[Original RPG] Returns : The Homecoming (part two)

[Cryhavoc]

Black Zarak, being more than annoyed because of the Battlechargers, cared not to answer to their pleads and instead, continued on his way towards Metrotitan. Occasionally stepping on buildings that got on his way as he neared the royal palace of Carbombya.

[Bombshell]

Carbombya

Darkwing looked at Fakaddi with restrained anger.

"About time you showed up," he snarled. "It would have helped a whole lot more if you had shown up before Megatron got slagged."
*****
Black Zarak

Without saying a word, the Battlechargers followed Black Zarak as he headed off towards Carbombya.

[StoneCold Skywarp]

Ultra Magnus gazed for a moment at Skyfall as Grimlock spoke up.

"What wrong with you? Talking in riddles like Wheelie, only you not rhyme..."

Magnus spoke up.

"Slow down Skyfall, explain yourself..."

*******************************

Sixshot looked down at Fakkadi.

This one talks big for a human, how easy it would be to step on him and shut him up

Sixshot chuckled to himself quietly.

[Bombshell]

"I told you this was a mistake, my friend," came the high-pitched voice of the former COBRA leader, who strolled into the hanger, looking at the carnage that had nearly devastated it. "Allying ourselves with Megatron was an error."

He gestured to Megatron's smoldering remains.

"One that I hope we shall all live to regret," he said, looking at Sixshot, Galvatron and Thunderwing.

[Brave Maximus]

Skyfall turned to face Ultra Magnus and then found himself choking up.
This was sooo much easier when they weren't paying attention to me. They all look big and impressive, the history holograms don't do them injustice. Of course then, the situations were reversed and I was 10 times larger than them.

"Well... ummmm.... Sir.... SIRS...... I realize that you are planning for the up coming confrontation with the Decepticons and Destrons. Which I support whole heartedly. Anything to free the earth from their grip. But sometimes sirs, with all due respect, you need to look out your own front windows. Sometimes you need to see the TREE's for the forrest."

He slowly began to hover over to the window, still talking to Ultra Magnus and Grimlock.

"Sirs, as I said before. The Cyberton Supreme Commander Victory Saber is currently lying unconcious, of his own volition, on your front lawn. Surely by now the reports of the..... Incedent have made it to you. He wasn't too happy when he shut down, and I'm willing to bet that when he comes back online, he probably won't be too cheerful. Usually he's a great leader with a logical mind, but something seems to have happend and now he's a Beserker fighting machine. And in case you didn't know, one of the best fighters in the Universe. Beyond that Broadside has been rescued and is in need of medical help. And those are the friendly forces.

Currently at the lake they are trying to rescue the Destron Combiner Leoka...... OH BLOODY HELL!!!!!"

Skyfall looked out towards the lake and saw the from of the Omega shuttle, with Leokaiser hovering beneath it. He closed his optics for a second and concentrated. Through the bond between him and Omega, he gained the knowledge of what was going on. He opened his optics and with a worried look, he turned to the Autobot leaders gathered there.

"I amend my report sirs. Leokaiser has been recovered and is currently being transported to this location as we speak. At current speed it will take them less than half an hour. In case you didn't know sirs. Leokaiser is a six part Destron Gestault with enough power to go toe to toe with Victory Saber. While he is currently inactive, the Medic Minerva detected a conciousness flickering in and out. Should that conciousness manage to come on line and wake the other 5 parts up, we will have a VERY large problem on our hands.

I hope that you can see now, why I claimed this was urgent and can forgive my rudness."

[StoneCold Skywarp]

"So what you're telling us is we've brought a giant killing machine to our front-door and he's brought his Decepticon buddy along for the ride...Well, that's just peachy!"

***********

Sixshot wasn't particularly aware of either of the humans present in the hanger, he was more interested in Galvatron's plans for Dreadwind and Darkwing...

[Brave Maximus]

"Ummm, well, Normally he's quite noble and they didn't just...... Ummm Yeah that pretty much sums it up nicely sir."

Skyfall looked at the larger robots rather sheepishly.

"And currently all we have guarding Victory Saber is Tracks and Brainstorm. Though I belive that Roadbuster and his ummmm, Wreckers is it sir? are currently escorting Omega and Leokaiser."

[AngelOfDeath124]

StarBlade nodded once. "I've heard of Ultra Magnus. He was technically Prime's second in command for a long time. Never seen him, though. I was trying to stay away from 'Bots while I was searching for you all."

Then she gave a wicked grin, and her optics brightened considerably. "Let me guess. You want me to take him out."

[Heinrad]

Carbombya hangar:

Deszarus: -spares a glance at the incoming humans, thinks to self- "Pretentious, aren't they..... That will change, in time...." -scowls at Maxima- "You will accompany us back to Metrotitan, traitor."

****************************

Lake bottom:

Ironhide: -monitoring the thaw rate of the nitrogen, smiles as it finishes thawing- "'Bout tahme it thawed. Ah get th' feelin' thing're gonna start heatin' up now, an' Ah been sittin' on th' sahdelahnes fer too long." -slogs his way out of lake, transforms, rolls to follow escort-

*****************************

Omega shuttle:

Chromedome: -sighs to self when he notices that he's still a little taller than the minicons, looks around- "Are you the only crew? You're minicons, right?"

******************************

Leokaiser's right arm:

Hellbat: -flickers onine- "Finally. We're out of that lake. Now, all I need to do is figure out how to get myself out of the hospitality of the Autobots....." -shuts down again-

******************************

Escort duty beneath Leokaiser:

Minerva: -looks at subwindow that pops up in her instrument cluster- "There it goes again."

Nightbeat: "Can whoever that is be any threat at all?"

Minerva: "Not really. They don't have enough stored power to wake the rest of the individial components up, and even if they did, that gestalt is functionally paralyzed until repaired. Even if Leokaiser was awake, he wouldn't be able to do much other than lay there, maybe twitch a little."

Roadbuster: "It's still a Decepticon. Therefore, it's still a threat."

Nightbeat: "You're getting paranoid, Roadbuster. What's it going to do? Yell us to death?"

Roadbuster: "If it has a sonic weapon, it just might."

[Brave Maximus]

Ark and Nemesis stop half way to the Command centre when they hear Chromedome's question. They begin to bleep togeather in the minicon language. But quickly realize that he doesn't under stand.

They then look at each other and shrug their shoulders. They then turn to Chromedome and Ark shakes his head up and down while Nemesis shakes it from side to side. They look at each other again and Ark shakes his head from side to side, while Nemesis shakes it up and down. Nemesis stops and looks at Ark as he does the opposite of him and punches him in the arm. Ark looks down and rub his arm, then strikes the other minicon in the arm. This sets off a flurry of arm punching, till a female Minicon voice shouts out from the Command Centre. They look towards the hallway and lower their heads, like children getting caught.
They look at Chromedome and motion him to come towards the command centre as they walk there themselves, head's hung down.

[Heinrad]

Escort duty:

Nightbeat: "Guys.... Roadbuster might be right."

Siren: "That tin-plated nightmare can attack us?"

Nightbeat: "Maybe...... But I'm more worried about Victory Saber waking up and attacking Kaiser Permanente up there."

Roadbuster: "And that would be a bad thing?"

Nightbeat: "Yes. We might be able to use the overgrown wind-up toy." -sighs- "Aannnddd.... if Roadbuster's right, we won't have to worry about him using any kind of sonic death ray on us."

Ironhide: -catches up to convoy-

Roadbuster: "At least somebody sees sense...." -activates commlink- "Trailbreaker, do you read me?"

**************************

Omega shuttle:

Chromedome: -beginning to wonder if there's something seriously wrong with these minicons, walks into command center, sees another minicon- "Hi. I'm Chromedome. What's your name?"

[Maxima]

Carbombya


She had remained silent, not moving not a word. Except for a wicked glare at Dreadwind & Darkwing grovelling before Galvatron. She would never do such a thing. Starscream did that.. not her.

Her optics never looked at anyone. She stood tall, making it known that whatever fate was choosen, she believe that she herself had not gone astray nor made a wrong choice. She was a Decepticon.. strong, brave, bold.

Again, as she was requested to return to Metrotitan under escort... she was now alone. Her own hopes of destroying such ills in the Decepticon ranks was at a standstill. Eventually, something new would drive the ranks of the Decepticons into a major decission.

She stepped forward, again not cowaring in the slightest, to be taken to Metrotitan.. as a prisoner to be sure.

[Scout]

Trailbreaker had kept up the forcefield until Leokaiser had cleared the surface of the lake, then, still standing on the combiner's chest, he released it and sank down to a kneeling position while his systems worked on recovering. A transmission came through on his radio, and he paused a moment before clicking it over. "Trailbreaker here, I read you. What's the scoop?"
-------------------
Hound looked from Crosscut to Quick Switch as the thought of Victory Saber clicked. "Quick, these robots... what strange robots are you talking about?"

*Crosscut worked on putting away his tools, listening in a little bit, but not attempting to intrude on the discussion.*

"The ones I was ordered to retrieve from a lake near here," Quick Switch replied. "I know nothing about them, and they match nothing I've ever seen before."

Hound carefully fixed on a clear memory and projected a small hologram of Victory Saber in the air. "One look like this?"

"Yes," the Six Changer muttered, peering at the hologram.

Hound paused, deep in thought. "That's Victory Saber. He's a kind of combining transformer, and he holds mostly Autobot ideals and he is a bit of a soloist. But what of the others? Can you describe them?"
Quick Switch digested that for a bit. "Mavericks are trouble, and we deal with enough of those already. However, he's not a Decepticon and that's all the matters. For now."

Hound's optics darkened briefly as an embittered thought intruded. Some autobots can cause just as much havok as Decepticons. But he nodded and silently waited for a description.

"The others appeared to have some sort of chest gun," Quick Switch muttered. "Bizarre. And the third unit is still at the bottom of the lake, and my intelligence cannot confirm the identity of the unit."

The description was vague, but a dawning possibility started growing in the scout's mind. It had been a long time since Victory Saber had been around, and with him, another big combiner. The images were etched in his mind as sharp as cut crystal. He let the image of Victory Saber disappear and replaced it with one of Leokaiser. "Quick Switch, did he look like this?"

"Yes," the Security Director remarked. "That's the one. Very strange."

"Yes. Strange and very dangerous. His name is Leokaiser. Like Devestator, he's made up of 6 decepticons. But each of them has an additional part of themselves on their chest. The additional parts detatch and can become animals or weapons if my memory serves me correctly." Hound's ice blue optics fixed on Quick as he bristled slightly at the thought. No wonder he had Prowl with him- but why didn't Prowl identify him? "Quick," he began slowly, uncertain as to how to ask. "Didn't Prowl remember him?"

"We didn't discuss it," Quick Switch replied, grousing a bit, friend-to-friend. "The jury's still out on Prowl, though I suppose he's legitimate. After all, he fooled me, and apparenlty this spying nonsense was Optimus' idea."

Hound did a double take. "Spying?" Things were begining to make sense for him now.

"Yes," Quick Switch replied, keanding his face with his hands. "Optimus dispatched Prowl to watch that dead traitor Convoy. He was...role-playing," the Six Changer used the phrase as if it was the first time, with distaste. "Like a Decepticon."

Hound shot a glance back toward the door where Prowl had disappeared. "Uh huh... and maybe it's a darn good thing he did- though I think both are probably responsible. He did give us info relays from that base after all." Hound turned and looked back at Quick. "That's good though. If you've got Leokaiser, really... you'd probably benefit from having him help you. That team is very dangerous."

"Well, now that they've been identified as Decepticons," the Six Changer said, optics sparkling, "they can reside free of charge in the Brig. Their danger will be nullified, Hound."
An unsettled feeling passed through his engine as Hound considered the brig. But he covered with a chuckle. "How kind of you. I'm sure Galvatron will be thrilled."

Hound gave his friend a mischievious grin. "Six more down, and sort of more like 12 with those chest thingys."
Then the blue optics widened as he remembered... "Oh! Quick, we should go check on the one we have walking around. Aero Blade is with Dirge in the viewing room I think- and Hoist went down to see if he could finish their repairs"

Quick Switch laughed, long and loud. "Well, thrilling that Decepticon wretch is what I function for," and he slapped his knees. "I begin each cycle thinking on that very thing." His smile turned back into a more serious mode (which had never entirely left in the first place). "Excellent idea. Sounds like an good opportunity to watch morale boosting in action."

"Morale boosting?" Hound was puzzled as he asked, but began heading for the door as he questioned the thought.

"They're probably watching one of Red Alert's instructional films as we speak," Quick Switch said, following after the shorter scout. "I always find them interesting."

It took every ounce of his willpower not to make a face or to laugh, both of which threatened to pop up at any moment, but Hound suceeded in keeping a straight face- albeit with a smile that resembled a bit of a smirk. He had one lingering question though, and pondered asking as they headed down the corridor. "I'm sure they're enjoying themselves, or Hoist probably would've come back to medbay right away."

(*flashback to Quick watching instructional film by Red Alert in theater*
Red Alert: "Now remember- always be on the look out for pranks in the ranks! Absolutely horrific for unit morale and security! Moving on-"
*Red Alert searches for pointer indicating blackboard with well-defined list; shadow matching Trailbreaker seen off camera* Red Alert: Where is my pointer? Where? Could the Decepticons be behind this?!? OPTIMUS!"
*film ends*)

Hound's expression drew into a thinking one. "Quick, I've got a question for you- maybe two."

"I have complete confidence in Hoist," the Six Changer replied, missing Hound's conflicted mirthful expression. "He is our efficiency expert, after all." He smiled slightly. "Ask away Hound."

Hound glanced up at the big sixchanger with a quizzical look. "First is easy I think... "Did you make Prowl go to medbay?"

"The second is more about me. I don't know what to think of Dirge. He's not acting like a Decepticon, and if it weren't partly for him, I wouldn't be here... but my thoughts are so divided on him. He's doing well with two young refugees- really watching them. I'm wondering if I need my head examined. I half trust him." "And he might be in danger here too. I hadn't thought a lot on that before."

"No," Quick Switch replied smoothly to the first question, then pondered on the second. "Dirge is obviously a unit conflicted. Something drove him away from the Decepticons, and into our care, so to speak."

"Must be." Hound replied thoughtfully as he opened the video room door.

[Heinrad]

Escort duty:

Roadbuster: "We've had a thought, Trailbreaker. It might be safer for all concerned if we broke up our giant friend."

Nightbeat: "We might not have to worry about Victory Saber dicing him into tinsel."

Minerva: "All we'd need to do is reconnect his severed motor relays, and he'll break up into his components. Should make for easier transporting."

[Scout]

"Split them up?" Trailbreaker pondered on it only briefly. "Yeah sure. 6 little guys'd be easier to deal with than one really big one. Ah Minerva's a medic isn't she? If she knows about this stuff, let's put them into idle and turn them over to Quick Switch once they've been sorted. I'm gonna call Blaster to help though. If something goes wrong, we'll need communication right away."
***
Trailbreaker switched over to Blaster's frequency. "Blaster, it's Trailbreaker. We could use a little help out here with some guard duty. You up for it?"
-------
This must be what the humans call 'a headache', Prowl thought as he relaxed. With the reduced activity around, the buzzing in Prowl's auditory sensors decreased as his systems went into an idle mode. His relays were telling him that he was in pain, but the idle mode let him block it out. It gave his internal repair systems time to begin catching up. Circuits were given less and less energy as they filed and processed the lagging information and worked on coping with the flood of emotional influences that had intruded into his logic centers. The heat was drawn away and he settled into a quiet resting state.
-------
Spike listened without saying a word. Then he shrugged. "I understand Sunstreaker- even if I don't agree entirely. I'm sure Optimus would too. Why don't you tell him? He wouldn't make you fight if you don't want to."

[Warcry]

After coming ashore and collecting Pinpointer, Crosshairs called to Trailbreaker, "You don't look too good. Exerted yourself pretty badly up there. I'm sure we can handle this without you, if you need a rest."
***
After Starblade's hopeful comment, Ramjet had to cover his mouth with his hand, to stifle a laugh.
Her, against Ultra Magnus! This assassin really does have an ego...

[AngelOfDeath124]

StarBlade didn't move, didn't show that she heard Ramjet's attempt to hidde his laugh, until she spoke.

"I heard that, Conehead." Her comment was dry, and very deadly. "I should let you know I've had harder targets than an overzealous butt-kisser like Magnus is supposed to be." Now she looked at Ramjet. "In all reality, Starscream would have been a challenge, had Megatron let me take care of him, since that idiot was paranoid. Magnus, from what I've heard, is cautious, but takes risks when they aren't needed. Therefore, if it Astrotrain's assignment to remove the threat of Magnus, it should be easier than most of my old assignments."

[Quick Switch]

Astrotrain held up his hands, indicating that Ramjet and Star Blade should hold their peace. However, a small smile played across his face.

"You've beaten me to the punch, Star Blade. Yes, Ultra Magnus is the target. Terminate him with extreme prejudice."

The City Commander steepled his hands.

"It is only a matter of time before Lord Galvatron and Gigatron give the marching orders for war. This pathetic treaty is at an end in all but name. This time, we will not be denied. This time, we are going to obliterate the Autobots."

Here the Triple Changer's optics glowed.

"And the shot that topples Ultra Magnus will be the first nail in the proverbial coffin."