the apostate's grip. The shrikebat bared his fangs hungrily, snapping at his opponent's face.

"We meet again...old friend. Yes! Perhaps...for the last time?"

Though his strength was sufficient to keep them airborne, his prey's struggles were quickly making his flight path erratic. A few astroseconds of attention turned towards course correction cost him his advantage as the tough old mech secured a grip of his own.

"I shall enjoy draining your fuel pump...just as much as I did bending your feeble mind. Yes!"

Above Refinery Complex 3 - Thunderwing

The Lord of Tyrest seethed as he received Bugly's transmission. Had he not issued an order? Still, as he calmed somewhat, he had to admit that the strategist had at least displayed some measure of decorum by bringing his objection directly to him, rather than making a scene in front of the rank and file.

Nonetheless, now was not the time for divisiveness in the ranks. They walked a razor's edge between triumph and calamity this day, and only the utmost caution would provide them with a satisfactory outcome.

Thankfully, Clench not only demonstrated better sense, but illustrated it quite adequately as well. Furthermore, it seemed the former Champion had a feasible plan.

>>"Make it so, Clench."<< the Valckastan transmitted on the Command frequency. >>"Retask whatever forces necessary to..."<< The warlord stopped mid-sentence as he was streamed a data packet from the command center.

>>"A large unidentified aircraft just breached our airspace,"<< he informed Clench and Bugly. >>" Its trajectory put its point of origin deep in Iacon. The situation is escalating."<< Opening another frequency, Thunderwing contacted the Sweep Commander.>>"Scourge, this is Thunderwing. We have Autobot reinforcements inbound from Iacon. Take a few of your Sweeps and intercept them. Coordinates as follows. Over."<<

Though it galled him to do so, Thunderwing opened a secure channel to Kaon.

>>"Thunderwing to High Command. We are under attack by the LSC. Grimlock's unit is pinned down, but additional Autobot forces are en route from Iacon. Request reinforcements. Please advise."<<

Near Refinery Complex 3

>>But Lord Thunderwing...of course.<< Scourge wasn't happy with this new development. It denied him the oppurtunity to show Thunderwing and all the other Decepticons that the Sweeps could pull this situation out of the Pit, but he wasn't stupid enough to ignore this new threat either. He altered course away from intercepting Grimlock, and went for the open sky, angling around to the north.

>>Discord, Scraplet, you might feel better taking on some new Autobots, seeing as the LSC give you such pause for processing. We'll rendevous with the border patrol and intercept....What is all this static?? I can't contact the drones! Gah, cursed Autobots! Got to get clear...<<<

Warehouses

"Me Slag no need friends!! Me Slag get job done myself!!!" Snarl had managed to take Slag's charge head-on and come out unharmed, something few Autobots could do, but the flamethrower Dynobot was still moving forward. He wasn't sure why though: He vaguely recalled wanting to punch Kups head off for some reason, but Snarl was in his way and that was what was the issue right now.
Still stuck in a semi-suicidal attack program, another wing of Sweep Drones swooped in down towards the LSC. Slag saw them closing in. Oily distractions!!! I don't have time for useless scrap like this!
"You Snarl want us fight 'Cons together? FINE!!" With a lurch of his massive head, Slag aimed to toss his Dynobot ally right into the oncoming drone formation. He knew his grumpy buddy wouldn't be too badly hurt by such antics, but mainly Slag needed space to collect his thoughts and figure out who he was most angry with.

Refinery Complex 3 - Warehouses

Slag's response to his attack was not entirely surprising but impressive nonetheless. A huge crate was thrown towards him and the Master of Metalikato transformed only in the nick of time... rolling away as the massive object crashed into the ground.

For a moment his gaze moved towards Carnage. Bludgeon then saw Slag charge of... towards an Autobot?

Refinery Complex 3 – Warehouses

Carnage ducked Smokescreens lasers and responded to her master. <<The interefernce is the result of the autobot Smokescreen. I'm working on taking him down, but I don't know how much it'll do for the debris causing the jamming.>> She turned back to him. Time to show no mercy. She opened fire at Smokescreen, hoping to push him back into cover.

Orbit above Tagan

For the first time, Blast-off noticed the dbris feild. He decided that it would have to go, the hard way. Relaoading his rifle, he blasted at the debris cloud, puncing laser-sized holes in it, the bullets raining down on those below.

Refinery Complex 3 – Warehouses
carnage noticed the breakups and holes in the feild first. Then she noticed the lasers straeking down form the sky. Continuing firing, she moved out of each shot's way.

Refinery Complex 3 - Main Pumps

Clench took a moment to calculate whether he had any chance to do the same to the incoming Autobot ship that he had done earlier to the Dauntless but had to quickly to fortfeit that option. The incoming Autobot vessel was larger and better protected than the Dauntless and it was approaching from impossible angle to cause enough damage to it before it would already be landing.

>>"I will do what I can."<< Clench replied to Thunderwing. He didn't bother to tell the warlord that the situation was not looking good, for he had no doubt Thunderwing realized it himself. >>"And Bugly... put at least that slaggin' shell of yours into use instead of just standing there."<<

Given how the Decepticons on hand were all more or less busy with the Lightning Strike Coalition and the incoming Autobot reinforcements, Clench didn't really have a large list of options to go through when trying to fulfill Thunderwing's orders. Still he had to break some of the Decepticons from their current engagements. >>"Onslaught! I need you and your boys between the Autobots and the refinery complex 3 main pumps now! We can't let the slaggers get to the Constructicons. Your Combaticons and my boys should have enough firepower to keep the Autobots from trying to advance into that direction."<<

There was also one more issue pressing the former gladiator's mind. >>"Roadblock! Where the slag are you?!"<<

Near Refinery 3

Grimlock blasted another one of the drones apart while a slash of his sword cleaved another one in two. The detonation of the shuttle had forced the Decepticons to back off a bit, but they seemed to be ignoring him for the most part and focusing on the path between him and the refinery. Apparently they had caught on to their plan. That was making things a bit more difficult but it seemed most of his team had already made it inside the refinery. Now he just had to run the gauntlet himself.

His thoughts were torn back to the battle at hand as he felt sharp talons sinking into the armor on his back. It hurt, but the Dinobot commander had felt worse. His thick armor protected him from taking damage. He whipped around with his sword, slashing at the attacking Rage. “How many of you Megatron ordered built before he realize how weak you all are. Me fought practice drones tougher than you.” As he spoke he continued to move closer to the refinery. He was nearly to the opening in the warehouse wall that had been made earlier. Hopefully fighting one of these things at close range would force the rest of them to cut down their fire for fear of hitting one of their own. Of course, counting on a Decepticon to do something decent was always a gamble.

*

Refinery Complex 3 - Main Pumps

Skullcruncher wasn’t as talkative as Weirdwolf was, but he made his presence known just as well. Moving to some low lying bit of cover the swamp warrior transformed into his beast mode. As he settled in he promptly began grinding his teeth, generating a lout sound similar to a saw as his sharp fangs grated against each other. He was getting quite hungry, and he was craving Autobot for dinner.

Dauntless Crash Site - Swoop

Not only had the no good shipwrecker evaded his missiles, she was sassing him. Un-fraggin-believable! But something wasn't right. Swoop recognized this Seeker from somewhere, even though he was sure he'd never seen that weird chromed hull before. But the voice was familiar.

Grimlock ordered a fall back to the refinery. Good idea, but thanks to his own stupidity, there were now a lot of Cons between the smallest Dinobot and his buddies. The Shiny femme transformed, drawing an energon sword. Upon seeing her face, and those odd turquoise optics, the pieces fell into place.

"Silverstrike?!" Swoop was dumbfounded. Transforming, the bombardier and his opponent faced one another, their thrusters carrying them in slow circles. "You're a Decepticon now? Me Swoop shoulda figured. You Valckastans are all the same." The pilot drew his thermal sword and laser from subspace.

"But at least you all die the same, too." Swoop launched himself forward, leading with his sword. Silver had been a pal once. But that was a long time ago. Now, she was the enemy, and she was in the way.

The glitch was going down.

Dauntless Crash Site

Macabre was pleased that the Sweep drones had performed admirably, but Scourge was wise to pull them out now. The signal jamming from Smokescreen made it difficult to communicate instructions to the drones so Macabre was forced to use the manual override on his two remaining drones. With a short jolt of electricity to the central processor of each, they were deactivated.

<<Master Scourge. My done units have... disengaged from combat. I will head to the refinery to... remove any Autobot infestation.>>

Macabre's skills seemed suitable for such a situation. He would be able to deactivate any Autobots just as he did to the drones, and there would be little chance of him causing an explosion. Let the lesser Decepticon troops look after the open combat. Chasing down his quarry in close confines was a much more appealing challenge for a hunter of his design.

Transforming to his hovercraft mode, he set off to the refinery scanning the interior as best he could. Unfortunately, his scanner picked up nothing due to the interference. Very well. A hunter has many ways of tracking a foe. Perhaps I will have to flush them out.


--------



Approaching Dauntless Crash Site

Scattershot opened a comm-link in reply to Bravo's question.

<<Yeah I was there. The 'Cons popped up like rust spots, and took us out pretty quick. I owe them one. With Prime on his way, we'll flush them out for sure.>>

Hoping that his determination would rub off a little on the minibot, Scattershot flew on towards the Heights. With the damage Bravo had suffered already, there was considerable risk of losing him in combat. Scattershot knew this, but he would never give an order that he wasn't willing to follow himself. If it came down to it, he'd take the whole Decepticon army on himself if it meant a decisive victory.

That was all that Scattershot could think about: winning. Winning the battle was all that mattered so he could go on to win the next battle. He knew he could do it because he had so many times before. Many would say Scattershot survived the most deadly encounters only to fight in the next. The Autobots needed warriors like him to fight the ruthlessness of the Decepticons. Sometimes, though, Scattershot wondered what he'd do if the war was ever ended.

Approaching Dauntless Crash Site

Strafe flew on silently the poor paranoid mech had his scanners on full; anticipating an ambush. Sure he was being quiet he didn't want to draw any more attention to himself that was neccessary; he hated it when everythng was watching him waiting for him to make a single mistake. Strafe was quiet as he contemplated what might happen. Yes he was scared; not that he'd admit it of course, but he was and the fear was often what kept him alive. Though what worried him was that those he was travelling with didn't seem to have that fear and if there was one thing Strafe really didn't want was to see anyone get hurt needlessly.

Refinery Complex 3 – Warehouses

Smokescreen shot back at Carnage as he took cover behind a large piece of machinery. The two exchanged fire for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Smokey’s gun ran out of ammo and he was forced to duck down to reload. He quickly punched in a new cartridge and was ready to continue firing when another barrage a laser blasts began raining down from high above. He looked up to see that the lasers were not aimed at a specific ‘bot, but instead at his smoke cloud. Cons are trying to disperse my smoke. Clever. Very clever. Smokescreen knew that his cloud was giving his LSC comrades the necessary cover they needed. That combined with the shards from his missiles, which had become intermixed with the smoke, were causing all kinds of havoc with the drones internal systems.

Although, at this rate, there isn’t going to be much cover left, Smokescreen thought, as Blast-Off’s lasers continued to punch holes in the cloud. Time to make these ‘cons choke some more especially that little glitch. And with that, the diversionary tactician transformed into vehicle mode and raced out into the open, his smoke generators on at full blast. Driving in an erratic pattern in order to avoid the laserfire both from above and from Carnage, Smokey zoomed in close and drove around the femme Sweep, as smoke continued to bellow from his tailpipes. His goal was to surround Carnage in a magnetized cloud which would hopefully stick to her, as well as provide additional cover for his comrades. “Hey, darling! Suck on this!”

Nearby

Snarl tried holding on to Slag’s horns as the mechanical triceratops swung his massive head around in an attempt to throw Snarl at three incoming drones. The attempt worked as the desert warrior lost his grip on the horns and was propelled into the air. Two of the drones banked to either side of him while the third remained on a collision course. Thinking fast, Snarl brought up his energo sword and slashed at the drone, cleaving it right down the middle. The two halfs broke apart, as Snarl passed between them, and fell harmlessly to the ground below. The dinobot had solved one problem, but was now faced with another – landing!

Err, this could be messy, Snarl thought as he began his descent head first. He tried to bring his legs down beneath him but was too late. Snarl landed hard on his knees, bounced a couple times and then came to rest on his side a short distance from Carnage. Out of the blue, Smokescreen roared by in car mode, spewing his soot into the air. Cough! Cough! “Hey, Smokey! Point aft section some place else!” Cough!

The Dinobot got to his feet and brushed himself off. Not wanting to get caught up in all the smoke, he walked away and headed back towards the rest of the LSC.

Highway J9

Bluestreak sped along the highway with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe as they grew closer to the raging battle. The gunner scanned the area ahead. “I’m detecting numerous aerial targets as well as ground forces. There are ‘cons everywhere! Looks like we’re in for one frag of a battle.”

Blue finally reached the crash site of the Dauntless, now an unrecognizable pile of scrap. The one thing that he did recognize, however, was half an Autobot insignia on a charred piece of the haul. He transformed to ‘bot mode and hurriedly scanned the wreckage for survivors. “Nothing,” Bluestreak said aloud. “Thank Primus. Whomever was in there had gotten out before it all went to slag.”

Bluestreak then turned his attention towards Refinery Complex 3. He immediately noticed all the Sweeps that were swarming the area above. These were the same ones he had encountered before. "The Autobots must have made it to the refinery. That’s where all those new seekers are concentrated." He then turned towards the twins. "Looks like you guys are gonna get your revenge." As am I, Blue thought to himself, with a smile.

Dauntless Crash site


The shining femme's optics flashed as her opponent transformed. She knew him, not as a Dinobot but as her best friend. Someone she had once trusted with her life.

“Divebomb? How? ...... You're a Dinobot! So thats where you've been all this time?”

The words he spoke stung her deeply, she had not become a Decepticon of her own choosing. The silver angel looked down at her own body, it was far from the original blue and silver design he once knew. She looked like something molded from mercury with azure glass insets. The only physical part of her that remained the same were her optics. A unique hue of glacier blue that no other Transformer possessed. That and the sword she held a gift from her long deceased master.

He had called himself Swoop? So he had changed his name? There was probably no point in telling him Starburst was dead, by his reaction she assumed he wouldn't care. She circled him energon blade ready, and in those few precious astroseconds a complicated past raced through her memory processors.

The last time Silver had seen him was vorns ago when the bombardier was a gladiator. She had gone often to watch him fight in the arena after they had graduated from the Interstellar Pilot's Academy. One astrocycle she happened to meet a young seeker, one of Swoop's opponents, many would later come to despise. When Divebomb found out the two had argued, he told her she was a fool to become associated with the likes of Starscream. Like angry protoforms they had stopped talking. Silver took a job with Starburst working as an interstellar pilot for a large company and when she returned she found Divebomb had left without a goodbye.

Silver shook her head as Swoop came at her, snapping out of her memory. The argent femme held her blade in defense, her ice hued optics looked into his hateful glare as she whispered.

“Valckastans value honor above all else. You know this. I made a pact with you long ago Divebomb. I do not wish to kill you.”

With ease she avoided his offense, especially since the bombardier was angry and anger drove his movements. She was at odds with herself. Fate had set them on opposing factions but honor held her back. He may have said some hurtful things to her but it wasn't enough to make the mistress of the blade end his life. A graceful sweep of her energon blade knocked Swoop's advance aside as she rounded to face him again.

Refinery Complex 3 – Warehouses

Carnage lept to the side, dodging smokescreen's shots. His pattern of spewing gas wasn't going to make that kill any easier. Of course, thee was good news. The Dinobot Snarl had presented himself asa very, very easy target. All the better for her. First, she fired a parting shot at Smokescren's aft, hoping to damage the source of the smog. Next, she ignited her jet thrusters and charged straight at Snarl, hoping her momentum and force could knock over the brute tank.

Orbit above tagan

Blast-off Shifted fore from the smoke to it's source, hoping to cut off the supply.

Shuttle Indefatigable - Leaving Iacon Airspace

Gazing out the shuttle windows as they blasted away from the base, Blurr grimanced as he listened to Prime detail what they should expect to encounter at Tagan. Having been one of the Autobot fighters who was there when they lost the Heights to the ‘Cons still stung Blurr’s pride. His high-strung nature was already kicking into high gear, but he wasn’t fretting as much as he would have normally. The opportunity to get back at the Decepticons for the defeat at Tagan and hopefully kick some ‘Con skidplates (preferably right on out of the former Autobot base) offset his normal pre-battle jitters.

Well, for the most part.

As Blurr fidgeted with the controls on the console next to him, because he had to be doing something even while sitting, he was caught off guard for a moment when he heard Optimus say his name. Listening silently, Blurr, waited until Optimus Prime concluded his briefing, then bounded out of his chair.

“No,-no-questions-Prime.-Don’t-worry-I-will-get-the-kits-and-units-to-the-LSC.-I-won’t-let
-those-slow-Decepticons-stop-me.-By-the-time-they-realize-it-is-me-I-will-be-out-of-firing-
range.-They-don’t-call-me-one-of-the-fastest-couriers-for-nothing.-I-won’t-let-you-down,
-sir,” Blurr chattered rapidly as he began darting from storage compartment to compartment, grabbing up all the med-kits and field recharge units he came across.

Skies above the Crash Site

Scourge kept gaining altitude, trying to find ID signals from the Sweep Drones so they could be set to task. As the jamming started to clear, he managed to get signals off. The drones around the battle site lifted off and into a circular formation, while on the Iacon border, the patrol there veered off and heading for the incoming Autobot Shuttle.
A confused radio message came in from the Sweep formerly known as Macabre. Scourge had heard nothing from Carnage or Rage in some time. The chaos of the situation was maddening, and Scourge's sensor returns weren't helping matters.
>>Lord Thunderwing, there are more autobots incoming from the Tagan highway! They must have slipped in while the ECM was up, they're approaching the crash site! It must be...<<
Scourge saw, and he howled.
>>Discord!!! Round up everyone and take down that shuttle!!! I have my prey.<<
"SUNSTREAKER!!!!" Scourge flew at the yellow warrior, ignoring his allies. "You and I have unfinished business!"


Near the Dauntless

Swindle sat back, waiting for his fellow Combaticons to show up. With the smoke preventing recon and jamming his radio, he figured he had a good enough excuse for it.
Then he heard noise on the street below. Peering over the top of his buildingtop vantage point, he saw Bluestreak coming up on the smoldering shuttle. Peeking to his left he saw more Autobots coming behind him. Ohslagohslagohslag!! The rest of the guys better get here soon! Swindle backed carefully away from the edge of the roof, looking for cover to crawl into.

Bravo transformed as they approached the battle site and drew his sword, his only remaining weapon. "I'll head around the other way and scout the situation, me and Bluestreak'llWHOA!! Incoming!!" Bravo scrabbled out from Scourges flightpath, slightly confused at the lack of lasers spewing from the Decepticon.

Refinery Complex 3 - Main Pumps

The arrival of Wierdwolf and Skullcruncher was quite heartening to the Constructicons. Bonecrusher was a little disconcerted that Scrapper felt his new wall wasn't enough, but mostly he was confused about what Weirdwolf was saying. Mixmaster prattled on as he added a laser-proof coating to the fortifications: "Welcome, salutations, and thank you gentlemechs, greetings from the bottom of our sparks..."
Scrapper simply continued disengaging the pumps. As the pressure releived the work became easier. They would be done with the pumps soon and could concentrate on the energon remaining in the facility. The battle seemed to have stalled at the outskirts of the refinery, but Scrapper knew only too well that a single stray blaster bolt could change everything.
"Use the fortifications! Make them come to you, we can only risk hand-to-hand combat here. And watch that pumping Scavenger, you'll spray energon vapor about!!"
Curse those Autobots!! Even breaking our frames fixing the walls was better than this!

Warehouses

"Confused, Bludgeon?? Can't blame ya, all this smoke and fire is making my eyes lube up. And nothing either side is doing is making much sense. This is why I usually stick to assassination, simpler all-round."
Frankly, Banzai-Tron was annoyed with the whole situation. He could barely see 50 mechanometers, the only thing on the command frequencies were Thunderwing and Bugly telling the warriors to do better, and if he went after Smokescreen like he'd wanted to, there was a good chance he'd be shot by his own side. Banzai-Tron really wasn't in the mood for martial arts: He wanted stress relief.
Levelling his Photon Nuetraliser at Kup as he wrestled with Mindwipe above the pair of martial arts masters, Banzai-Tron rattled off a burst. The first shots went wide, doing little but soaking up more of the interfering smoke. "Hey Mindwipe, hold still, I'm trying'ta help ya here!!" Banzai-Tron fired again, looking forward to putting some rounds into the old timer. He didn't even want to kill him that much, he just wanted to hear a satisfying "Thrankd" of his weapon breaking metal. He could kill Kup properly once he was in a better mood.

"Yeah, you Snarl handle those 2. Me Slag deal with these half-dozen. It our new team-up attack." Slag finally got some time to prioritise the multitiude of murderous impulses going through his processor, and decided that the most expedient way to handle them was to head towards the largest group of mechs he could see and deal with them.
That green-and-red guy shot me...I know I want to Kup a piece of my fist...I'm pretty sure that winged thing landed on me for some reason...and who's that ugly guy with the funny armor? I should just kill him on general principle.
Slag turned and thundered back towards the main fight, flames licking around his mouth. There were big plusses to being armed with highly indiscriminate weapons, it made choosing targets a whole lot easier.

Refinery Complex 3 – Warehouses

After circling around Carnage, Smokescreen drove by Snarl, almost running him over. "Whoa! Sorry, big guy! I didn’t see you there!" Where’d he come from? He wasn’t there an astrosecond ago. I know I would’ve noticed something the size of a Dinobot. It’s like he just fell out of the sky or some… Smokey’s thoughts were interrupted by the burning blast of Carnage’s laser striking his aft section. One of his smoke generators immediately shut down, having been damaged by the hit. The other generator was still functioning, but barely. It was only spewing forth half as much smog as it should. Fraggit! I might as well shut that one down, too. Not enough smoke to conceal a minibot!

Once that was done, the diversionary tactician transformed to ‘bot mode and quickly drew his rifle from subspace. He took aim at Carnage, who had now turned her attention to Snarl, and was about to fire when a sudden hail of lasers from Blast-Off came raining down around him. The Combaticon was no longer concerned with the smoke, but instead with the smoke maker! The red and blue Autobot took evasive action and ran for cover, trying to avoid Blast-Off’s laserfire as he went.

Nearby

As Snarl walked back towards the rest of the LSC, he heard the sound of jet thrusters firing behind him. Stopping in his tracks, the Dinobot turned and gave a curious glance back over his shoulder to see Carnage charging directly at him. Surprised, he quickly tried to avoid her by sidestepping to the right, but he was not fast enough. Carnage knocked into him as she flew by, causing the big ‘bot to stumble forward. He swiftly righted himself and shouted, "Arrrghhh!! Crazy ‘con! Me, Snarl, teach you to mess with a Dinobot!" The desert warrior raised his laser rifle and fired several shots directly at Carnage.

Dauntless Crash Site

Bluestreak caught sight of two objects hovering directly above the area. At first, he thought they were both seekers, but then he noticed that one of them was actually Swoop! "Hey guys! I think that’s Swoop up there!" He paused briefly before continuing. "Which means this shuttle was probably carrying the rest of the Dinobots, if not the entire Lightning Strike Coalition! No wonder Prime wants every available Autobot to rendezvous here."

Bluestreak then heard Bravo say his name. The Autobot gunner turned his head to respond when Scourge suddenly zoomed by, heading directly for Sunstreaker. Blue opened a commlink to the golden warrior:

>>Sunny, look out! You’ve got incoming!<<

Shuttle Indefatigable - Entering Tagan Heights Airspace

"Ok, fine I'll use a dummy bomb..." said Vroom the disappointment clearly noted in his voice. Having it be a real bomb would make it such a greater thrill but he supposed he would not just to make due with sneaking in and then out of a Decepticon held area. Even though he did not look like it at times he was a profesional and would do his job no matter his disappointment, however.

He looked out the window and saw the Tagan Heights approaching.

"Alright then, give me the sign and I'll be off."

Refinery Complex 3 – Warehouses

Carage flew by, dodging Snarl's laser blasts and reaching cover behind some crates. She called Scourge, hoping the cloud had taken sufficient damage. <<Scourge, it's Carnage. I did some damage to the source of the smoke, it should be lightening up soon. I'm caught up with a Dinobot now.>> With that, she broke from cover, firing lasers at Snarl. Hmmm... Maybe I'l get at least one Dinobot head today...

Orbit over Tagan

When Blast-off saw Swindle sitting doing nothing, he became infuriated. Rather than silently expressing his frustration, he decided to let it out verbally. <<SWINDLE!!! GET UP AND HELP US!>> he screamed into ComLink. <<I HAVE BEEN UP HERE BUSTING MY AFT TRYING TO GIVE US A REMOTE CHANCE OF VICTORY, AND FRAGGIT, YOU BETTER START SHOWING THE SAME EFFORT!>> He was just so upset to see someone just standing there and doing absolutly nothing. What was this, some sort of joke? He calmed down, going back to Swindle. <<If you want to start proving your worth, I have an autobot shuttle coming in. Why don 't you GET OFF YOUR LAZY AFT AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!>> He decided he needed something to help him relax, like murder. He zeroed in his rifle on Swoop. Pulling the trigger repeatedly, he felt his anger fly away with the shells.

Near the Dauntless

>>>SHHHSHH!!! Shutuuupp!!<<< Swindle hissed into his commlink at Blast Off. >>I am slagging surrounded here, on my own, and the last thing I need is you bringing Sunstreaker, Sideswipe and Scattershot down on my head with your shouting. Do you want me to get smeared across the Hieghts like that shuttle?<< He looked around desperately for cover, but the best he could do was put a broken corner of the building between him and the two Technobots, hoping the two fliers would be distracted by Scourge and overlook the simple scout.

Dauntless Crash Site


The two pilots were so close Silver could feel the heat of Swoop’s thrusters. Her icy optics finally pulled away from him as she became aware of her surroundings. Swoop had been cut off from his team which made this encounter increasingly difficult for her. She spun to swing at him never intending to actually make contact. But if she had his armor was more than sufficient enough to take the hit. She was trying to stall until she could figure out how to end this without fatality. Only to be interrupted by a rain of fire from Blast-Off. She was positive it was meant for Swoop but because the blade wielders had been in such close proximity, a mere wing’s length apart, Blast-Off had hit Silver as well. The reflective coating covering her body fluctuated and hissed, as singes appeared marking her left wing, and throwing her off balance.

Thunderwing’s daughter growled in frustration and opened a direct link to the lofty Combaticon. hadn’t Onslaught taught the space cadet better than to create friendly fire?

>>What in Primus’s name do you think you’re doing? I ought to come up there and slap you Blast-Off! Sharp shooter or not you just interrupted the rules of dueling engagement and second……. You hit me! Don’t forget you’re not the only one who can orbit.<<

Swoop had been correct Silver was sassy, especially when she was mad. She had heard the Combaticon yelling at Swindleand guessed this was a mistake made out of anger an not on purpose but still… she would have to deal with it later.

Warehouses

"Banzai-Tron...coverfire" Bludgeon merely retorded. Blade in hand he began to move faster and faster, heading in the direction of Mindwipe and Kup.
The Master of Metalikato made no noise despite his fast pace and suddenly jumped, straight for his foe, blade ready. He knew his skill and he knew how to temper a blow... he would not wound his comrade... he merely needed Kup to disengage for a moment and then... he'd deal with the old 'bot.

Message from Megatron to Thunderwing, High level encryption

>>"Message received Thunderwing. I will be arriving personally with reinforcements in short order. This battle will likely develop into a full Autobot push into the Heights. Hold the lines until I arrive."<<