Why So Happy?

Synopsis: Compton Xabat unleashes a gruesome attack on Cybetron, and right in the middle of the Olympics!

Cybertron Olympic Site - Commercial District

This District is something of an experiment here on Cybertron, as it's designed for commerce between Transformers and other alien lifeforms. Trade between Cybertronians and aliens is rarely so well organized, with rows upon rows of small shops and warehouses laid out for both Transformer and alien use, although nearly all of the shops are run by Autobots or Decepticons currently due to the trepidation of visitors to invest in what is essentially a dying planet. Here you can buy all manner of harmless goods, ranging from energon cubes to sporting banners promoting your favorite combatants to knick-knacks and doodads and even whatchamacallits. The quality of goods ranges considerably, and you generally get what you pay for. Folks like Swindle could make a killing here.

 The cheery advertisements that have dominated Cybertronian airwaves thus far are suddenly interrupted! Instead, viewers observe a man clad in a leather jacket, slacks, and sunglasses. He's sneering at the camera. Hm... wait a minute... that's... Compton Xabat!? "Hello, men of Cybertron! You know, you've been on our world for quite some time, blowing the hell out of it. And, well, it's gotten kind of old. So, I decided to come over to YOUR world and blow the hell out of it, just to return the favor! Did you know that there are thousands upon thousands of caverns in your world? And that you often build settlements right on top of them? Just imagine if some deranged lunatic were to collapse the underlying supports! Why, who knows what devastation is possible?" He smirks, and the video ends.

 Emergency reports suggest some sort of catastrophe has occured in the Cybertronian Olympic Site, at the Commercial District!

One of the major retail centers in this district has been totally demolished, as if the ground opened up underneath it, and the store collapsed into it. Debris sticks out of the pit, and smoke and dust rise up forlornly from it. Everywhere, numerous humans, Cybertronians, and aliens, seem to be staggering or crawling from the scene of the catastrophe.

F-35B Lightning II  flies into the area, looking rather disgruntled for a fighter jet and with a thin coating of ice on her wings. Slaggit, if crazy people are going to be blowing up Cyberton from within its own tunnels, it's going to be her! Her, she says! Looking at the damage, she tries to think about what kind of explosives and rigging she'd use to do that kind of demolition.

Soundwave spins, folds, and collapses down into an innocuous-looking microcassette recorder, a fraction of his former size.

 Sunder says, "which store was it?"

Blue Microcassette Recorder rides along silently with someone.

 Sunder needs to know if it was a specific store, or if I can just make up what it is before I pose

 Compton Xabat says, "Er, Space Sam Goody's."

Mecha Tiger  seems to have taken interest with the events, as he makes his way to the scene. The gigantic tiger just looking about, then he actually sniffs at the air. More or less just a force of habit...OR is it? Regardless, the entire ordeal of destruction has him pondering.

Galvatron is carrying a shopping capsule with some ener-baguettes from a Decepticon ener-bakery sticking out of the top. He walks freely, since it's common knowledge that if you rip on Galvatron's choice of ener-baked ener-goods, he will shoot you in the ener-face. Every titanic Decepticon tyrant needs their 'me' time, and comfort fuel helps with the crippling, blinding migraines the leader has suffered as a result of mistakenly installing Americon's Head Mail software. However, Galvatron can all but smell the destruction in the air, and quickly stomps toward the retail site. "Wanton destruction and damage?!" the leader barks. "This must be the work of a Decepticon -- I am pleased!"

A Red and silver hovertruck speeds into the area...especially after that loons transmission......and slows down a bit....apparently scanning the surrounding area.

Sweepcraft  is attracted to the area by the explosion. He fervently searches for signs of the culprit, and at least he has assurance that it is not Geist. Or Singe, for that matter. He cares not for the loss of merchandise, both ancient and modern, and he's positive at least someone has an illegal copy somewhere on a computer downloaded from the internet anyway. But the massive hole in the ground reminds him of the aftermath of an earthquake.

Sunder's head disappears into his chest, his wings fold around him, and now he is in Sweepcraft mode, his headcannon still visible.

Flamin' Winnebago's engine growls as it carries it along one of the metallic highways leading to the Commercial District -- until the traffic starts to back up as a result of the catastrophe. Pressing the breaks, Rodimus squeals down to a halt just a few inches around the bumper in front of him. "Come on..." He mutters, switching into the emergency lane, immediately resulting in honks from another annoyed commuters. "Make way! Autobot leader coming through!" He flashes his headlights, driving down the shoulder of the highway right up to the edge of the sinkhole.

"Not today, Galvatron," Rodimus replies, transforming and rising up to glare at his counterpart. "A human terrorist is responsible for this -- and you should count your lucky energon cubes that it is, because if it was one of YOU people violating the truce..." Rodimus points a threatening finger at Galvatron, leaving it at that. He then looks over his shoulder, waving on the first Autobot rescuers on the scene. "This way! There are lots of injured to attend to -- let's not waste any time, people!"

The high-tech winnebago transforms into a robot. Rodimus Prime is back! Let's party!

"All those records..." The small robot whose red and white marked him for the more informational nerd vs sports looked about as close as a Cybertronian could to about tearing up. Hand across his lower face, he'd only managed to lift, ah, 'aquire' a small sum of the merchandise in there when he'd last gone. Intending to finish off the job at a later date...alas. If it was one thing Rewind could lament, was the destruction of innocent information. Still, with a rueful headshake, he moved to obey orders. The heavier lifting could be done by the others, and maybe he could...rescue some discs.

Blue Microcassette Recorder falls out of the sky as one of Soundwave's random bird-tapes -- let's say Laserbeak -- drops him off at the scene. He transforms in mid air and flies down to land nearby Galvatron.

The innocuous-looking microcassette recorder rapidly unfolds and grows to immense proportions, becoming the Decepticon Communicator, Soundwave!

Sandstorm has reconnected.

The survivors of the attack are in a shambles. Spotting the arriving rescue forces--the Autobots, at least--they stumble towards them, moaning and groaning. "Oh, Primus!" one neutral Cybertronian says, clutching at Galvatron's shoulders. "You... you have to help them... there's people still trapped inside! Ungh..." The poor guy falls to his knees.

F-35B Lightning II transforms into robot form. Catechism's feet unfold, her arms unfold out of her body, her nosecone rotates through her body and ends up on her body, and her wings rotate into position at her hips.

Firestar glides to a stop near the sink hole and transforms herself. "There's more underneath, hmm? Let's get to work then." She says opening one hip and bringing out her energy axe. "Hopefully there aren't more charges, but help would be appreciated."

The Hovertruck transforms into the Fabulous Autobot Femme, Firestar!

Catechism transforms and drops down to the ground, landing lightly. She does not question her revered leader's choice of baked goods. Ener-baguettes make excellent bludgeons in improv combat, anyway. Instead, she looks around the area, rubbing her chin. If she was a mad bomber... wait. She kinda is. If she was a *human* mad bomber, where would she put the extra charges to whack the rescue crew, when they inevitably arrive? Hmm...

Leaping up, Avalanche transforms into his titanic robot mode.

Avalanche quickly interposes himself between Rodimus and Galvatron. "Learn to show respect, Kossack." He says simply, as he transforms and looks down at the smaller mech. "You are having no right to threaten us, with such...." He can't even finish his sentence as he chuckles. His optics begin to look around, as more and more Autobots arrive. "Well, Ill be leaving it at that..." Yet Avalanche doesnt completely move infront of Galvatron, lest he risk an energy blast moving him out of the way. "No point in having the truce broken over such a -petty- act."

Above, there is an orange helicopter. It comes almost to rest on a tall building but TRANSFORMS into a dune buggy! The dune buggy screeches forward, off of the building, intent on landing on the next building over... and calmly transforms into a helicopter just as it's about to do so. It serenely lands, then transforms into SANDSTORM, who stands right by Rodimus Prime.

"Rodimus, I have been doing some EDUCATIONAL RECON and I have come to a conclusion. We need reform, and we need it now. Our liberties are in danger. And going against the status quo, /your/ status quo is a dangerous mission! But I /live/ for danger! So who better than to lead the AUTOBOT REVOLUTION than me... Dr. Sandstorm?!"

Sandstorm holds up his new doctorate ceritificate, straight from the University of Space Phoenix.

Galvatron's response to a neutral touching him is to uppercut him so hard he's knocked back /off/ of his knees to a standing position.

Galvatron then whirls toward the approaching Rodimus Prime. "Save your idle threats, Prime -- I will wear your face as a charming holiday mask as my Decepticon warriors drink energon in celebration of not only Olympic dominance, but in using it as a springboard to /annihilating every last one of your wretched Auto-buffoons!/" Galvatron throws his shopping capsule down in rage, and glares 'round, looking for any Decepticons present. "DECEPTICONS!" he screams, "Keep the Autobots away from the scene! We shall find any evidence left by this so-called 'human terrorist' and use it to hunt him down like the fleshy /dog/ he is!"

"OOF!" grunts out the neutral survivor as he is violently forced back to his feet by the uppercut. He rubs his jaw as he staggers back, and says, "Y-you're not going to help us? Bastards!" Turning to Rodimus Prime, he yells, "Please, I implore you! There's more people down there!"

Meanwhile, Xabat watches the robots gather from his secret hiding place, and smirks. "Yes, so many people to save. Better get to it, boys and girls..."

"SAVE NO ONE!" Galvatron roars. "ALL THAT MATTERS IS /US/!"

Firestar turns back to Galvatron, shakes her head and gets back to work. She begins to cut away some of the beams and pylons in the area, hopefully opening a tunnel big enough for her to get through.

Catechism figures that people like Avalanche can try to keep the Autobots away. She's going to go for the evidence. Catechism hovers down, trying to get the epicentre of the blast to get a better idea of what happened. Hmm, C4? TNT? Dynamite? Spark to a gas line? Just what did their 'friend' use here?

"You might want to look at the medal count before you blow your paycheck on fancy high-grade, Galvatron," Rodimus retorts, giving Avalanche only a scowl before turning to look at Firestar with concern. "Secondary explosions are a risk we're just going to have to take," he says, sternly, wading into the debris despite Galvatron's claims to otherwise. "But keep your optics open for explosive devices!" Rodimus reaches out with a steadying hand for the shoulder of the True Neutral Galvatron uppercutted, looking him over with concern for signs of serious injury. "We're doing what we can -- in the meantime, go wait by the highway," he instructs, pointing to the highway he had just driven off of a few minutes earlier. "We'll have medical assistance for you shortly."

Kneeling down, the Flaming One lifts up a collapsed support beam, his Autobot logo glowing and projecting a spotlight into the crevasse. "Uh, Sandstorm..." He says, considering the triplechanger, "I'm not really sure what you're talking about -- but do you mind lending a /hand/ here?"

Avalanche succeeds in grasping Rodimus Prime, throwing him off-balance.

"Of course I will lend a hand to the CYBERTRONIAN PEOPLE in this DOMESTIC MATTER, Rodimus Prime. But know that your chain of command is not going to go unchallenged. Some of us TRUE AUTOBOTS are speaking out now, and it is time for a change. It is time for the Sandstorm rEVOLution!" Sandstorm begins to dig through beams and stuff, generally stepping into more fires than he has to and being a pretty bad hazard to himself. "I'm here to help you, fellow Cybertronians! SANDSTORM is a man of action!"

Avalanche advances and grasps Rodimus by the shoulder, even as the Autobot lifts a support beam. That doesn't last long, as with a quick pull, the Horrorcon pulls Rodimus and tosses him to the side. "His lord Galvatron said LEAVE!" He roars at the Autobot, those optics of his glowing bright red. "Or am I to be repeating myself?" He asks, and turns to face the Matrix-bearer.

Soundwave reaches up to touch his shoulder. "Rumble, Frenzy, eject. Operation: minesweeping." The two little red and blue Cassetticons hop out and start running around the rubble to check under rocks, snickering at each other. Soundwave himself walks over to Galvatron. "Lord Galvatron, Soundwave reporting." That done, he turns to face the Autobots, striding out into the ground between the Cons and the Bots. "Autobot presence.. unnecessary (unwanted..)."

"Oh, thank you!" the neutral robot says. He manages to smile and says, "My name's Uphill, by the way." Uphill, aside from the dent on his chin, doesn't appear to be terribly damaged. He appears to have had some hasty welding done on him, but that was probably just a cheap local mechanic fixing him.

It's hard to say how at this point, but it appears that the ground underneath the shopping center gave way, and gravity brought it down a hundred feet or so. Frenzy doesn't initially find any extra charges *at the site,* but perhaps it is too early to tell at this point. Also, Firestar manages to find some aliens cowering in what was once a restroom, and which somehow managed to stay in good enough shape to protect them from falling debris.

Sweepcraft  hovers above, sweeping the area for more explosives. "Shall I use physical force to remove these Autobot annoyances, My Lord?" he asks Galvatron.

Sunder sweeps the area.

"Whatever, Sandstorm -- just do it!" Rodimus retorts without looking, concerned eyes scanning the collapsed passageway just before his look of concern is replaced by one of surprise. "Hey--!" Rodimus is tossed to the side by Avalanche, shoulder grinding into a pile of ashy debris. Without Rodimus to hold the passageway open, it collapses again with a heavy groan of metal slamming against metal. "Galvatron isn't /my/ 'Lord'," Rodimus replies, pushing himself back up to his feet. "We're not going anywhere until these people are safe." He turns his lined face to regard Galvatron, now. "Galvatron -- call off your thugs! Do I have to remind you we have a /truce/?"

Catechism gets out her bomb tool kit, complete with all the parts for assembly and disarmament, and she searches the epicentre. Catechism wrinkles her nose and sniffs. Snoddy neutral construction. Scrapper's work would need to be dumped into a ocean first, at the very least, before it would explode likes this.

The blue Firetruck is literally a blurr of motion, reacting and responding to the distress call he caught on the APB. Property destruction.. ...survivors... ...just what the Protectobots were built for. Hot Spot hits the brakes on arrival of the scene, transforming rather quickly and breaking out into a light jog. From what he can ascertain at the moment, there is some sort of cave in. Civilians may be stranded, needing an airlift out. The Protectobot Commander mutters something into his comlink, then moves into action. "Make way please... ...Coming through!"

Firestar climbs on down (with help of her axe) and goes to help out the survivors in the restroom. She reaches out a hand and tells the survivors "come on!" to get them to safety....

"The Autobots can /save/ whatever /worthless grease-stains/ they like, Sunder, but if they get in your way, /shoot to kill/," Galvatron growls over to the Sweep. He turns to Rodimus with a triumphant smirk. "Because if they interfere with our attempt to /locate an Olympic terrorist/, I'm sure the Committee can be... swayed to see things from our point of view, that we only /HAD/ to hurt them -- no other choice! -- to protect the greater Olympics!" The Decepticon death-god chuckles darkly. "So. Will you be in our way, Rodimus? Or is your morbid interest in sifting for corpses greater than your desire to protect the teeming masses?"

Blades transforms into a helicopter. Inconspicuous!

Sandstorm has by now made a teepee out of broken beams and girders, to which he is shepherding blind aliens and their seeing eye-tentacle-monsters. "It is okay, you will be safe in there little friends. If you eelect me as Autobot leader, my Cybertron will be free of Terrorists and you will be able to buy any album by Carwash of Doom that you want to. Also, I will privatize the medbay sector!" Sandstorm says, helping a small turbo-kitten into a comfy basket reserved for abandoned babies and happy turbo-kittens.

Soundwave falls back to stand behind Galv's left shoulder, crossing his arms across his tape-deck. Playing enforcer, since Cyc and Scourge are incommunicado.

Meanwhile, Rumble and Frenzy have started just throwing rocks at each other.

Avalanche crosses his arms, making sure to be -in- Rodimus' way. Though as the others being to work their way to help, Avalanche begins to stalk over towards them. "This is being your last chance, do not hinder our efforts to save the masses from this maniac. Or I will have to MAKE you leave." Avalanche doesnt seem like one that will just back down because of some silly truce.

Rescue Helicopter  is right behind Hot Spot! Okay, well, not right behind him. He's in the air, and..whatever, you get the idea. Blades is here! Fortunately for any survivors, his job is to get them out of here. Unfortunately for him, well, he probably wont get a chance to punch someone in the face.

In response to the disturbance caused by the initial explosion and then, afterward, the frenzy of Decepticon activity the Combaticons are called out. In the lead, as usual, is Onslaught and arrayed above and behind him are the rest of the Combaticons to whom Onslaught rapidly gives his orders. "Vortex, you shall be the spotter for Brawl if that becomes necessary. Blast Off, you shall assist the other Decepticons in quelling the trouble in whatever way is necessary. Swindle, keep in mind I will order a search of you if I feel there is cause to do so." Onslaught then guns his engine and roars ahead toward the gathered Decepticon forces.

Firestar pretty much ignores the Decepticon threats and keeps working. As she gets the ones in the restroom out, she waves to the approaching Protectobots. "Over here, Hot Spot. We've got more down below!"

Uphill shakes a fist at Avalanche, yelling, "Hey! This guy's trying to help us! Don't you care at all?" He looks off to the side, and says, "Oh, finally, Six Lasers security is here!" And just as he promised, a small army of... Gobots?! comes charging out for the scene of the attack. "Hut hut hut hut!" says a Leader-1-ish fellow as he leads the pack. This is really odd, of course, since Gobots aren't supposed to be real.

Catechism gets a very faint whiff of explosive compounds. If she tries to trace the scent, it doesn't appear to be coming from the Same Goody's itself.

More survivors reach up hopefully to Firestar. One human mother holds up an infant and cries, "Take my baby out of here, please!"

Soundwave looks suspiciously down at the human woman. He pulls out a scanner from wherever he keeps tools, and runs it over her.

"Roget that Firestar..." Hot Spot mumbles, making his way to her. Ahhh, this looks tricky. They are trapped below a ways... ...it's going to tough. "Blades, get your cradle deployed and over here. Firestar and I will load the basket up with as many as possible!" The Protectobot Commander moves into action, reaching down with his arms to try and grab an innocent. "Where the blast is Streetwise?"

"Paranoid as usual, Galvatron," Rodimus replies, none-too-pleased with Galvatron's presence at the scene of such a disaster. "You should know better by now -- The Autobots are only here to help those that need it. You're the ones in /our/ way," he says, indicating Avalanche with a jerk of his head, "And /not/ the other way around. We have just as much interest in catching the terrorist as you do."

Rodimus turns his head to the sky, watching Blades fly by. "Thank Primus... /The Protectobots./" The sight of the Autobot civil protection team brings a little bit of hope to Rodimus' optics, and he goes right back to trying to extract survivors from the collapsed entry tunnel. With a grunt, he braces the support beam on his shoulder, flexing his knees and lifting the crumbling mass on his shoulders, with his arms spread wide. "This way--!" He grunts, looking to the Gobot Security Team. "There are more people down the passageway!"

No, the baby isn't actually a bomb, or have bombs strapped around it. The mother checks out, too. Phew!

Catechism does indeed try to trace the scent. She sniffs more deeply, because hey, that robot nose isn't just there so her face doesn't have a huge hole in it. She mutters to herself. "Not coming from here. Hnn. But where...?" Catechism looks around, movements darting and edgy.

"Pff." Galvatron raises a blaster and points it at the baby. "Human terrorist located. Bomb disguised as infant human -- about to be neutralized."

Gavlatron, unfortunately, does not use his scanner. His finger is about to close on the trigger!

Soundwave ignores Galvatron. He picks up the human woman and nonchalantly tosses her at Rodimus. Maybe Galv will cannon Rod while he's at it.

Sandstorm succeeds in grasping Galvatron, throwing him off-balance.

A flurry of shifting, twisting and contorting ensues as Impulse transforms into the sleek, streamlined form of a gold hovercar.

Sweepcraft  knows full well the baby isn't a bomb, but since he believes the human race needs a severe culling if not complete obliteration, he does not object to Galvatron's actions. He continues his scan for the explosives.

"BABIES ARE THE NON-ROBOT FUTURE!" Sandstorm screams, and leaps headfirst at Galvatron. He transforms into a Dune Buggy to tackle the tyrannical leader of the Decepticong, to shake his aim away from the baby. "The Autobot Constitution says Freedom is the Right of all Sentient Beings, whioch should be Sapient Beings, but I will not argue with the Autobot Constitution, I will UPHOLD IT at all costs even if it means voting down eVERY AUTOBOT BILL!!"

Basically, a dune buggy is yelling at Galvatron.

"Roger that, Hot Spot," Blades responds as he continues to make his way over to the wreckage. Once coming to the spot in question, he does as told and drops the Load-a-Human (tm) basket, "C'mon! C'mon! Shove them in there!"

Sandstorm slams into Galvatron's knee, causing his shot to go wide and instead hit a poster of a grey-haired and wrinkled Lloyd Banks clinging to a broken, bomb-damaged wall. "GGGAAAHHH!" the Decepticon leader roars, clutching his dented knee. "What are you even /talking about/?!" the tyrant roars, frustrated. "Your politics are of no use here!"

Onslaught spots Blades starting to hover over a certain spot but, as Vortex is engaged elsewhere at the moment, Onslaught decides to take matters into his own hands. He comes to a stop, his barrels already raising upward and turning toward Blades's location, before his barrels charge and he fires off a dual blast in the direction of the Protectobot helicopter.

Firestar reaches over with the baby and puts it into the basket. She then starts to get the mother as well. "You too lady. COme on." She says taking the female in her arms. "I've got the ones here, Hot Spot. You go ahead of me. be careful, there could be more explosives!" Onslaught strikes Rescue Helicopter  with Firing Forward Batteries.

Upon closer inspection, some of the Go-bots have duplicates of themselves. There goes two Cop-Turs running side-by-side, for instance. Eventually, the Go-Bots near the site of the incident, line up, and then... stand on each other's shoulders, forming a triangle. Dun dun dun dun DUN DUN! "The GOBOTS!" they sing. "THE GOBOTS!" They hold up glow sticks and thrash them around madly. "THE GOBOTS!"

"...it's part of a cross-promotional deal with Paramount, coinciding with the release of Michael Bay's Gobots movie on DVD," the Leader-1 mech, who is not in formation, explains to Rodimus. "We're not really Go-Bots, of course. These are just exo-suits. They don't even transform! Eheh. Well, anyway, we have to finish singing the song before we can help."

Somewhere, Compton Xabat is facepalming to himself. "Ugh. I'm up against idiots."

Catechism may notice that the scent is leading towards... another, tower-like structure nearby!

Catechism follows her nose, o-ho-ho-ho! She is now in a demented cereal commercial or something. Ignoring the Baby Chucking Event, she surrepetitiously attempts to sneak over to a nearby tower. Catechism looks at it as if she expects it to explode.

The Protectobot Commander has a tough call on his hands... ...the big decision. If there is a bomb out there still, Defensor is their best hopes of getting /every/ single person out of harms way. But what if they cannot control the Gestalt technology like many times before? What if they do more harm than good? Hot Spot shakes his head to the side, and moves his giant arms up towards Blade's basket... ...then the Combaticon Leader Onslaught strikes his comrade... ...while he was saving a life no less!

With the civilian safe and sound, Hot Spot turns around and glares at the missile truck. He points a finger out, "You made the worst mistake of your miserable life buddy! Protectobots MERGE!"

Hot Spot shouts, "Protectobots, MERGE to form Defensor!"

With a shudder of metal, the Protectobots undergo a stunning transformation and combine into the mighty form of Defensor!

Defensor has arrived.

Defensor stomps into the room.

Firestar climbs her way further down into the sinkhole.

 Compton Xabat's voice cracks out over broadband frequencies. "Hahahaha, oh, this is rich! The people of Cybertron don't care enough about their own kind to lift a finger to save them! And meanwhile Olympic Security is making fools of itself! Good thing I'm videotaping all of this!"

Avalanche succeeds in grasping Firestar, throwing it off-balance.

Avalanche reaches down, and pulls Firestar out of the hole. "I am thinking not, Autobot wench." He tosses the smaller femme away from the openning.

Soundwave receives the broadcast. He starts looking around for the source..

The dune buggy transforms into robot mode, "Did you see, Autobots? I saved the baby from harm, not Rodimus Prime! I have your best interests in mind!" With that, he is an idiot so he tries to punch Galvatron in the face while the cameras may or may not be watching!

Slow motion. A woman has been /thrown/ at Rodimus Prime -- the robot whose main function is "To Protect All Life." Dropping the load on his shoulders, Rodimus dives away from the collapsing tunnel -- both hands outstretched -- carefully craddling the woman to absorb the energy of Soundwave's toss. However, gentle and daft as he may be, Rodimus' hands are still giant and metal, and not necessarily the best thing to be /thrown/ into by a giant robot. Rodimus grinds into the ground, both hands clasped together around the woman, his face pushed into the debris. Slow motion ends -- and Rodimus lifts his head, fearing the worst. Slowly opening his clasped hands, the grimace on his face shows that he fears the worst, but his expression tells all of what he sees. He immediately relaxes for the moment, breathing a sigh of relief as he sees the human woman alive but clearly scared. "Ma'am, you're safe," he says, simply, not sure of how else to announce her imminent death had been averted. He sets the woman down before standing up, then promptly draws his photon eliminator rifle.

PFOOOOM! A crackling yellow-white blast races into the air, discharging with a thunderous boom. "Galvatron!" Rodimus roars, "Reign in your Decepticons /now/ or the truce is /over/!"

Leader-1 waves his hands around and yells, "Hey! Stop fighting! We haven't finished our routine yet!" Elsewhere, his other Go-Bot companions are still thrashing those glow sticks about and singing, "THE GOBOTS! THE GOBOTS!" The neutral civilian, Uphill, watches all this go on blandly.

The tower Catechism is sniffing, once she approaches, positively REEKS of explosives. Yeah, you got a live one!

Sweepcraft  has his own fiendish ideas. He transforms, landing near some rescue crews. "Don't go near there! That's where the explosives are, and they're about to blow!" Well, it was /half/ true...

Galvatron grins madly as he watches Defensor rise. He turns to face Rodimus, and doesn't reply at all, instead raising a rist in an imperious salute to his own bad self. "Combaticons... form /BRUTICUS/ and keep this /combining klutz/ at bay." Lowering his fist, Galvatron takes a few confident steps toward Rodimus, his grin leering and unpleasant. "Go ahead, Prime. Is that what the /Matrix/ is telling you to do? Hmm? Well, /Hot Rod/? What happened to the robot who let his actions speak louder than words, eh? What happened to the young turk who so impetuously ran into battle, even when it got his leader killed? Or are you over that, a big robot now, ready to make the mistake that will kill /another/ Autobot leader -- /you/?"

Galvatron throws his arms out into a cross position. "Go ahead. Shoot me. Hit me. /Stab/ me if you so desire." He turns his head and dims his optics. "I won't even look. Free shot, Prime. Go on. Do it. Hit me. /HIT ME/! /DO IT!/"

Catechism informs DCI, so that Soundwave doesn't get all up in her grill about mucking around where she doesn't belong again. Slowly, slowly, she stalks around the tower, looking for obvious methods of entrance and not-so-obvious ones, as well.

Onslaught looks up at the towering shape of Defensor as he looms above him as the Protectobots merge and relizes quickly that an equal response is called for. He activates his comm, sending out an emergency signal to the Combaticons, and once they are all assembled he turns to face them. "Combaticons, we have been challenged by an opponent who believes themselves superior to us. We shall show them the error of their ways...now, do your duty for the Empire, and merge!

Blast Off has connected.

Swindle creeps up alongside Onslaught. He's chatting it up with Blast Off, "And so I said 'but Runamuck's a classic! In prime shape! He only drives anywhere on Sunday afternoons', and so finally the guy relents and takes Runamuck off my hands for forty-eight energon cubes. I was going to try and jack up the price to fifty energon cubes, but the guy threatened to cut off my ball bearings so I figured it was best to play it safe. So instead I sold him an insurance package to go along with him. Those Battlechargers break like you wouldn't believe." Swindle finally reaches Onslaught. He looks up. "Oh hey, Defensor. HEY! DEFENSOR!" Swindle cups his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. "WANT SOME ACCIDENT INSURANCE?! IT COVERS ALL ACTS OF BRUTICUS KICKING YOUR ASS! HA HA HA HA, BUT WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF THAT, AM I RIGHT? HA HA HA!" He elbows Blast Off a few times, trying to get his fellow Combaticon to laugh with him. He then looks to Onslaught and says in a deadpan voice. "Soooo... what'd I miss? We doing this thing or what?"

 Compton Xabat says, "Oh, you robots. You were so *happy* earlier. Now, look at you. Squabbling like school boys. Ok. I have some demands. I have the means to kill a great many of you, including your leaders! Unless Cybertron submits to me in the next five minutes, you're all going to die. And believe me, I can do it."

 Grimlock says, "Hn? Me 'member you!"

<Cybertron> Compton Xabat says, "Hnngh. The dinosaur."

<Cybertron> Grimlock says, "You Compy-Batman talk too much!"

<Cybertron> Associated Pressbot Soundwave breaks in with an important announcement! "THIS JUST IN! Space Sam Goody's in Cybertron's bustling Commercial Sector at the Olympic grounds. We've got some preliminary audio feed that suggest the Autobots are trying to horn in on the Decepticon's rescue operation! We take you live to the scene..

"Someone who sounds like Galvatron says, ".. to protect the greater Olympics! So. Will you be in our way, Rodimus?"

Someone who sounds like Rodimus Prime says, "You should know better by now -- The Autobots are only here to help *static* /our/ way."

All of a sudden, "DEFENSOR STRIKE FIRST!" comes the roar and then static!

The Associated Pressbot says, "Yikes! It looks like the Bots are going to start a rumble! More news HERE as it happens!"

<Cybertron> Grimlock says, "Is all 'blah blah blah, me have bomb!' but then me Grimlock EAT bomb. Problem solved!"

<Cybertron> Soundwave tried to set off his name in brackets. That should read Associated Pressbot (Soundwave), just as a signifier of the spoofer.

<Cybertron> Compton Xabat says, "What, you ate it!? That's--*he's cut off by Soundwave's transmission*"

<Cybertron> Catechism says, "Yeeees. Let us feed Grimlock the bomb."

As Galvatron's head is turned and his eyes care closed, as it were, Sandstorm punches him in the mouth. "You," he says, turning to face Sandstorm, "have just ruined a dramatic moment in history." He reaches for Sandstorm's face to pieface him to the ground. "Now, Rodimus Prime. Where /were/ we."

Galvatron succeeds in grasping Sandstorm, throwing it off-balance.

Blast Off reaches out to punch Swindle square in the head. He does not take being elbowed lightly. "Primus. At least he took the insurance. I remember that Runabout you sold me. Fragger went off and broke his arm within three days, being an idiot and falling off the Eiffel Tower.

..although, in retrospect, that was rather hilarious. The plebians can be good for a laugh, at least." He pauses, as Swindle 'engages' Defensor. An evil smirk grows on his evil face.

"Swindle..does the policy have a death clause?"

Grimlock is here! Really, he's not quite sure what's going on...but if it's got Rodimus and Galvatron and Defensor and Bruticus all in the same spot, it MUST be something important! He grunts a bit into his communictor, and then crosses his arms as he looks over the impending melee- in particular, Sandstorm getting smashified. "Hn. Him triple-changer not so bright."

<Cybertron> Sunder says, "I do not care if he eats the bomb, so long as he does not blow up in my faceplates."

<Cybertron> Galvatron snorts. "Ah, our mystery terrorist. Enjoy your threats while you can, human germ, for you are not long for this galaxy. Now -- I have more /important/ quarrels to deal with."

Onslaught stops suddenly after concluding his speech as Swindle begins his shouted pitch to Defensor, his stance expressiong surprise at the sudden outburst, but then turns to Blast Off as the other begins to speak. "We do not have time for this, Combaticons. We must prepare ourselves for Defensor's attack. Now, engage your merging sequence!

Firestar is thrown....not very far of course...and she lands on her feet. "Apparently Avalanche enjoys the possibility of being blown up."

The Autobot tripleguy known as Sandstorm gets piefaced to the ground. His robo-nose gets broken and he just sort of lays there. "I punched Galvatron... for the good of the Autobots! I hope this video goes on my campaign webpage!"

<Cybertron> Compton Xabat says, "You didn't finish the job back in Korea, Galvatron. And after today, I'll still be here. Heheheh."

<Cybertron> Galvatron says, "In spirit, anyway."

Swindle looks back at Blast Off. "For us or for them? Whoop! Sorry Defensor, we got business to take care of. Have your components call our components! We'll do lunch!" Swindle makes the universal 'telephone' symbol with his hands before rushing over to Onslaught. The Combaticon shifts down into his jeep mode before rearing upwards.

Avalanche stops, and drops the Autobot femme as the Dinobot appears. A smirk moving over his lips, as he looks to Grimlock. "Ah....Grimlock, so nice to be seeing you again..." He clomps towards the Grimster, his hand screeching with strain as he clenches his fist tightly. "I owe you for Dinobot island, don't I?"

Impulse moves west to the Cybertron Olympic Site - Intersection.

Impulse has left.

Soundwave reaches up to his shoulder and quietly emits, "Buzzsaw, eject. Operation: triangulation." He slaps a radio receiver on the bird's back and sends him off to fly all over the place. He then tosses one in Frenzy's direction. Frenzy grabs it and laughs maniacally, running around holding it like he's flying a kite with it.

Blast Off shifts frantically into his rather large shuttle mode, which should perturb anyone who happened to be in the open space where he now sits, momentarily, before flying up into position. "Good. After tonight...five less peasants to annoy me."

You receive a radio message from Soundwave: Negotiation commencing. Elaborate.

Catechism gets frustrated with looking for entrances, and she attempts to just tear a new door into the tower... but gently. Y'know. Don't wanna set anything off.

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!

Bruticus has arrived.

Grimlock grunts at Avalanche. "Me Grimlock say you kitty-bot DUMB. You go talk to him Swindle 'bout owing stuff!" he says, and then brings his hands up to crack his knuckles. "Me Grimlock should SMASH you!" he says. "...But first Me Grimlock need find 'splodey thing so him Batman shut up."

You send a radio message to Soundwave: It's quite simple, ROBOT. Surrender, or DIE. I have the capability to do it. Doubt me at your peril.

Firestar sighs and walks her way past Avalanche. "I'm not interested in who's processor is bigger here....I'm off to find this bomb....among other things." She says as she runs on by and jumps into the sink hole. Nope...she's not sticking around for THIS melee.

Rodimus Prime turns his head parallel with his shoulder, watching Defensor first rise -- then Bruticus. Frowning at the escalation, he against regards Galvatron, allowing his rifle barrel to rest against his shoulder, pointing to the sky for now. Rodimus begins to walk with determination towards the Decepticon leader, his shoulders squared and his expression determined. He comes face-to-face with Galvatron -- providing nothing interferes. "Galvatron," he nearly spits. "I've never seen a mech so eager to have his aft /stamped/ into sheet metal." He jabs a finger at the Decepticon's purple chest. "I'm not going to give you the /satisfaction/. If you want to ruin the ceasefire, fine, then /do it./ Stop playing around -- it's unbecoming of a so-called 'Emperor'." He gestures to the sinkhole. "So what'll it be, Galvatron -- do you keep playing this infantile game, or do we get down to business? I was willing to wait another week for the war to resume, but --" He gestures to the sinkhole, "If you just can't /wait/ to get back to mindless destruction, just /say so/ and we can put aside this whole ruse of a truce. It's clear you /Decepticons/ have no intent of honoring it in the lsightest."

Soundwave's optic scans the area nearby...

You receive a radio message from Soundwave: Define terms.

Defensor optics flicker as his optics lower down on Avalanche, but does take notice of Bruticus forming, old times never seem to end. The large autobot Gesault clenches his right fist for a moment, before it throws out a force-field around Avalanche to hold him in place, to allow Firestar to do what she needed to do, though-- this may foil Grimlock's plans for the moment. He'll deal with Bruticus shortly. One thing at a time.

Defensor successfully activates a powerful protective forcefield around Avalanche, shielding him from the next attack.

Defensor successfully activates a powerful protective forcefield around Avalanche, shielding him from the next attack.

Frenzy runs around the area, cackling and sprinting his way past Uphill. Buzzsaw flies in a circle overhead..

Avalanche leans forward, and gives a -bring it- motion with his hands, "Im waiting Grimlock, or are you afraid?" Yet, he jerks his head to the side. His optics taking in the forcefield. "Oh...need a forcefield to stop me? I always knew you were a coward, Dinobot. But...not even mech enough to fight your own battles, you sicken me."

Bruticus rears up once the merging is complete, turning slowly to face the Autobot gestalt, as he raises his own arms over his head and smashes them together as the glimmer of the forcefield forms around Avalanche. "MRRR...BRUTICUS KNOW DEFENSOR WEAK WITHOUT SHIELD! BRUTICUS WAIT, THEN CRUSH!" The tower doesn't explode when Catechism tries to find a way in, but there is a fellow in there, a disturbed looking human with wide eyes, who raises up a hand and says, "Mmm sorry, mmm. Closed. Go 'way."

Leader-1, meanwhile, thrashes his hands at the other Go-Bots. "C'mon, guys, hurry up!" At his prodding, they sing, "THEGOBOTSTHEGOBOTSTHEGOBOTS!"

Grimlock grunts- and then shoots an accusing glare at "Stupid Defensor!" he hnfs, and looks back at Avalanche, shrugging. "You Avalance NOT WORTH ME GRIMLOCK TIME." and with that...he just strolls past the fuming Decepticon, so as to peer down into the crater. "You Firestart find bomb yet? Me Grimlock great at defusing bombs!"

"Ah," Galvatron says, still giving Rodimus the smuggest of all possible looks. "I knew you had potential, lad. I just didn't know how much you had -- as much as ever, Prime, you have the potential to /disappoint/." Galvatron steps forward, getting right -- in -- Rodimus' -- grill. "The potential to let down your precious faction. You could have ended it, Prime. I was standing there, defenseless. You could have struck me down, killed me, and ended the war. It would have been..." Galvatron leans in to Rodimus' audial and whispers. ".../so easy/." He pulls his head back -- "But once again... you blew it for them. I wonder -- will they resent you for it?"

Avalanche shifts his optics as Grimlock walks past him, "No wonder you were Optimus Prime's -pet-."

Catechism glowers at the human, putting on her best 'I am an evil death machine, rar' glare as she attempts to loom over him. She then attempts to grab him and fling him out into the commotion, roaring, "This whole tower *stinks* of explosives, so you had better start talking, Mr. Closed!"

You send a radio message to Soundwave: What do you think? Unconditional surrender. All of your kind leaves the planet, forever. 10 billion astroliters of energon paid to the nations of Earth in reparations. Total disarmament of your factions. Oh, and we'll have to leave a, ah, "peacekeeping" force on your planet to keep you from getting any ideas about revenge. How does that sound?

Grimlock pauses...and then grunts at Avalanche, pointing glaringly at the kittybot. "Me Grimlock deal with you LATER." he says. "'Sides, if you so great, how come you stuck, huh? You dummy!" and with that, he hops down into the hole. "Me Grimlock save planet now!"

Soundwave stalks around in what seems to be a random pacing pattern. As it turns out, he's getting closer to some neutral that got punched by Galvatron. By coincidence, of course.

Avalanche grins and shakes his head, "Whatever you say, Grimlock. I was the one -BEING- stopped. Otherwise if you were so strong, they would have put the shield around you. ME AVALANCHE KING!" He says, trying to taunt the Dino into action.

The Sweep is ready to fight if Galvatron orders it, but right now he's still busy passive-aggressively manipulating rescue workers. He knows that breaking the truce will have serious consequences, so he waits until Galvatron actually gets them to fire a shot.

"Sure you king!" comes Grimlock's voice from within the whole. "King of STUPIDS!"

You receive a radio message from Soundwave: Terms unacceptable. Counter-offer: destroy Autobots, Decepticons will return to Cybertron.

You send a radio message to Soundwave: Hmmm... interesting, but see, I have the upper hand, so why compromise?

More humans begin to climb slowly out of the sinkhole......thankfully they're mostly unharmed....except for one who looks like he's lost a leg.

Uphill just stands there, a bland expression on his face. He doesn't seem terribly concerned about the injuries he sustained earlier.

"Mmm, ow," the disturbed human says, after being flung away by Catechism. He gets up and limps after her. "Don't go there. No. Don't." The building is otherwise unoccupied.

The Autobot Gestalt leans down to the massive hole in the street, but it seems sort of small for Defensor. He gestures towards some aliens huddled up, sitting on a ledge that looks like it's about to buckle under the strain. <<DEFENSOR... ...HERE TO HELP!>> he bellows out, flicking his front finger back towards itself once or twice. Placing them on the ground, the lummox of a robot continues the process

"Galvatron," Rodimus replies, not backing down. "Seeing me compromise my ideals is not worth your death. In the fog of your insanity, even /you/ have to know that." He breaks his staredown with Galvatron to regard the sinkhole site, checking on the progress of the rescue efforts -- and keeping an optic out for any other potential dangers, Decepticon or otherwise. "So I hope you're amused with the little solipsism you've crafted for yourself here. For me -- it's been great for buying time." He smirks, folding his arms over his chest.

You receive a radio message from Soundwave: Successful negotiation will prevent retributive action.

Grimlock blunders around, down in a hole- occasionally depositing handfuls of humans none-too-gently upon the surface! Still, to his credit, he doesn't really smoosh anything squishy- one gets the impression of a kid putting away toys he doesn't really care about.

Catechism searches the building, overturning anything that can be overturned and peeling open wall panels. She sniffs loudly, her bomb disarmament kit at the ready. Catechism glares over at the human and demands, "Just go out there and die, fleshling, if you aren't going to explain what you're doing here."

Bruticus again smashes his fists together before swinging his right arm out to his side, knocking the spire off a perfectly innocent medium power transmission tower, before he lurches closer toward Defensor but then stops as he engages his Trash Talking Subroutine(Beta version). "LITTLE AUTOBOT GESTALT NO FIGHT? BRUTICUS NO SURPRISED!"

Soundwave keeps.. getting... closer..

You send a radio message to Soundwave: From who, exactly? With your leaders dead, you'll be utterly confused and disoriented, fighting amongst yourselves aimlessly. The human race will have the advantage against the survivors. Oh, remind me to thank the Autobots for giving us the means to make exo-suits. It'll really help once we invade YOUR planet.

As Rodimus folds his arms, Galvatron's face suddenly twitches. Could the Autobot leader's words have pushed the mad tyrant that far? It looks like, as Galvatron staggers a few steps backward, clutching his helmet so hard that he crushes some of the detail work. "NNNNGHHH," he blurts, sounding, well, agonized. "NNNNNOOOOOO NNNNNOTTT NNNNOOOWWWW," he howls, sounding as if he's trying to ward off a demon entering his brain. "NNO -- NO -- MY MOMENT -- MY DESTINY -- MY DESTINNNNYYYYYYAAAAAAARRRRGGHHHHH!"

Suddenly bodily seizing, Galvatron thrashes his arms wildly, optics super-bright, as crimson as an ocean of flaming blood or some other awesome Viking album-cover image. "YOU PATHETIC LITTLE /WRETCH/!" he screams at Avalanche, firing his cannon at the forcefield. He fires again, into the air, hitting nothing, not even /aiming/. "RODIMUS PRIME! UNDER OLYMPIC STIPULATIONS... I CHALLENGE YOU HERE... NOW... ONE ON ONE... TO THE /DEATH/!"

Galvatron misses Avalanche with his Madman Shot attack.

The bombs appear to have been stacked up against one side of the tower's wall, the intention, perhaps, to make the tower fall over... onto the site of the first attack! "Nn nnn nnn no!" the disturbed human grunts out, clutching at Catechism's leg.

Galvatron strikes Avalanche with Madman Shot.

"THE /DDDDDEEEEEAAAAATTTTTHHHH/!" Galvatron repeats, to the heavens.

Catechism shakes her leg, trying to shake the human off, making a singularly disgusted face. She grumbles, "You are like some mad... gecko, fleshing. Gross." Over at the bombs, she kneels and tries to decipher just how they have been wired and if there are any tricks or traps to prevent her from just disarming them.

Soundwave looks around like he's searching for something. His optics barely catches a glimpse of Uphill's. His back is to the neutral mech, and his head swings back and forth, almost like he's frustrated. Then, all of a sudden, he spins and lunges for Uphill's head with both hands, looking to immobilize him. Or crush him. Or something.

Soundwave succeeds in grasping Compton Xabat, throwing him off-balance.

Avalanche throws his arms to the side, as the attack bursts through the shield and strikes him dead center. Which sends him skidding back, and going to his knee. The wound is painful, that's for sure. Yet the Horrorcon smiles. "Sometimes...*spark* you have to be willing to do what you have to." With that, Avalanche follows the Autobot and Dinobot down the hole.

Grimlock continues to tromp away underground- though he soon pulls out his sword, so as to hack & pry away at the wreckage- really enjoying the opportunity to wreck stuff up, more than anything...and then, the cramped hole gets rather MORE cramped, with the addition of Avalanche! "Hrn! What you want?" he grunts, shoving the tigercon away. "Me Grimlock BUSY! Me Grimlock SAVING PEOPLES." Meanwhile, a wide-eyed accountant cowers from the pair. "Don't let the grey guy with the sword eat me!" he says.

Even Rodimus flinches slightly in the face of Galvatron's outburst -- optics shifting to track the trajectory of each cannon blast, which fortunately seem to be directed at Galvatron's own troops rather than anyone else. "No," Rodimus replies, simply. "I'm here on a mission to /save people/, not indulge your pathetic whims, Galvatron." He turns towards the sinkhole now, concern returning to his face. "And you've been nothing but a distraction. You want to fight me, Galvatron? Wait for the exhibition match like everyone else."

Uphill's head *comes right off* in Soundwave's hands. And underneath that is another head: Compton Xabat's! The human terrorist grins over at Soundwave. "Ooh, sneaky little devil! But you're too late, my friend!" The robot, which Xabat had been controlling all along, holds up some sort of a transmitter. "This is a deadman's switch, Soundwave!" Xabat says. "If I let go, the bombs go off, and everyone dies! So, do you feel lucky, hmm?"

Elsewhere, the bombs that Xabat is threatening to blow up do indeed have a special feature--their wires are all the same color!

The disturbed human clings stubbornly to Catechism's leg. "Mmm, no. Boss needs bombs. Go 'way."

Firestar is busy cutting away at the beams in the way as well as the doors as Grimlock arrives. She then cuts at the door as Avalanche arrives. "somehow....I'm surprised Avalanche can fit in here....the fatty."

Defensor realizes he can't get to the humans and glances over to Bruticus as he makes his large remark toward him. He slowly stands up and takes a step back, getting some distance from the others, "THERE MORE THAN FIGHTING, BRUTICUS." His optics narrowed seeming to take a moment to processes the next part, "YOU WILL NEVER LEARN."

Defensor takes another step back, getting into some clearing area in hopes that Bruticus will follow, his footing standing ready however in case he has to take a defensive posture.

Avalanche succeeds in grasping Grimlock, throwing him off-balance.

"THE EXHIBITION MATCH," Galvatron roars, trembling and quaking with what appears to be /sheer insane rage/, "BEGINS /NOW/! AND LET THESE DOLTS AND IDIOTS WATCH... AS I EXHIBIT..." Galvatron suddenly /lunges/ forward, with surprising speed, hands pointed directly toward Rodimus' throat, "...HOW TO /MURDER/ AN AUTOBOT PRIME!"

Galvatron strikes Rodimus Prime with Super Choke.

Catechism facepalms. The wires all the same colour means that it's fiendishly hard to sort out what wire does what. However, Catechism does have a solution of... sorts. She withdraws a set of coloured SPACE Sharpies and colours the wires different colours to make it easier to see what's going on. She also tries to write, 'I am so lame,' on the disturbed human.

Bruticus remains where he is, having been ordered by someone important not to attack, even though he very much wants to but does not. Instead he picks up the upper half of the building he smashed where it came to rest on the ground beside him before drop kicking it to send it sailing clear over Defensor's head as he laughs in a deep chorlte. "HAHAHA...WHIMPYBOT KNOW NOTHING, LEARN NOTHING! LOOK, WIMPYBOT RUNNING AWAY TO SLOW!"

Avalanche slams his hand into the Dinobot's throat, and pushes him to the wall. The Horrorcon rears his hand back, and readies a strike. However, he stops as he looks at the survivors. For a moment, two conflicting emotions seem to be registering. His hatred for Dinobots, and his honor not to harm without provocation. "You're lucky there are so many unworthy here...."

Soundwave throws the fake head to one side, reaching his hand in to pinch Xabat's head between two fingers, if he can. But not compress, just threaten. His voice rips through the air at Compton, assaulting from all directions in multiple tones. "ADVANTAGE: LOST. YOU WILL DIE FIRST. RESUME NEGOTIATION." The vibration is probably rather painful. Very.

Soundwave succeeds in grasping Compton Xabat, throwing him off-balance.

Just as Galvatron gets his grasp in, though, something else triggers his sensitive madness, and he suddenly launches backward, as if touching Rodimus delivered an electric shock. "GGGGYYAAARRRRRGGGHHH!" he screams, clutching his head. "DDDAWWWW! NO! NOT AS I... NNNGGHHH!" Galvatron falls to the ground, legs kicking seemingly against his volition -- what is /happening/ to the mighty Decepticon?

Grimlock is tossed about! It's an unfamilliar sensation for the dinobot (no matter what one thinks after watching the Grimlock vs. Sky Lynx bouts)- and he doesn't like it at all! "Grrh!" Grimlock, lacking things such as 'honor' or the like, simply attempts to grab Avalanche by the HEAD, and then he activates his anti-gravs, taking off upwards...and THROUGH a chunk of Cybertron's surface, using the horrorcon as a ram! Looks like Firestar's on her own for rescue duty, now. "Can't you see? Me Grimlock BUSY DINOBOT!"

Grimlock succeeds in grasping Avalanche, throwing him off-balance.

Compton Xabat grits his teeth under the sonic assault as Soundwave gives new meaning to the phrase, "I'm pinching your head."

"Nnngh... so what?" Xabat grunts. "I don't have anything left to live for, anyway! You killed my men... crushed my dreams... there's nothing left for me, but vengeance. And if my dying means I take some of you with me, I call that a fair trade!"

Avalanche roars in pain, as he goes -through- a solid chunk of the planet's surface. "You glitch!" He bellows at the Dinobot, and activates his own anti-gravs. Trying to push the Dinobot into the jagged metal ground. "I've gave you your one chance, and you wasted it!"

Avalanche succeeds in grasping Grimlock, throwing him off-balance.

At the very least Catechism can mark the wires without setting anything off. The disturbed human is written on, but he only lets out a whimper and continues to hold on.

Firestar finally puts away her energy axe and SHOVES the doors open with all her might! "Everything's fine." Of course...she then steps forward and covers the entrance as Grimlock carries Avalanche through the ceiling. "Crazy dinobot. Come on!" She says to the survivors!

With carefully planned steps, Defensor moves himself away fromt he situation... ...it's obvious Bruticus wants to throw down... ...but the casulties it would cause here is too much. <<DEFENSOR RUBBER... ...BRUTICUS GLUE... ...>> He manages to back away from the scene without causing any more distress, his large mech feet making a *THUD* sound whenever it steps.

<<WHAT YOU SAY BOUNCES... ...BACK TO YOU!>> Yeah, that's the /best/ five minds could come up with.

Grimlock hits the ground, rolls- and then he's back on his feet. "HAW HAW HAW!" he says, and then swings a fist straight forward at Avalanche's faceplate! "You Avvy-lanche DUMMY! You no can beat me Grimlock!" he says, and then swings his other fist in a powerful arc. "You NEVER beat me Grimlock!"

Grimlock succeeds in grasping Avalanche, throwing him off-balance.

Catechism quietly tries to defuse the bombs, occasionally smacking the deranged human when she is particularly frustrated.

Bruticus lumbers after the Protectobot gestalt, swinging his arms side to side indiscrimminately, and leaving scattered rubble in his wake as he lumbers after Defensor. "HA HA! BRUTICUS THINK THAT TRYPTICON SMARTER THEN DEFENSOR!"

Defensor moves west to the Cybertron Olympic Site - Intersection.

Defensor has left.

Avalanche takes the powerful jab, spinning around from the sheer force of the strike. His faceplate collapsing under the pressure of the mighty Dinobot's attack. Yet, Avalanche just lets loose a battle cry. His body using the momentum to spin around, and use his elbow to retalliate against Grimlock. "You'll fall, just like your brothers did to my fists!"

Avalanche succeeds in grasping Grimlock, throwing him off-balance.

Bruticus moves west to the Cybertron Olympic Site - Intersection.

Bruticus has left.

Soundwave holds his pose, not making Compton any more or less comfortable.

You receive a radio message from Soundwave: Proposal: destruction of Autobots. Decepticon Empire offers assistance to attain goal.

You send a radio message to Soundwave: Rrrrgh... you're... serious?! Nnnngh.... I suppose it's better than nothing. FINE! I agree.

Grimlock staggers with the force of the blow...and he grunts- and then transforms! Uh oh, looks like Avalanche is in for it now. "Hnf. You Avvy-lanche need 'member LAST time? When me Grimlock do THIS?" and with that, he swings his tail around to *BELT!* Avalanche a good one- coincidentally knocking him right at the bomb-tower!

Grimlock succeeds in grasping Avalanche, throwing him off-balance.

Compton Xabat glares evenly back at Soundwave, his expression intense as he mutters something into a microphone built into one of his teeth.

You receive a radio message from Soundwave: Result of betrayal: death, destruction of species.

Soundwave suddenly releases the human's head, glaring at him.

Avalanche grunts and goes FLYING! Now this isn't the good kind of flying, this is pain laced Dinobots crushed flying. The stunned Horrorcon just glares at the Dinobots, as his form just soars through the air and right -into- the bomb tower itself!

You send a radio message to Soundwave: Understood.

Grimlock grins. "HAW HAW HAW!" he says...and then, lowering his head, he begins to run! Well...since he's a dinobot, it's not very FAST- but there's a lot of bulk in that frame to get moving! He lowers his head, and prepares to put his skull to good use as he headbutts the Horrorcon, unrelenting in his assault! And his path carries him straight into the pile-o-bombs. Yuh-oh.

Grimlock succeeds in grasping Avalanche, throwing him off-balance.

Firestar is glad she got most of the survivors up to the surface level at this point. She acts as a makeshift bridge for the survivors.

Avalanche yells out in pain, as his stomach is just crushed by the Dinobot's cranium. His feet digging into the ground, as he is able to slow the two down. "DIE!!!" He says, leaning forward and over the Dinobot. He attempts to grab around Grimlock's stomach. If he can muster enough strength, Avalanche will actually life Grimmy into the air, and like wrestling, bring the Dinobot down onto his head!

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!The explosives go off right as Avalanche and Grimlock land on them! Fortunately for them, though, most of the explosives were deactivated by Catechism, turning what would have been instant death into just painful injurys. The tower does not fall over, either.

Xabat blinks, turning his head towards the tower. He releases the deadman's switch, but nothing else happens. "What!? You set me up!" he snaps at Soundwave. "You were just stalling for time, weren't you!? I'll--AGH!" He's cut-off in mid-sentence as one of the Go-Bots shoots him with a stun beam.

"Phew, that was a close one!" Leader-1 says. "Thanks for keeping that guy distracted. And don't you worry, we'll take it from here!" A Cy-Kill and Scooter Go-Bot scoop Xabat (still in Uphill's body) up and carry him away by his shoulders.

Soundwave reaches out rapidly to 'hug' Xabat into some sort of robo-arm-lock!

Soundwave succeeds in grasping Compton Xabat, throwing him off-balance.

<OOC> Soundwave says, "Aw. :("

Soundwave misses as Cy-Kill and Scooter steal him!

Soundwave shoots at Scooter, though! With a missile!

Grimlock is as big as Avalanche. Is as STRONG as Avalanche. However...he's a lot better ARMORED than Avalanche! And so, the very hard cranium that Grimlock sports prevents him from getting off with much worse than a dented head and some shaken processors. "Rrrgh! Me Grimlock MELT YOU!" And so, still on his back with his feet & tail in the air, Grimlock opens his mouth and bellows forth a gout of superheated flame! ...in the room full of explosives. Uh oh.

Is that a bird, or a plane-- well, it looks like a plane, however its a Seeker-- and more correct, it was Raptor, which anyone may reconize by the Black solid visor down and the face-plate fleshed with it. He zips quickly through the air and watches the explosion, "Holy.." Then kicks on his radio, <<"Is Everyone ok?">>

Galvatron is, for posterity, still writhing and seizing, having forced himself to his feet, but seemingly only barely able to stand up without assistance, as he leans on some rubble.

Suddenly, Galvatron falls to his knees again, clutching his head! What a spaz!

Avalanche definitely doesn't hold a candle to a Dinobot's armor, the explosion doing much more damage to him then Grimlock. "SLaaag!!!!" He bellows, even as his voice is cut off by the -gigantic- explosion. Which indeed sends him flying off in all the destruction. Jayson Redfield has arrived.

Scooter aieees as missiles explode under his feet, throwing him into the air. "Er," Leader-1 says, "You were probably aiming for the terrorist guy, right?" He sounds like he desperately wants it to be true. "Yeah, uh, don't worry about it, heheheh! We got it under control." More quietly: "Please don't kill us."

Firestar gets the humans out of the crevass...and covers the humans with her body JUST as the explosion reaches her!

Raptor flies over the explosion and hovers in the air as the flames reflect in his black visor, "..primus...have mercy.." He whispers gently to himself as he hovers there, unsure of just what is actually going on. However-- he zooms in to notice the explosion is heading for, "Gh!" He quickly kicks on his afterburners and flies right into the smoke, and hopefully for who he thought was about to get impacted with debry. Call it a crazy move-- but slag if he was going to stand by when he could fly.

Grimlock is buried underneath a collapsing tower and an explosion! But, he manages to soak up the abuse, and come out...well, not DEAD, at least! "Hrn..." Grimlock says, slowly clawing his way out of the rubble. "...Me Grimlock no like that tower anyway."

Avalanche seems to disappear, the explosion propelling him incredibly high into the air. His form disappearing with a -blip- in the sky! Though there is a moment or so that passes, and a white dot can be seen coming down. It grows larger and larger with each second, descending straight at Galvatron. Yet, there is no sound, as the explosion had knocked the Horrorcon unconscious. Hopefully, Galvatron was keeping his wits about him.

Raptor lands down as the flames flare around his armor. He cringes at the heat. "Firestar!" He coughs gently past the plate. Inside his visor, he notices a blinking signal. He moves over to it and starts to dig. His gray armor starting to turn black from the heat hitting it. However, he keeps digging, "Firestar! Can you hear me! Firestar!" Dig, dig, dig. "Come on!"

Soundwave storms over, pushing the Go-Bot leader out of the way to stand over Compton Xabat's stunned form.

His first time on Cybertron, and it looks like he might get some action! With his Talon jet parked, Jayson climbs on top of it and stands to get a good look around. Something's odd, though--his goggles are missing! That just makes his bangs actually fall into his face. The youth jumps down and darts over to the scene of the commotion. "Autobots! What's going on?"

Compton Xabat's head rolls to the side, drool dribbling from his mouth.

Nearby, Leader-1 is shoved to the side, and huffs, "Well, *I never!*"

Soundwave reaches down to grab the 'robot' shell by the front and lift it up so he can look Xabat in the face.

Compton Xabat's eyes crack open a bit. "Nnnngh, what...?"

Raptor continues to dig, coughing softly again as he falls on his knee, digging the best he can. "..come on.." He whispers as he keeps digging. The heat causing his internal system to flare a warning. After all, he wasn't designed to deal with stuff like this-- high altitudes, sure-- but not heat. He wasn't a shuttle after all.

Soundwave's shoulder cannon comes to bear on Xabat's face. Loudly, he emits to everyone in the area listening. "Terran captured. Execution commencing." Someone will come step in and stop him, right? Right?!

Jayson Redfield comes to an abrupt stop, and stares. "This might get messy..." He shudders a bit and backs up, trying to stay away from Soundwave. "You..."

As Avalanche sails through the air, Galvatron isn't even looking up -- so when the Horrorcon lands, he lands right on Galvatron's back, smashing the Decepticon leader downward and causing him to eat delicious scrap metal. "GRRRAAAAHHH! GET /OFF ME/, YOU... SIMPERING... DOLT... BWWWAAAAHHHH!"

Galvatron tries to knock Avalanche away with a mighty fist.

Avalanche is knocked about, unable to truely defend himself. He goes flying right at Soundwave!

Avalanche succeeds in grasping Soundwave, throwing him off-balance.

Compton Xabat hehs, squinting at the shoulder cannon. "Go ahead.. do it. I'll be a *martyr*. More powerful dead than alive. Do it!"

Raptor's visor starts to flash red, warning that the ash from all the smoke and fire was starting to clog his internal filters. He coughs again, but keeps digging till he finds something. He forces himself to stand up and start to pull on the object away, from what looks like an aft plate, "Fire--Firestar.. just give me one more moment.. I.. almost got you.. out.." He shoves the beam to the side and starts to very carefully move the other items. "..The humans.. they alright..?"

Firestar can be heard just barely. "I've got one human bleeding, but he's already for now. the rest seem to be fine, but shaken up." Then a pause. "You should be able to see me by now....I can see starlight." Of course, the first thing Raptor will see...is her aft plate.

Soundwave staggers under Avalanche's crash, but keeps his grip on Compton's suit, leaning forward to crash it backwards into the ground. Leaning over it, he starts to charge up a plasma burst. Apparently he's into overkill. But he looks over directly at Jayson Redfield, and jerks the suit back off the ground. "Terran.." he resonates at Jayson, throwing the suit down at the kid's feet, shoulder cannon pointing still at Compton's head, and sort of at Jayson. "Kill him."

Raptor continues to dig, and yes-- he does run across her aft plate clearly now. He does one of those glance ups thinking to himself, 'only me', before he continues to dig and coughs a bit more, till he creates enough of a clearing, "You-- should be good Firestar-- to move.." He steps back and nearly staggers over holding his head. "..we need to move them-- from all this.."

Compton Xabat appears to be wearing the body of a Cybertronian like an exo-suit. His head is exposed where the Cybertronian's head ought to be. "Ungh!" he grunts out as Soundwave slams him into the ground. "Oh, I see. Going to have the boy do it for you, eh?" He stares over at Jayson. "Well, kiddo, this is your big chance to end my reign of terror. What do you say?

Jayson Redfield looks horrified. He's never actually *killed* anyone, although the thought has crossed his mind before. Now is his chance to get rid of Xabat permanently, but...he can't. He just can't do it. He seems frozen in terror...

Firestar finally stands up....and there's at least 20-25 people underneath of her. She doesn't seem all that put off by Raptor looking at her aft plate.....she seems rather proud of it. "You can stare at my aft later, Raptor....we have people to get out of here." She says handing a few people to raptor. "Get them clear and come back for the rest....cuz I don't trust my footing."

Soundwave just looks at Jayson, not moving.

Compton Xabat yells, "Come on, boy! It's easy! Take the gun out of your jacket, press it against my skull, and pull the damn trigger! DO IT!"

Raptor nods and holds the people close, then cuts a quick glance over to her with his solid black visor, "It was kinda hard to not.. stare-- it was.. just stick up for the whole world to see." He seems to be joking as he says that, trying to cut the tenshion in the 'heat' of things. He coughs again, before he slowly lifts off the ground, getting himself and the poeple he holds to higher ground and hopefully, to safety.

Jayson Redfield reaches into his jacket and grabs the gun, but he hesitates. He grips it tightly with a trembling hand, slowly pulling it into view. He is obviously terrified, confused--what will he do?

Firestar giggles at Raptor and shakes her head. "it's fine, sugah." Her accent coming back a bit. As he flies off, she begins getting more humans picked up.

Compton Xabat smiles evilly. "Yess... Good. But it's not going to help you if you point it in THAT direction, boy. Come on, now! You might not get this chance again!"

Raptor comes back down, at least his intakes were able to filter out some of the ash on there own, but not enough-- maybe once he can get fully back into the air and out of smoke city, he can mostly get stuff cleared up. He waits for Firestar's ok, before taking some more humans to safety and to and fro, away they go!

"Jayson," a familiar voice calls out from the curling smoke. A large silhouette wades through the cloud, becoming darker before piercing through to reveal none other than Rodimus Prime -- returned from the debris-filled sinkhole Galvatron had previously chokeslammed him into. "Put down the gun. This isn't the right thing to do." Rodimus' optics are grave with concern as he looks from Compton to Jayson, his faceplate tarnished with soot and ash.

Soundwave's gaze lifts slowly toward Rodimus, his cannon still leveled at Compton.

Firestar hands Raptor the rest of the humans and starts climbing over the rubble herself. Once clear....she transforms into her hovertruck mode. "Let's get them to our base and clear your intakes, Raptor." She says waiting for Raptor's ok.

Firestar leans forward and transforms into her hovertruck mode! ROLL OUT!

Raptor nods, before he hovers along side Firestar, "Lead the way."

Jayson Redfield is silent for what seems like ages. "He...he threatened my friends...my family...I..." And the fact that Soundwave is messing with his head isn't helping. "Xabat...he...he's a *murderer*!" He risks turning from Compton and looking up at Rodimus, still frightened horribly, and looking like he's about to start crying. "Rodimus..."

Having shoved Avalanche away, Galvatron is slowly, slowly regaining his stature, on his feet once again. "Hhhaaarrgh," he growls, shaking his head so violently, servos almost break. "The... deluge... appears to have ended," he narrates to no one. "Now I can... focus... on... wh... what's going on?" The Decepticon leader succumbs to a moment of confusion, taking in the scene as his expression hardens.

Compton Xabat grins. "He's right, Rodimus! I'm a murderer!" He nods his head over towards the devastation. "Now, I didn't get EVERYONE in there, but I bet the death toll is going to be pretty high, wouldn't you, Roddy? I really think you ought to let the boy kill me. I mean, honestly, what I did just then was *unforgivable!*" He lets out a mocking laugh. "Oh, and it's just the start, trust me!"

Firestar drives off with Raptor close by!

"He is," Rodimus agrees with a grave nod. "And you don't want to become just like him, Jason. Xabat will pay for his crimes, but in the right way -- the just way." The Autobot leader looks at Soundwave now. "Soundwave, deliver Mr. Xabat over to the Six Lasers Security Forces." He points at a group of nearby Gobots.

Soundwave watches Jayson, seemingly ignoring Rodimus.

Jayson Redfield finally drops the gun without a word, but he just can't ignore the tormenting voices. He places a hand on the side of his head, breathing heavily, almost drenched in a cold sweat. "Can't do it...he...I want to *kill* him..."

Compton Xabat tries to struggle, the Uphill suit thrashing a bit under Soundwave. "Rrrgh, your whole planet is built like a house of cards, Rodimus Prime! It's not as durable as it looks! Releasing me would be a terrible mistake!" His arm breaks free of Soundwave, and tries to reach Jayson, but he's too far away. "Jayson! JAAAYSON! Your... your family whimpered like little puppies when I kidnapped them! Not one of them put up a fight! They were weak, like you!"

Soundwave threw Xabat to the ground in front of Jayson, he's not holding him with anything but a plasma cannon, which is starting to glow white on the end!

Soundwave's shoulder cannon starts to hum.

Jayson Redfield stiffens. "You...!" He snarls, his fear turning into pure anger. Him, weak? Even if that's true...he knoews his family would *never* let themselves be taken without a fight. He can barely find his voice; he simply takes a few steps closer to Xabat, so that he's nearly face to face with him. "You...BASTARD!" With that, he throws a hard punch right at Compton's face.

Jayson Redfield strikes you with Punch for 9 points of damage.

"You don't want to kill him, Jayson," Rodimus replies, his tone firm, but even. He gives Soundwave a glare, but there's not much he can do to the Decepticon -- not without violating the truce. He approaches Jayson and Compton's damaged robot suit at a steady pace. "Jayson!" Rodimus lurches forward when man strikes terrorist, but he's out of reach to stop knuckles from connecting with face.

Soundwave takes that exact moment to fire, when Jayson's striking Compton. Someone really better get in the way, because there's about to be a huge glob of Plasma on the ground and a couple little tiny pieces of Terrans.

Not really, it's just a deception. But no one knows that except Soundwave.

Raptor has arrived.

Compton Xabat grunts as the fist smacks his face. His sunglasses come flying off and clatter against the ground. "Unf, good hit, boy, but that won't kill--" Then, of course, Soundwave fires just as he's in mid-sentence.

F-22 Jet Fighter <Raptor> speeds across the sky, thrusters can be heard long after the jet screams through the air, it banks hard, with the sonic boom echoing the air, before it comes in close to the groud, transforming into a mech and spinning around switfly with his assault rifle in hand, but the muzzle pointed down. The black visor reflecting the world around him as he hovers maybe a inch off the ground.

Raptor transforms swiftly into his robotic form, with his optics for a split moment flashing vividly.

"Nooo!" a Scooter Go-Bot yells in that annoying voice as he tries to throw himself in the path of the blast.

Rodimus Prime follows pure instinct -- when Soundwave powers up for the shot, the Autobot leader throws himself on top of Xabat and Jayson, his spoiler-fin'd back arched to provide a shield to protect the two humans from the shot.

Jayson Redfield takes in a few deep breaths as he tries to calm himself down, backing away from the hated terrorist. "Rodimus," he says quietly, his voice cracking. "I hate him..." As Rodimus throws himself, he instinctively ducks down, even though it's not likely he can be hurt easily with the Autobot leader on top of him and Xabat.

There's no blast. Usually Soundwave's shoulder cannon spews superheated burning death. This time, though, it only projects a little diffuse crackle of barely-existent energy, like a disruptor cranked down below stun settings. Soundwave stands there, optic glaring. But you know he's smug. The energy doesn't even singe Roddy's paint. He probably doesn't even feel it.

Scooter goes flying into a turbo-bike store. "How ironic!" he mutters, spitting glass out of his mouth.

When Rodimus moves in to protect the humans, Raptor steps foreward and about raises his assault rifle, but holds his stance. After all-- there was some truce still left right? Or-- was it broken, he wasn't even sure anymore. So Unless ordered or looked like action was needed, he would stand down-- for now.

Compton Xabat mutters, "Feh," as Rodimus uses himself as a living shield to protect him. "Screw all of you. Bunch of... putas..."

Jayson Redfield seems to regain his composure as he just glares at Compton. "That's how you thank someone who was willing to take a cannon shot for you?"

"Hnn hnn hnn," Galvatron chuckles at Soundwave's little joke. "Your commitment to... protecting these humans always amuses me, Prime. You protect soldier and criminal alike... with no regard for what might come from letting such a dangerous element live. Your code will be the death of you... if I do not take that /honor/ and /pleasure/ first. Hnn... hnn... hnn." Galvatron turns, and starts walking away, still laughing to himself.

Compton Xabat sneers. "Pretty much, boy. Pretty much." He tries to laugh, but it comes out as a cough.

Jayson Redfield mutters, "I totally should've shot you. Bastard."

Raptor growls gently as Galvatron laughs at Rodimus and then speaks up, somewhat out of place sure, but what can be said-- he was Raptor, "At least he has more honor then you will ever have Galvatron! Your a joke on the galaxy! A scum-bag!" He takes a step-foreward slightly, "You have no regard for anything, only for you own slagging hide!"

"You're welcome," Rodimus replies sardonically, glancing up at Soundwave as the Decepticon mysteriously only fires a blank. "By the way -- You're under arrest." He takes out a pair of ener-cuffs and slams them down on the wrists of Compton's broken robot suit.

Jayson Redfield heads over to his dropped gun. He picks it up and slips it back into his jacket. "Rodimus?" he says quietly. "Thanks."

Compton Xabat stares down at the cuffs, then lowers his head back, sighing angrily, knowing that there is nothing he can do at this point.

At Raptor's outburst, Galvatron turns and pauses, folding his arms and smirking. "A good thing for you, Autobot, that your leader's cretinous inability to destroy those who might stand against him /amuses/ me so much. Otherwise, I'd be inclined to show you just how I regard those who speak ill of my... 'slagging hide.'" Galvatron raises his cannon to point at the Autobot jet, arches a brow, and then lowers both, turning and continuing on his way. Soundwave was only honoring the truce, by not incinerating two Terrans and part of the Autobot leader. He watches them silently, from such a short distance away, seeming completely unconcerned that the Autobots assembled could probably beat him into paste.

Raptor just glares past his black visor. Hands tightening on his assault rifle. When Galvatron aims, he doesn't even flinch, he just stares, and when he lowers, the autobot flyer continues to stand, only gently saying, "...I'm sure you will-- one day.." He then rests the assault rifle on his shoulder before he walks over to Rodimus.

"Rodimus, sir?" Raptor inclines to the autobot commander, "You alright?"

Rodimus Prime hoists Compton up to his feet with a general air of "all in a day's work" about him. "Never been better, Raptor," Rodimus replies with a hint of sarcasm, glancing over the leveled shopping district. "Who would have thought maintaining a cease-fire truce could be so... Well... Action-packed!"

Raptor chuckles softly and places his free hand on his hip, the assault rifle still resting on his shoulder. "last year-- it was less-- action-packed, this year seems to be full of surprises." Raptor shrugs softly, "Who knows what to come right?"

Jayson Redfield rubs the back of his neck, idly wondering letting his hair down for awhile. "Welcome to Murphy's Law, Rodimus..."

Compton Xabat is hoisted off to the slammer without a fight, though he occasionally derides his captors with a variety of Spanish slurs and epithets.

Jayson Redfield just...looks at Compton as he's hoisted off.

Soundwave slowly turns away from the scene, beginning to walk off. As he goes, though, a single, quietly whispered word drifts on the wind to find Jayson's ears. "... coward.." And the Communicator strides away..