In The Line Of Fire! (conclusion)

[continued from In_The_Line_Of_Fire!]

"Move it! I don't care if you don't believe in talking robots, Mister Iranian Ambassador, they sure as hell won't believe in you when they send you to Allah." Edward snaps in irritation. "Gwen, can you do anything to move them alone!" Gwen shakes her head. "Dad, you know what mom says..." "Discreetly." Edward cuts off his daughter. "Right." Gwen nods her head and starts to gently plant the suggestion that there is a free buffet a few blocks over. Hot Dogs. Nathan's Hot Dogs, all you can eat. And they're KOSHER, too! The various ambassadors and guests start shuffling along quickly as Alex offers a little bump of assistance. "Go kick ass, Colonel." Edward offers as one of the last evacuees.

Exo-Jet Apollo Class  Jet blasts out from the gates of an underground parking garage next door to the building. Alarms go off as it exits without paying the parking fee. Engines blazing, it lifts into the air, then swoops around to line up for an attack run at Brawl. As soon as the Unity is finished shooting, the Apollo's miniguns spool up and buzz out hundreds of rounds in the span of a few seconds, tracers lighting the way towards the huge tank.

"You wish," Fury says, in a metallic snicker, as she flashes the underside of her wings at Powerglide, neatly banking out of the way of his riposte. She turns hard and comes around for another strafing run, guns chattering.

F-16 Falcon has no idea whether he managed to hit anything down there in the dark not that it matters to him really he's done the bare minimal he needs to, to not have the Sweeps hounding him and that's that. The pain and suffering to come now that he's actually announced his presence will undoubtedly make his acquaintance soon enough. Sure enough Dreadwind doesn't have to wait long as laser fire finds its mark and score along his body. Giving up on blind attack runs he transforms in mid flight and hovers while punching both his arms in the direction the laser fire came from, "Not long now, the suffering, the cries of pain and anguish, many shall perish this night, perhaps my suffering will also, finally, be over." F-16 Falcon suddenly halts it's forwards momentum and pulls up as it bends in half. The body of the jet twists and unfolds to become legs, while arms extrude themselves from the fuselage sides.

Seahawk helicopter (Vortex) takes the shot along his left flank with a hiss of anger. "That does it. This human's going down!" He turns his side mounted guns towards Marissa's exo suit and fires.

Onslaught is apparently too engaged with peppering the front of the UN building with holes to notice Michael's descent until it is too late. With a discernible -thump- Michael lands on the rearward portion of Onslaught's trailer, doing little damage, but definetely leaving a dent in the metal. Onslaught's primary response is to swing his turret around before pointing both barrels toward Michael before attempting to give him both in the face. "Going where ordered is beyond going where we are wanted, human."

M1A2 Abrams's gears grind as he brakes his left tread and spins around it to take the incoming fire on his prow. He breaks apart and rises, folding up into his robot form with blaster at the ready. "Hey Boss!" Brawl yells to Onslaught as he racks the ion scattergun and fires a bolt up into the sky after the strafing human jet. "I need some air cover over here!" The tank clambers up into a very thickset robot.

Exo-Suit Fire  yanks its arm away from Spike just as a shot from William ZWIPs by. "Ack! Rather close, William! However, I cannot say I am IMPRESSED with your aim!" He aims a fist at William, and a nozzle pops up. Flames rush out of the nozzle, headed for the Militant, or maybe just the floor, or perhaps both. Doesn't really matter to him. "You do realize you aren't fighting for anything anymore, right? You precious Secretary of General will DIE from that wound!"

Mecha-Tiger  growls at the unarmored human, but then realizes there are exo-suits--with /weapons/ around. Ahhh, the Glaive Unity. The human piloting that contraption was a well-established thorn in the side of the Decepticons. He leaps with a roar, claws lashing out at the construct. "I'll open this thing up like a can of tuna!" he snarls.

"Better machines than you have tried," Colonel Faireborn mutters as she hears Vortex's retort. Still stuck in the parking lot, Marissa hasn't a lot of room to maneuver the hover tank while Vortex unleashes a laser barrage down at it. Numerous bolts of energy slam into the tank's heavy upper armour, while other stray shots strike various parked vehicles. Each of them explodes in glorious fireballs, practically surrounding Marissa with columns of fire. While she attempts to maneuver out of this danger zone, a four-pack of mini missiles on the side of the main turret fire in rapid succession, each of them corkscrewing upwards through the air, tracking the airborne Combaticon.

Spike Witwicky would do something. Honestly he would. However, he's unconscious and bleeding heavily with blood streaming out of the corner of his mouth. Man, this tux is screwed.

Jayson Redfield keeps his gun trained on Compton as he inches toward Spike. He lowers the weapon and holsters it, then kneels down beside the wounded man. "All right, Mr. Witwicky, I got ya..." He grabs hold of him and slings his arm over his shoulder, attempting to carry him off the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Xabat's thugs are running about aimlessly, waving their strange guns around. "Hey! You not be evacuating! We take you hostage!" they say, trying to grab the guests and pull them back inside. Still they're beginning to wonder if they should just leave at this point, with all the exploding and shooting.

Exo-Jet Apollo Class  Jet performs a few snap-rolls as it pulls away into the sky, presenting a harder target for any return fire. It seems to work, as Brawl's bolt sizzles by to dissipate harmlessly into the clouds high above. James's eyes flick over his sensors, noting the civilan structures lining the streets in almost all directions, then hits the transform controls while the Apollo is still at high altitude. The Apollo takes it's simulated robot form and hangs suspended in the sky firing lasers down at Brawl from directly above the Combaticon.

Ah, luck. How it is on her side today. Or... well, not really luck. Arcee's just /fast/. And she very quickly gets out of the way of the incoming shot, moving - in the process - closer to Dreadwind. She is really wanting to get close and help Spike, but... well... she's being attacked and all... but, hey, at least there are some humans helping him now. She puts away her laser and draws, instead, a strange looking small device... she clicks a button on it, and with the weapon that extends from it, she lashes out at the Decepticon.

Exo-Suit Glaive Unity  lands on the trailer's rear end with a thud. He smiles and starts to reach for his rail rifle to finish off Onslaught when those pesky cannons turn and nail him square in the face. The Unity is blown square in the head by an explosion of laser fire. Smoke trails off from the shot which shows the Unity a little scratched in the faceplate, but nothing major. However, Michael's HUD flashes to his left of a spike in energy readings. Reacting instinctively, Michael leaps off the trailer and into the sky. Just in time to miss Rampage's leap and claws. "Lions, tigers, and cons...oh my." he says while pulling his rail rifle off his maglock and pointing it at Onslaught. He pulls the trigger sending a large yellow crackling blast of a gauss shell down on the combaticon.

William silently curses as he tries to dodge the flames but fails at the latter. Not even bothering to try to put the flames out as his suit will do that for him, he flips a table and crouches behind it for cover. Waaaaay too many people shooting things around here. Coming around the side of the table, he extends his arm, flips his wrist down with a jerk signaling the suite to extend his mini-grenade launcher. "Killing you will be enough." He clenches his fist and the suit launches a projectile aimed towards Compton's side that ISN'T closest to Spike. Because that would be bad.

Powerglide takes yet another shot, this time in his shoulder. It hurt like a bitch, but it wasn't that much worse than the last one. "That all you got?" he says, a visible wince playing over his features. He wasn't going to get anywhere down here, so his only option was to take to the skies. "I'm commin' up there to kick your aft all the way back to Cybertron, you flyin' fu-" and, cutting off his own sentence, Powerglide transforms into his adorable- er, amazing jet mode and shoots off into the sky at his attacker. Almost immediatly after his landing gears left the ground, he let off a missle to shut the 'con down.

M997A2 <> skids around a corner, rocking on her suspension a bit before powering towards where she swears she sees an old Protectorate exo-suit--and where the worst of the battle seems to be. Those blasted exo-suits always bring nothing good. /Too many already fighting... and the first priority for a medic is to evacuate the wounded. And if Spike is one of those injured.../ The highbeams of her headlights narrow as she extends her sensors outwards. Where is Spike...? /THERE./ She skids a bit as she readjusts and charges towards where she's picking up Spike's lifesigns.

Brawl returns fire from his back-mounted anti-aircraft machinegun as he ducks and jogs back towards Onslaught to transform, first into a tank and then, folding and rising, into a leg! "Mergin'! Phase One complete!" The egglike shape unfolds, resolving into a miniscule Decepticon

And there's a missile right up the tailpipe. Fury gives a comical squeak of dismay and abandons the aerial field of battle in favor of dropping out of the air and immediately transforming. She makes an odd little gesture, almost a curtsey, to level her cannons at Powerglide a last time.

Dreadwind fires back in retaliation but doesn't know or care if it struck home it's bad enough that he's been forced to attack in the first place he'd much rather sit down and talk out his differences, who knows one day someone might even listen to what he has to say. Dreadwind's slow descent to the ground doesn't pay off, exactly like he expected it to, as he is lashed by, oh Arcee is the one attacking him, maybe she'll listen? Dreadwind holds up his whipped and torn arm he almost looks like he's trying to make Arcee stop, "We are all going to be deactivated soon enough, this enhanced suffering and pain adding to our already crushing burdens is unnecessary." With that he attempts to kick Arcee's legs out from under her.

Seahawk helicopter (Vortex) starts to bank away from the exo-tank attacking him, as it strafes him again. The chopper is already smoking. "Another time, perhaps.." he says to the exo-driver as he flies towards Onslaught and Brawl. Retreating already (no attack this round)

Onslaught begins to drive forward as Micheal leaps clear but, due to his heavy armor, doesn't have much acceleration and therefore fails to escape the Gauss round that Michael fires at him. The shot detonates just over Onslaught, scattering shrapnel in all directions, which tears into the Combaticon leader's armor from the middle of his trailer to his rear which leaves deep gouges wherever they strike. Onslaught continues to accelerate, however, and makes for Brawl as fast as he can manage. "Combaticons, to me! Merge into Bruticus!" He then transforms and comes to stand beside Brawl as Vortex completes his own merging modifications. Swindle and Blast Off just show up there: it happens. Onslaught shouts, "Combaticons, MERGE to form Bruticus!" With a shudder of metal, the Combaticons undergo a stunning transformation and combine into the mighty form of Bruticus!

From Exo-Suit Fire , Compton Xabat grunts inside his suit as it takes a grenade hit to the rear torso armor of his suits. "Gah!" His suit stumbles forward a bit, almost stepping onto Carly, but fortunately, he seems to stop just short of her. "Oh, but you won't kill me, Willy! I've studied your much vaunted power armor and I am NOT impressed. Small, thinly armored, and with feeble weapons. My exo-suit is a true machine of war!" He swings his plasma rifle over at William, and fires off a brilliant purple burst at him. "Now cook in your juices, Mr. Car-Buyer!"

Mecha-Tiger  growls as a laser blast from another exo-suit strikes him. He turns to face the culprit. The tiger is angry, and thus makes an engaging opponent. It also makes him extremely distractable. So he trades one Briar for another. A blade pops out of his paw, near his wrist. "So you want to be opened up, then?" he asks, growling savagely, "I wonder if you are as tasty as tuna..."

From Exo-suit Glaive Unity , Michael Briar gasps and looks wide eyed at the gestalt. "Oooooh shit." he says before taking a deep breath...and charging the thing. Screaming, he swings around the gestalt while unfolding his ion cannons. They swing forward on his hips, glow for a second, then discharge their heat and red beams of death upon the gestalt. "Common you overgrown toaster, you couldn't hit the broadside of a building, let alone me!" he taunts.

From Glaive II - Prototype , Nate Briar rockets himself out of the way with kicking the thrusters on full blast. "Kitty, I don't taste like tuna. I taste a lot like pain!" He locks onto his target and tries to shoot out a small projectile into Rampage's optics. "Gotta get out of here to help the General!"

Exo-Jet Apollo Class  Jet fires thrusters on it's feet and back, sending it skimming over the rooftops in a large radius around Bruticus. Inside, James takes a deep breath to steady himself, then twitches at the controls. The Apollo lifts it's arm and releases a long stream of tracer rounds at Bruticus, peppering it's Brawl leg with fire.

Okay, this guy is really starting to annoy William. Not because of his annoying accent or because he's just tired of the Spanish people as a whole. It's because he keeps shooting him. But as long as his attention isn't on Spike, William's as happy as he can be as he fries inside his armor. This time he does swat at the flames, breaking into a dance of sorts. Breaking cover, he twists and turns as he slams armored hands onto the flames. He reaches behind him and tries to put out the flames there, but when he brings his hands back, there's a glowing axe in his hand. The dance ends and now that Compton is within striking distance, William takes the swing from above.

Arcee doesn't look at all upset by having her legs kicked out from beneath her. As a matter of fact, it doesn't seem like it phases her much at all. She does go down, but she manages to catch herself with one hand, her legs swinging up sharply to kick square at Dreadwind's jaw. "Geez. You're a /real/ fun guy. anyone ever tell you that...?" Oh, she's seen Bruticus all right. But right now, she can't get close. Not yet, anyway.

Jayson Redfield struggles a bit under Spike's weight, but keeps moving nonetheless. He growls slightly at the sight of Bruticus, and tries to ignore him as best as one *can* ignore a giant Decepticon. Before long he finds some safe shelter a good ways off the battlefield, and sets Spike down. He cocks his gun, on the lookout for any terrorists who might come his way.

Colonel Faireborn nods grimly as Bruticus is formed. She is unsurprised by this turn of events, as it was ultimately inevitable. She only hopes the damage done to Vortex and the other Combaticons translates into a slightly weaker Bruticus. But Marissa does not falter, not even in the face of such power standing against her and her men. Shoving the two throttles controlling the tank forward, the Warthog lurches into action. Not not even bothering to avoid the other cars in the parking lot, Marissa just smashes right over them; the thick hover pads on the bottom of the tank crushing the cars beneath it whenever they impact. Marissa moves out to the front lawn of the UN Building to face down Bruticus, flicking switches from the cockpit-like driver's seat.

"Alright you gruesome son of a bitch," Marissa mutters to herself, looking up at a display screen that shows the view outside. Moving it, she focuses in on the towering form of Bruticus. A little red cross hair signifies the target lock. The Colonel moves it downwards, bringing it to rest on the joint between Brawl and Onslaught - Brawl took some nasty hits, maybe this'll knock them loose. There's a soft beeping noise in the cockpit marking the successful lock, and Marissa presses her fingers on the firing studs, activating the launch. On the Warthog's top-side gun turret, the twin missile pods on either side of the turret come to life, spraying a dozen missiles upwards. The rockets' red glare briefly light up the evening sky as they attempt to slam into the Brawl/Onslaught joint, exploding on impact in a brilliant plume of fire.

Slag is flying through the sky at Dinospeed! Fortunately, he was in the area and it doesn't take long. Coming up on the battle he waits until he gets near Bruticus and gives himself an extra bit of speed before transforming and hurling himself at Bruticus like a lawn dart.

Powerglide groans as he recieves a shot to the underside of his alt mode; beginning to wobble a bit from the damage. This sucks! Oh yeah, and to make matters worse, that psycho Bruticus was up and about. Great, just great! Well, he couldn't deal with him now so he might as well just keep bustin' on that LITTLE Decepticon down below. "How about another missle in the face, shawty?" He banked to the side and made a wide U-turn before descending down towards Fury at break-necking speeds; a missle dropping from him and down towards his target.

Exo-Armor Talon  Robot arrives from what must have been a relatively short distance away, taking quick stock of the situation from well overhead. That really really big guy must be Bruticus, and it looks like Mike and Marissa are dealing with it. Someone over there is facing off with a cat, and...what are those two things? One's on fire and wielding an axe... And Arcee's over there kicking the snot out of someone else. What a fricking mess. Eeny meeny meiney moe... She aims whichever weapon is handy first at...Rampage.

M997A2 <> slams on the brakes and fishtails 180-degrees, noting the Combaticons as they combine into Bruticus. "Frag," she growls softly. Now evacuation is even more nessisary. A gestalt battle usually means that the general area is going to get demolished. She skids to a halt as she finally spots where Spike's been hidden and flickers her headlights as she recognizes Jayson. "You... You're the teen at the EDC testing site." Even better. "Hurry, load Spike into my patient bay." She swings her patient-bay doors open. "I can transport him into the nearest hospital that isn't in danger of that fight."

A loud clanging, chattering, clunking and grinding booms across the grounds as the assembled Combaticons converge and combine, rising into a single towering man-like figure eighty feet tall and bristling with armament. Bruticus rises from a kneeling posture to his full height and surveys the battle taking place around his ankles. "BRUTICUS IS HERE," his stentorian voice booms, making windows shiver and babies cry throughout the city. "DISMAY AT THE FUTILITY OF YOUR STRUGGLE. YOU HAVE NOW BECOME IRRELEVANT." Bruticus takes a vast stride forward, crossing the grounds in two steps and sinking his fingers into the roof of the UN Assembly Building. It is a very simple thing for him to rip it off in great chunks and fling them down into the battle heedless of friend or foe, exposing the interior of the building and the delegates fleeing and hiding within like a bulldozer tearing open a termite mound. "BRUTICUS IS HERE FOR YOU. YOUR TINY LIVES WILL NOW COME TO AN END," says Bruticus, pronouncing awful judgement as he reaches in to try to crush the humans, who scatter in terror before his rubble-dusted and gore-smeared fists. How many can possibly survive?!

Oh, miss again. But she is tiny and hard to hit. Fury makes a tiny snarl of rage, lost on the clamor of a battle. There's a zippo click, and the hand she's raised in an imperious gesture vanishes inthe gout of flame that is directed up at Powerglide. YOU SHALL NOT PASS! "Come and burn!" she urges the Autobot.

From Exo-Suit Fire , Compton Xabat is jostled in his harness when the axe hits, and his viewscreen flickers from the impact. "Hnngh! Nasty little chopper, you got there!" He glances briefly at the damage readout on his console. "All for NAUGHT!" His exo-suit brings a fist back and swings it into William's face, again and again. "My armor can easily withstand your primitive attacks! But how long can YOU hold out, Willy?"

Meanwhile, on the ground, a terrorist with a converted submachine gun barks at Jayson, "Ey, YOU! We be taking Spike off your hands, or we shoot you, ja?" The barrel of the odd-looking weapon slowly comes up...

Dreadwind strikes the female Autobot but gets no pleasure from it, inflicting pain for enjoyment is more Darkwing's thing, Dreadwind would rather spend.. well the rest of his pained existence slumped in a dejected heap on the floor, alone in the dark swirling nothingness that is his life. "Oh yes constantly, for some reason most people can't stand conversation, they lack the computational power to keep up. It leaves me quite alo.." Dreadwind's moanalogue is cut short as feet connect with his faceplate, his head snaps back and he staggers backwards just managing catching himself. Dreadwind sighs heavily, "I see, you don't listen either, it seems all that anyone ever understands is pain and suffering, such a pity, such a waste, will i never find an equal?" With practiced ease Dreadwind draws his guns and opens fire sending a concentrated flurry of heated blasts at Arcee, though of course he knows it will all come to nothing.

Mecha-Tiger  snarls as another attacker makes themselves known, right after the other. Torn between the female human-in-a-tin-can, and the male, Rampage decides to go for the one he thinks is easiest prey. While the shots that hit him didn't do much damage they did serve to make him madder. He rushes at the Exo-Armor Talon and opens fire with the machine guns mounted on his sides. He's beyond rational speech at this point; he's pretty much just constantly growling now.

From Glaive II - Prototype , Nate Briar flies in persuit of the terrorists on the outside of the building and to help evacuate. While flying through the air, a green parrot, most likely an abanded pet, gets caught in his intake. He'll have to spend the night firing from a rooftop to provide cover fire now.

Slag rams into Bruticus and then slides down to the ground. "Me Slag say me get your attention!" he trundles forth like a dino-bulldog and opens his mouth, a huge and nasty goute of superheated plasma ushering forth to melt the combiner down to slag. No pun intended.

From Exo-suit Glaive Unity <Michael Briar>, Michael Briar is safely out of the way, from the gestalt's rampage, but Michael knows that he needs to halt that ASAP. The best way to get anyone's attention, is to get all up in their face. The Unity climbs higher and dips back down turning so he's in front of Bruticus as soon as the plasma breath from Slag is done. With a wrist flick, the energy blades form around the hands, which Michael stabs at the gestalt with, in the face no doubt. Hopefully, with the hot metal, something will give with the stabbing in the face. Terran Standard Troops #5856 :file quickly into the hall, which is now almost completely demolished from all of the fighting. They form a protective cordon around Jayson and Spike and Peacekeeper, a semi-circle that leaves their charges in the middle of the circle, and a bristling wall of weapons facing Compon's thugs.

Taking several punches to the face is never a good feeling. Thankfully William's armor absorbs some of it, but generally it just hurts. Now that he's in grasping range, the Militant reaches his free arm behind Compton's head and his finger find purchase on a small support bar. Shoving the axe back to it's holding hook, William once again ejects the grenade launcher from his wrist. But instead of taking a point-blank shot at Xabat, he aims at the ceiling and launches a volley of the small projectiles. And then he waits. As his shots hit their mark, the fragile ceiling begins to crack and then crumble and large chunks of it descend... directly at the two combatants. William holds tight, keeping Compton in place to take his hits like a man. When the chunks land, William crumples and stays down.

Spike Witwicky is loaded up into Peacekeeper's patient bay. Medics by now have gotten to him and begun first aid. He's unconscious, pale, and breathing shallowly. The bullet hole is dead center of his chest. A little more to the left and Spike would be in memorium.

Jayson Redfield cants his neck at Peacekeeper's arrival. "Yeah, it's me..." Without another word, he moves to do as she says, but he freezes as the terrorist appears, clearly intent on taking Spike. In a flash, he stands between him and the wounded man, gun raised. "You'll have to go through me before you can get to him," he says dangerously. He risks a glance toward the surrounding troops, looking a tad smug at the situation. "I suggest you get goin'..."

Terran Standard Troops #5545 march out into the street, a few of them making final adjustments to their Glaive Exo-Armor. Looking up at Bruticus, most of them know they're almost certain to die, but this city is the heart of the Terran government, and any hope the natives of Earth have of standing up to the Decepticon invaders relies on actions just like this. Everything they've been training for, everything they joined the military for, everything that humans all over the planet respect and admire them for...it call comes down to moments like this.

Powerglide was set ablaze by the Decepticons attack, smoke billowing from his frame. The Warthog swears and curses and goes through his usual spiel as he barrel rolls a few times to extinguish the flames, "Look what you've done to my paint, you jerk!

From Exo-Armor Talon <Andi Lassiter>, Andi Lassiter yelps in surprise as Rampage...throws something at her or something. All she knows is that the Talon did NOT like that, all of the panels flashing red briefly and losing altitude abruptly. Twisting in midair to turn itself upright again, the Talon lands heavily on the pavement...but at least it lands on its feet. "Bad cat! No tuna!" She snaps the first weapon that comes to the Talon's hand toward Rampage's face and fires it at him, possibly point blank. Depends on how close to him she landed.

Following through with the kick, Arcee flips fluidly backward, landing neatly on her feet in a delicate crouch. When Dreadwind, who had thankfully been cut off from his ridiculously depressing monologuing, fires again after he recovers from her kick, she's ready, darting to the side and sliding around before bringing a /missile launcher/ to bear. "I hate to disappoint you, by the way... but if you were thinking of taking /me/ out, you'll have to actually move sometime in this century!" And out come the missiles.

Exo-Armor Warthog <Marissa Faireborn> Tank knew the risks going in, and Bruticus displays exactly what /why/ it was so risky. Getting in close to the Combaticons gave her a good shot on the Onslaught/Brawl joint, but sadly it wasn't even enough for the Combiner to even notice! Marissa tries to have the tank fall back, but isn't nearly fast enough. Bruticus bends over and smashes his great fists against the roof of the UN Building, debris goes flying in all directions, and a large chunk of concrete slams into the roof of the Warthog, smashing the main turret and setting it off centred. The entire tank rumbles, and its hover systems struggle to avoid hitting bottom. Scowling, Marissa activates the transformation circuits, and the Warthog shifts up into somewhat more compact combat armour, giving Marissa a greater range of motion to use against the Decepticons. The turret, still damaged but somewhat functional, has transformed into a laser cannon mounted on the Colonel's left arm. "If you think our struggle is futile, bucko, then you haven't been paying enough attention!" she shouts back, aiming the laser cannon upwards. Massive bolts of energy fly from the weapon, and each shot causes enough recoil to force Faireborn to take a step back. Marissa is injured, but not injured enough to turn tail now!

M997A2 <<Peacekeeper>>'s engine growls as she hears the terrorist threaten Jayson. She doesn't know the kid very well, but she does know that as long as those terrorists are here... "Huh?" She pauses briefly as the squad of Terran soldiers form a wall between them and the terrorists. "Hm. I see." She waits until she gets the word that it's safe to go, but a panel within her side opens and she aims a disruptor back at the terrorists, just in case. Medic she may be, but she's not about to let any needless harm come to her patients or comrades.

Exo-Jet Apollo Class <James Bailey> Robot fires the engines in it's foot units and on the back assembly, jet-skirting backwards away from Bruticus' attack. It then transforms into it's jet mode and circles around behind the combiner before unleashing another long burst of cannonfire, walking the fire up Bruticus' leg and into his back. Inside, James grimaces. "It's got to have a weak point somewhere..."

Powerglide snarls and releases one last missle at the 'Con before pulling up back towards the sky as fast as he could. His once awesome red paint was scorched black, some spots burned so badly that pieces began to fall off and drop to the ground below him. A few pieces, actually. There was no more time for screwin' around with Fury. Time to hit up Bruticus. Twisting and shifting, the Apollo transforms into an exo-jet.

Screwing around with? Getting owned by. "Hey. Come back here," Fury orders. "I'm not done with you yet, inexplicably ugly warplane. What drunk human designed that altmode?" She launches herself up into the air, and pursues, aiming her guns over her shoulders again.

Exo-Suit Fire <Compton Xabat> flails as he is suddenly grabbed by that support bar. He makes a mental note to remove it later, or maybe rig it so that he can electrify it or something. Well, maybe later. "You are ticking me off, my little Apache friend, or whatever you are..." He finally braces his hands against the Militant, and is about to push him off when suddenly the sky falls on him. Where was Al Gore to warn him when he needed him!?

Xabat is temporarily knocked out by the impact, and his head slumps forward as his exo lies buried under hundreds of pounds of rubble. Even so, he'll wake up later and escape in the confusion.

Elsewhere, the thugs grimace as they are very suddenly outgunned and outnumbered. "Uh... ve were just kidding! Hahaha! Uh, bye now!" They tap some buttons on their weapons, then drop them and run like hell. Immediately afterwards, the guns start blasting out smoke, briefly obscuring the terrorists as they retreat.

Bruticus turns away from the near constant fire ofd the Exo Suits around him as, managing to keep himself from staggering back as the Dinobot collides with his chest, begins to stomp toward Slag. "BRUTICUS WILL TEACH YOU NOT TO INTERFERE. PREPARE YOURSELF!" The giant gestalt clasps both his hands together before sending his fists sharply down toward the Dinobot in an attempt to squash or, at least, shatter the ground near the Dinobot.

Dreadwind would feel a sense of satisfaction seeing as this fight is going exactly as he predicted, that is if the emotion could somehow manage to fight it's way past the interminable depression that is the core of Dreadwind. Dreadwind would have pointed out that he's not really that agile at the best of times the only time he avoids is when the universe is lining him up for something even more nasty. The missile strikes home and Dreadwind is knocked flying backwards landing in a smoking heap on the ground a large hole blown in his chest. Dreadwind lies still for almost too long but then he moves once more, he struggles to get to his feet but gives up. "At last it comes, the final deactivation, i will be free from my pain, soon i shall be in the new universe where my suffering will begin again." He slowly raises one of his arms, somehow he'd managed to hold onto his weapons and takes a pot shot at Arcee.

Mecha-Tiger <Rampage> snarls as another laser blast hits him. "I do not need your permission to have tuna!" the Tiger roars, then transforms. He gets out his sword and swings it, trying to carve open the exo-armor.

Jayson Redfield smirks as the thugs take off. "Now that that's settled..." He motions to the nearby troops. "Okay, you guys! Let's focus fire on Bruticus!" He shoots one last glance toward Peacekeeper, gives a nod, then darts off toward the main action. "Have to get those Combaticons to separate somehow," he mutters to himself.

From Exo-Armor Talon <Andi Lassiter>, Andi Lassiter whoas and throws up one arm to "block" the sword Rampage swings at her, and gets more red lights and warning blips from the Talon for her effort. "Fencing...that I can handle," she mutters to herself as she looks for and finds the toggle to release the Talon's blade weapon. Fighting in this exo-thing is like dancing in scuba gear, but she tries her best, mimicing a fencing move and forcing the Talon to move in a way its designers never took into account at a speed that makes the unit's servos whine in protest.

Exo-Armor Warthog <Marissa Faireborn> Robot jumps away from the Combaticon Gestalt as he brings his hands together. Luckily it isn't against her but rather Slag, but the shockwave of the impact can still be felt even where she is. Getting into a combat stance, Marissa whirls about to face Bruticus again. Her Exo-Suit scans the mech, trying to find any source of either a growing weakness or at least signs that the mech is nearing defeat, but is able to find none. Although her laser cannon is started to grow depleted, Marissa cuts loose regardless.

Arcee jerks back when she's hit this time. That /hurt/. She hisses softly, ducking low as she quickly moves to the side to keep from getting battered violently any worse than that did. Oh, she'd been hit worse, of course. That was by /far/ not the worst injury she'd ever taken. Not even remotely. But this fight is starting to wear thin and she wants to be done with this very shortly. She looks around... then eyes a beam. Piece of rubble. What the hell, it /works/! So, grabbing the beam, she picks it up and hurls it as hard as she can at Dreadwind. Play ball!

Terran Standard Troops #5856 relax minutely, a few of them tapping knuckles with each other, or giving Jayson and Peacekeeper nods (and one of them gives him a salute, before his neighbor clears his throat loudly, causing the soldier to lower his hand sheepishly). Others watch Spike with obvious concern. Finally, one of the troopers comes up to Jayson. "What now, kid?" he asks cooly.When he actually gives them some orders, they march out to the windows, firing sheltered firing positions to begin taking potshots at Bruticus.

M997A2 <<Peacekeeper>> rumbles. At least they're gone. "At least that's over," she huffs. "I'm getting out of here before those cowards find their backbones and return." She slams shuts her bay doors and spins her wheels a bit. "Stay safe, kid!" She shouts after Jayson and races away from the area. She's going to need to have her patient-bay cleaned out after this one...

Slag takes the brunt of the gestalt's damage and grunts when he gets pummeled. But a shot like he just took that might crush or outright kill others is something that he himself can shake off. "All that do is make Slag tired. Me Slag shut you big mouth up!" he transforms and runs up on Bruticus, just tall enough to give it a lowblow style punch. It looks painful, even if Bruticus is ill equipped.

The soldiers of Terran Standard Troops #5545 attack Bruticus under orders from Jayson Redfield. The soldiers of Terran Standard Troops #5856 attack Bruticus under orders from Jayson Redfield.

Powerglide grows very, very irritated that he can't get that stupid thing off his back. He kind of wishes he didn't use so many missles so early in the fight. Oops. Live and learn, supposedly. The Thunderbolt was struck pretty bad this time around, and he really didn't have the energy to keep flying around like this, so he turned and began to descend at an alarming speed towards his victim, er, Fury. Before he reaching the ground, he transformed into his STYLIN' robot mode (which, appropriatly enough, was sporting all sorts of burns, wounds, and scorch marks). The second his feet touched the ground, he began a full on sprint towards the Decepticon; fist poised for a punch to the ugly face. "Surprise!" he shouted, and let his knuckles fllyyyy.

Dreadwind doesn't know what's going on, now his chest hurts more than ever and there's a strange tingling in his left leg, which can't be good. Still somehow he keeps moving it's almost as if he isn't allowed to lie down and rest in the dark oblivion, life keeps annoyingly prodding at him to carry on... or is that Darkwing again? Shakily he gets to his feet, "Why won't you be my fr...." the I beam hits, a dull gong sound can be heard as Dreadwind staggers backwards into the wall he had previously been knocked against. Slowly but surely the wall starts to give before finally collapsing burying him, alive? Well at least he can rest for a while now, at least until some annoyingly helpful Decepticon medic comes along and digs him out and fixes him up.

Rampage is barely nicked by the blade wielded by the Talon. But the injury, however minor, sends him into an even bigger frenzy. He's so angry, he transforms back to Tiger mode and lunges at the exo-armor, jaws agape. Mindless fury consumes the Predacon, and suddenly the jaws go *SNAP*.

Rampage collapses down onto all fours, his beast head replacing the position of his robotic head. He now stands before you in Tiger mode.

Something is scurrying around Bruticus and distracting him from trying to crush/abduct the humans inside the ripped-apart UN assembly building. He glances around to try to see what it is that is poking him. He spies a group of humans and their leader amassing around his feet... kicking at him? "YOU ARE AN IRRITANT TO ME," booms Bruticus, raising the foot, then lowering it and twisting his ankle as if grinding out a cigarette.

Bruticus unleashes his Meat Grinder attack on Jayson Redfield and Terran Standard Troops #5856, striking Jayson Redfield and Terran Standard Troops #5856.

Exo-Suit Fire <Compton Xabat> suddenly punches a hand straight through the rubble he was trapped under. Then, seconds later, Xabat's entire exo-suit bursts free of the chunks of ceiling. "Hahaha!" he crows over his PA system. "Spike is dead, the UN is humiliated, and I am still free! Oh, but this is just the START!" His thrusters send him rocketing skyward, the exhaust brightly illuminating the area. "Listen and listen well, EDC, Autobots, DECEPTICONS... I, Compton Xabat, have only one goal in life now, and that is REVENGE! For murdering my soldiers, for crushing my dreams, for BETRAYING me... you will ALL SUFFER! Do you hear me!? You will suffer!!!" His voice gradually becomes more distant, until he eventually fades out into the distance.

"You're no better with your hands than you are with your ordnance," Fury mocks, as she sidesteps. But she slings her hook around to her arm, and slashes at Powerglide with it. Fury strikes Powerglide with Hook.

Slag growls and chuffs flame. "Me Slag had it with ALL Decepticons!" He swishes his massive tail, and looks around. Opening his mouth and unloading a massive gout of flame that seems to take all the energy out of him, he tries to single-handedly end the Decepticon threat.

From Exo-Armor Talon <Andi Lassiter>, Andi Lassiter acks as Rampage goes back to cat mode and tackles her, knocking the Talon to its back. But, this she knows how to deal with. As the Talon lands hard on its back, the hands grab the tiger's forelimbs and one leg kicks Rampage in the gut, trying to flip him over and onto his own back....just like she did to William in a sparring match.

Needless to say, Jayson doesn't stand a chance. He probably can't say the same for the troopers, but he is ultimately thrown hard into in a wall, and with the force of it, he's probably cracked a few bones. He drops down onto the ground and simply lays there, in immense pain, but still conscious. Spotting his dropped gun, he reaches for it, and grips it tightly, but doesn't seem able to actually get up and fire.

Arcee drops to a low crouch once Dreadwind is gone, checking herself over for injuries. She then starts assessing damage... and she looks at Bruticus. Yeah, this probably isn't the best day she's had. Quickly, she moves over to the downed human she /can/ get to, using one hand to shield

Jayson from any falling debris as she speaks softly. "Can you speak to me? I'm going to get you to some of your medics. They can help you."

From Exo-Jet Apollo Class <James Bailey>, James Bailey watches Jayson and the troops get stomped. He shouts, "Kid!!" He lines up the targeting reticiles on his HUD on Bruticus' armor, searching for damaged parts. Then he stabs the down on the trigger controls savagely.

Powerglide was sliced in the abdomen area. Deep. It didn't really hurt at first untill he actually looked down at it. First there was just a deep slash, circuitry and wires hissing back at him. No big deal, right? But within seconds, the wound began to fill up with fluids; legs becomming slick as his inner life force began to dribble off the wound. Blue optics flashed a bit and grew dim, his entire body stiffening as he brought a hand to the wound; cradling it in pain, fingers grasping at it's sides. "Well, shit," was all he said, and then he fell forewards (on top of Fury with any luck. That'll teach 'er!) Offline? Not yet. Able to retaliate? No freakin' way.

Mecha-Tiger <Rampage> is flipped aft over teakettle and lands on his back. Wait, he's a cat, he's supposed to land on his FEET! Well, this was a fine state of affairs. With Dreadwind gone and Bruticus not up to the task, and absent any other ranking members, the Tiger transforms and shouts a desperate, "DECEPTICONS, RETREAAAAAAAAAAT!" Maybe Bruticus will get the message. He then takes off into the air.

Bruticus lifts his foot and glances under it, preparing to crush more humans when something catches his attention. It's a Decepticon and it's calling the retreat! "BRUTICUS OBEYS," announces Bruticus. "YOU HAVE BEEN SPARED, INSIGNIFICANT WORMS." Without complaint or hesitation or visible thought Bruticus turns away from the shredded ruins of the UN building and the poor broken troopers scattered around the scorched and bloodstained lawn, and follows after Rampage, immense feet thundering slowly away into the distance.

Not surprisingly, Arcee is phenomenally gentle as she lifts Jayson to move him over to where he can get help from the medics on scene. Once she sees him safely in their care, she stands and sighs, looking around. "Looks like we're on clean-up detail..." And after making sure there's nowhere else she can help, she gets right on that.

THE END