And now, a sidestory.
***
THREE MILLION YEARS AGO…
The Kalis region had been one of the Decepticons first conquests after deciding that all of Cybertron needed to be crushed under their feet. Once they had 'pacified' the region, they moved on to other targets, leaving the region to rust, until the empire discovered their need for countless materials to fuel the war effort. Soon, Kalis was covered in seemingly endless fields of factories, warehouses and energon refineries, all of that sitting above the ruins of the old city-state, where the worker class mechs were left to survive when not serving their masters.
For those longsuffering mechs, it was a harsh life, an unrelenting cycle of gear-stripping toil and bitter misery. Despite that, there were still those in the city that were willing to fight for more…
***
Two guards were waiting as the train came to a stop at the platform. Despite standing ready, seemingly alert for trouble with arm blasters unfolded, neither showed much in the way of actual awareness. Both of them were low ranking troopers, of the mass produced model that had been mockingly nicknamed 'Vehicons' thanks to the forging process leaving them with absolutely no unique features, and sparks so weak they were barely a step above automated drones. Lacking any real initiative, the pair walked along the train, checking for any sign of tampering or intruders exactly as they had been taught, without any deviation.
Which meant that they were both looking in the wrong direction when a sleek green and gray clad femmebot slipped off a freight car, stepped up behind one of them, and shoved a shock rod into the base of his spine. By the time his companion turned around at the noise, he was sprawled out on the ground, limbs twitching, and his assailant nowhere in sight. The remaining Vehicon raised his arm blaster in alarm, running up to where his comrade had fallen, sweeping his blaster over the train in an attempt to locate the attacker. At which point, a second mech in similar colors to the first grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms and leaving him wide open for the femme to reemerge and aim a flying kick right into his chest.
As the second Vehicon fell to the ground, knocked right into stasis, two more bots emerged from their hiding spots. One was a short, portly mech with signs of a construction vehicle altmode, slinging a bag of equipment over one shoulder. The other, a brown mech who probably outmassed all three of his teammates combined, with a massive auto-cannon taking the place of his right arm. Looking over the train platform, the bulky mech nodded in satisfaction, before turning back towards the train. "Get down here merc."
One last mech dropped down from the top of a freight car, giving the team leader a look of profound disinterest. In contrast to the other four, his altmode was clearly military, bearing the chest cockpit and shoulder vents that almost every single Decepticon Sky Soldier body type variant possessed. However, a large number of the panels across his body clearly showed signs of being crude yet efficient field repairs, leaving odd patches of discoloration, with black and brown breaking up the dark blue that was most of his frame. On his back, mag-clamped between his wings, rested a massive sword that was nearly as long as he was tall.
For a long moment, the team leader considered the mech, distrust radiating from him. "You're up."
"Copy," he replied, seemingly unconcerned with the suspicion as he walked down the platform.
"Time to see if Mister 'Ex'-Seeker really isn't with the Decepticons anymore," the large mech muttered, the barrels on his autocannon cycling.
Despite his suspicions of the hired mech, he had to admit (very grudgingly) he had some impressive skills. The moment a patrol came around a corner and spotted the team, the mech had launched himself down the hallway, the turbines in his legs roaring. Before the Vehicons could even hope to aim their arm cannons, he was landing in the center of the squad, massive sword swinging around to take the legs clean off, using the momentum to continue on to his next target.
The rest of the team took advantage of the distraction, ducking around to the side of the one sided fight and continuing on. Only the femme even looked back for more than a second, giving the mercenary a playful salute and a wave. "Have fun." He ignored her, bringing his blade around to block a clumsy shot from one of the guards, then adjusted his stance and lunged.
Sighing, the femme semi-transformed, her feet and lower legs being replaced with wheels that let her race past the rest of the team, before skidding to a halt at a set of armored blast doors. Prying the front of the control panel off, she shifted her hand into a collection of data spikes and plugged them directly into the circuitry underneath. "So, what's the deal with the Seeker anyway?"
"Ex-Seeker, to hear him tell it," one of the other mechs replied. "Not that he says much. Scrap, if it wasn't for Heartlock being an old friend of his, I'm not sure we'd even know his name."
"I still don't," Nitro Artemis said dryly.
That made the mech glance at her in surprise. "No one told you? Sorry. It's Nimbus. Still, the name isn't really important. What matters is that he's a professional, unlike the rest of us."
The panel chirped, and one of the lights above it turned green. "One down… So, is he sticking around?"
"Hard to say,," he admitted. "He doesn't seem like the sort to abandon a contract, but if he's only here for the money…" the mech glanced down a side corridor, where the team leader was keeping watch. "You know how obsessed Calibur can be about loyalty."
"Well, I wouldn't mind a bit of extra firepower around, especially if this mission works out the way we hope." A second light turned green, and the femmes optic visor brightened in satisfaction. "Plus, I will always appreciate a nice fuselage to admire."
"Oh here we go," her companion muttered.
"Come on Big-S, try and tell me that airframe isn't gorgeous!"
"I am precisely the wrong mech to be asking that question to and you know it."
Listening to the pair banter, the last member of the group fidgeted nervously, one hand playing with the forklift mast built into his torso. Hearing a sudden noise behind him, he spun, then relaxed slightly as he saw Nimbus approaching. "Oh! Sorry about that, you startled me… Shouldn't have really. I mean, a buncha Vehicons versus a Seeker, sorry, ex-Seeker, it's not like they were going to beat you and come up behind us-"
"Wedge." Nimbus' voice, without raising its volume, somehow managed to cut through the shorter bots' growing anxiety. "Breathe." Wedge obeyed, his internal fans cycling up for several moments. "Better," Nimbus said with a nod, looking him over.
Laughing awkwardly, the bot rubbed at the back of his neck. "Must seem kind of dumb huh, me being so nervous about this?"
"It's your first mission," Nimbus replied, shrugging. "Everyone has to start somewhere. Just keep your mind on the job and you'll be fine."
"You got it!" he declared, giving the ex-Seeker a thumbs up. Behind them, the last light above the control panel turned green, and the doors began to open, drawing everyone's attention. Big-S and the femme moved through before the door was even fully open, Wedge scrambling after them.
Nimbus would have joined them, save for a massive hand clamping down on his shoulder. Unconcerned, he turned his head slightly, staring into Caliburs reflective visor. "You'd better be worth the money merc," the mech growled, voice low and dangerous. "Every last shanix." Nimbus didn't reply, simply staring blandly, until Calibur made a huffing noise and released him, stomping off after the others.
***
Inside the actual refinery, hallways were replaced with exposed catwalks and conveyor belts around massive processing machines that were constantly pumping out energon in the form of glowing purple cubes. Pausing to look over a railing, Big-S let out an impressed whistle. "There's enough energon here to feed the entire slums for an entire vorn."
"And the Decepticons won't even spare a pittance for us," the femme muttered as she passed him. "All of this goes to their coupling war effort."
Calibur growled, panels across his body rippling. "Nitro, lemme tell you something. Greed, violence, those are the least of this place's sins. They call it a refinery, but the truth is easy to see if you pay attention." He swept his left arm out, gesturing at the machinery. "Be it fuels or raw electricity, there ain't nowhere near enough coming in to be converted into energon, and there sure as the Pit ain't any natural energon crystals being harvested here. No, this energon comes from below! Harvested from the lifespark of our world, from Primus himself!"
Glancing at the bulky mech, Nimbus briefly looked skeptical, before his expression faded to a more neutral one and he turned to look out across the chamber again. "Huh… a deepspark extractor?"
"You've heard of them before?" Big-S asked.
"Never been assigned to one, but they're not exactly a big secret in the Decepticons. One of Shockwaves' ideas, if I remember right. Draw energon from the one place on Cybertron that should never run out."
"Never run out?!" Calibur snapped. "You think Primus is just some magic well you can tap without consequences?!"
"Never said I agreed with it," Nimbus shrugged. "That's just how High Command viewed it."
"Right. Just how your old bosses see things. They don't care about the long term consequences of their actions." Turning, he spat off to the side. "They burn the world down with their lust for war, enslave entire nations, and then, because that ain't enough, they cut into the divine spark of the Creator, just for more fuel for their war machine!" Spinning back to face Nimbus, he glared at the other mech. "Those are the mechs you followed like a good little drone."
If he'd been hoping for a reaction with that last comment, he was disappointed as Nimbus merely met his gaze, unconcerned. Calibur held the glare for a moment, then turned away, snorting in disgust as he stomped down the walkway towards the elevators. The rest of the team started to follow, Nitro turning around momentarily to shrug apologetically at Nimbus. Watching them go, the ex-Seeker spun his turbines in mild irritation. "Should've charged more," he grumbled to himself, before glancing over the edge of the catwalk and frowning.
Below, another Vehicon patrol emerged from a side entrance, accompanied by a bulkier mech, with what looked like heavy rocket launchers built into his torso and upper arms. In Nimbus's experience, that usually indicated some sort of artillery vehicle alt mode. Deciding not to give them time to set up to open fire on his teammates, he leapt over the railing and fell a short distance, before transforming to his own alt-mode, a somewhat battered looking, but still rather sleek jet fighter. Turbines roaring to life, he swooped down on the squad, opening fire with twin laser blasters before they even realized he was there.
***
Across the city, in a small residential block, a red, yellow and gray comm unit sat on a table, dials spinning as it spun its reception across various frequencies. Then, without warning, it stopped on one specific frequency, volume dial now turning towards maximum. "Security breach at Refinery Seven confirmed. Multiple squads not responding, security cameras down. Refinery manager requesting reinforcements," a voice reported through its speakers.
"Well that's a surprise," said the red and blue mech standing by the tiny energon mixer on the kitchen bench. Putting his glass down, he turned towards the comm unit. "I didn't think there were any other Autobots this far inside Decepticon territory."
In response, the comm unit transformed, growing in size and leaping off the table as it assumed a more humanoid shape. "News to me as well boss-bot," he admitted as his feet touched the floor. "And I don't mean ta brag, but knowin' stuff is kinda my job."
"Hmm, so they're probably local." Stepping over to the window, his companion moved the curtains slightly and glanced out. From their location, he could just see the massive tower that formed the center of the refinery in question, spewing out an endless cloud of smog over the city. For the moment, he couldn't see any outward signs of trouble, be it violence or the local Decepticons moving to respond, but that didn't mean much. Tapping his fingers against the window, he considered the matter for a moment. "Blaster."
"Yo?"
"Get the others in here. We might have work to do." Turning towards the door, Blaster gave a sloppy half salute, before leaving the room and leaving the squad leader to his thoughts. Outside, the city continued going about its business, with no sign anything was amiss. "Always something to keep life interesting," he muttered to himself, closing the curtain again.
***
"Always something to keep life interesting," Nimbus growled, using the flat of his blade to block a laser beam.
"Interesting my aft! What in the Slag Pit is this thing?!" Calibur roared, arm cannon springing to life. Across the platform from the pair, a massive six-legged beast hissed as Caliburs shots tore shards from the mismatched armor plating across its main body, before it lunged forward, claw arms snapping at the pair.
Boosting to the side, Nimbus shoved his employer clear of the attack, then brought his sword around to parry one of the claws. "At a guess, I'd say one of Scorponoks clan. Enough limbs for one of them anyway." Ducking under another swing, the ex-Seekers wings transformed, flipping over his shoulders as a pair of laser cannons that he promptly fired directly into the beastformers face. The creature screeched in pain, distracted just long enough for Nimbus to dart back out of range.
Calibur growled, pulling himself to his feet, before opening fire on the creature again. "You saying it's a transformer?" he yelled.
"Might have been. Not sure it still is." Glancing at the rough welds across his opponents side, Nimbus couldn't help but wince in sympathy. "I think we're looking at one of the Science Divisions repurposed experiments." He flinched slightly as his vision inexplicably blurred for a moment.
"Well ain't that charming?"
Above, on one of the catwalks torn in half when the beastformer dropped into Energon Storage from wherever it had been hiding, Nitro Artemis dragged herself to somewhat more stable ground, took a deep breath, then transformed both her hands into blasters and opened fire on the creature from above. For a moment, it seemed that her attacks weren't even being noticed, the plasma pulses doing little more than chipping at the armor plating on its back. Then a panel blew clean off via explosive bolts, revealing a mass of machinery that unfolded outwards, reconfiguring into a series of long tubes. Optics widening, she sprinted down the catwalk, shifting to her motorcycle form and racing away, even as the first missiles closed in.
Calibur roared in rage as the catwalk vanished in a series of fireballs, switching his arm cannons to an alternate mode of fire, one that left lingering blue flames on their enemies armor. Meanwhile Nimbus paused, watching the explosions until he caught sight of Nitros form, now flying off the catwalk and into the open air. Planting the tip of his sword into the floor, the ex-Seeker launched himself into the air on an intercept course. Grabbing the motorcycle in both arms, he spun in midair, then fired the thrusters in his legs again, sending both of them in a high arc across the room, landing next to where he'd left his sword.
"My hero," she said as Nimbus lowered her to the ground, transforming back to her robot mode as he did so.
"Just fulfilling my contractual obligations," he replied dryly, retrieving his sword. "Can you fight."
"Yeah, yeah I'm good," she said, switching her hands back to weapon mode. Nimbus nodded, swept his sword around, and charged back in.
***
The small group of Autobots had relocated to the top of the residential building, giving them a better view of the distant refinery, now surrounded by a small swarm of flight capable bots and transport vehicles, many of which seemed to be flying around rather aimlessly. "I'm thinking they don't know who's in charge over there," said the team sniper, a blue red and black mech by the name of Crosshairs. Opening his chest panel, he removed a pair of binoculars, using them to take a closer look at several of the aircraft. "Yup, I'm seeing local security forces, some regular army units, and even a few Sky Soldiers in naval colors."
"Well, we know Decepticon High Command wasn't exactly assigning their best to this region," the team leader noted, rubbing his chin. "Blaster, any word on what's happening inside?"
The comm unit sitting on the rooftop spun his dials, shifting through frequencies. After a moment, he emitted a burst of static. "Getting conflicting reports from what few mechs have gone inside. Scrap, at least half of those are Vehicons, and it sounds like they're shootin' at shadows. There IS something about an 'experimental heavy' that was stored on site being deployed, but it sounds like it might have made a bigger mess than the intruders before it got taken out."
"As usual for things like that," one of the other bots muttered, drawing bitter laughs from several teammates. Many Autobots were all too familiar with the various 'experiments' of the Decepticon Science Division being used as guard mechs or shock troops once the labs had lost interest in them, and didn't think much of them.
Considering that for several seconds, the team leader went to speak, then paused. In the distance, something was happening on the massive smokestack of the refinery. A strange pink glow began to emanate through several windows and doors on the facility, growing in intensity. Then, less secure panels were blown off the tower as explosions began to erupt across its frame. Watching as they increased in intensity, his optics widened. "Down!"
A moment later, with a roar that knocked all their audio receivers into emergency shutdown, a massive explosion erupted from the tower, launching into the sky. After several seconds of that, the tower gave way, much of it thrown into the surrounding buildings and gathered Decepticons, while the shockwave continued on to wash over the rest of the city.
After several minutes, when the building had stopped shaking and the Autobots managed to restore their audio receivers, Blaster managed a weak laugh. "Call me crazy, but I think someone hit something important."
Crosshairs chuckled, not moving from where he was still lying on the rooftop. "Intel said there might be deepspark extractors in Kalis. If they detonated the primary unrefined energon storage, it'd almost certainly ignite the whole supply, and, well…" He waved a hand at the sky. "That."
Pulling himself to his feet, the team leader looked towards the refinery, now little more than a massive inferno and falling debris. "Odds the saboteurs were expecting this kind of damage?"
"Even if they knew it was a deepspark? Hard to say. Not many civilians realize just how powerful energon from the core is. They might have expected a more conventional energon explosion."
Scowling, Orion Pax didn't look away from the flames. "If they made it out, we need to find them," he said at last. "Before the Decepticons do."
***
THREE MILLION YEARS AGO…
The Kalis region had been one of the Decepticons first conquests after deciding that all of Cybertron needed to be crushed under their feet. Once they had 'pacified' the region, they moved on to other targets, leaving the region to rust, until the empire discovered their need for countless materials to fuel the war effort. Soon, Kalis was covered in seemingly endless fields of factories, warehouses and energon refineries, all of that sitting above the ruins of the old city-state, where the worker class mechs were left to survive when not serving their masters.
For those longsuffering mechs, it was a harsh life, an unrelenting cycle of gear-stripping toil and bitter misery. Despite that, there were still those in the city that were willing to fight for more…
***
Two guards were waiting as the train came to a stop at the platform. Despite standing ready, seemingly alert for trouble with arm blasters unfolded, neither showed much in the way of actual awareness. Both of them were low ranking troopers, of the mass produced model that had been mockingly nicknamed 'Vehicons' thanks to the forging process leaving them with absolutely no unique features, and sparks so weak they were barely a step above automated drones. Lacking any real initiative, the pair walked along the train, checking for any sign of tampering or intruders exactly as they had been taught, without any deviation.
Which meant that they were both looking in the wrong direction when a sleek green and gray clad femmebot slipped off a freight car, stepped up behind one of them, and shoved a shock rod into the base of his spine. By the time his companion turned around at the noise, he was sprawled out on the ground, limbs twitching, and his assailant nowhere in sight. The remaining Vehicon raised his arm blaster in alarm, running up to where his comrade had fallen, sweeping his blaster over the train in an attempt to locate the attacker. At which point, a second mech in similar colors to the first grabbed him from behind, pinning his arms and leaving him wide open for the femme to reemerge and aim a flying kick right into his chest.
As the second Vehicon fell to the ground, knocked right into stasis, two more bots emerged from their hiding spots. One was a short, portly mech with signs of a construction vehicle altmode, slinging a bag of equipment over one shoulder. The other, a brown mech who probably outmassed all three of his teammates combined, with a massive auto-cannon taking the place of his right arm. Looking over the train platform, the bulky mech nodded in satisfaction, before turning back towards the train. "Get down here merc."
One last mech dropped down from the top of a freight car, giving the team leader a look of profound disinterest. In contrast to the other four, his altmode was clearly military, bearing the chest cockpit and shoulder vents that almost every single Decepticon Sky Soldier body type variant possessed. However, a large number of the panels across his body clearly showed signs of being crude yet efficient field repairs, leaving odd patches of discoloration, with black and brown breaking up the dark blue that was most of his frame. On his back, mag-clamped between his wings, rested a massive sword that was nearly as long as he was tall.
For a long moment, the team leader considered the mech, distrust radiating from him. "You're up."
"Copy," he replied, seemingly unconcerned with the suspicion as he walked down the platform.
"Time to see if Mister 'Ex'-Seeker really isn't with the Decepticons anymore," the large mech muttered, the barrels on his autocannon cycling.
Despite his suspicions of the hired mech, he had to admit (very grudgingly) he had some impressive skills. The moment a patrol came around a corner and spotted the team, the mech had launched himself down the hallway, the turbines in his legs roaring. Before the Vehicons could even hope to aim their arm cannons, he was landing in the center of the squad, massive sword swinging around to take the legs clean off, using the momentum to continue on to his next target.
The rest of the team took advantage of the distraction, ducking around to the side of the one sided fight and continuing on. Only the femme even looked back for more than a second, giving the mercenary a playful salute and a wave. "Have fun." He ignored her, bringing his blade around to block a clumsy shot from one of the guards, then adjusted his stance and lunged.
Sighing, the femme semi-transformed, her feet and lower legs being replaced with wheels that let her race past the rest of the team, before skidding to a halt at a set of armored blast doors. Prying the front of the control panel off, she shifted her hand into a collection of data spikes and plugged them directly into the circuitry underneath. "So, what's the deal with the Seeker anyway?"
"Ex-Seeker, to hear him tell it," one of the other mechs replied. "Not that he says much. Scrap, if it wasn't for Heartlock being an old friend of his, I'm not sure we'd even know his name."
"I still don't," Nitro Artemis said dryly.
That made the mech glance at her in surprise. "No one told you? Sorry. It's Nimbus. Still, the name isn't really important. What matters is that he's a professional, unlike the rest of us."
The panel chirped, and one of the lights above it turned green. "One down… So, is he sticking around?"
"Hard to say,," he admitted. "He doesn't seem like the sort to abandon a contract, but if he's only here for the money…" the mech glanced down a side corridor, where the team leader was keeping watch. "You know how obsessed Calibur can be about loyalty."
"Well, I wouldn't mind a bit of extra firepower around, especially if this mission works out the way we hope." A second light turned green, and the femmes optic visor brightened in satisfaction. "Plus, I will always appreciate a nice fuselage to admire."
"Oh here we go," her companion muttered.
"Come on Big-S, try and tell me that airframe isn't gorgeous!"
"I am precisely the wrong mech to be asking that question to and you know it."
Listening to the pair banter, the last member of the group fidgeted nervously, one hand playing with the forklift mast built into his torso. Hearing a sudden noise behind him, he spun, then relaxed slightly as he saw Nimbus approaching. "Oh! Sorry about that, you startled me… Shouldn't have really. I mean, a buncha Vehicons versus a Seeker, sorry, ex-Seeker, it's not like they were going to beat you and come up behind us-"
"Wedge." Nimbus' voice, without raising its volume, somehow managed to cut through the shorter bots' growing anxiety. "Breathe." Wedge obeyed, his internal fans cycling up for several moments. "Better," Nimbus said with a nod, looking him over.
Laughing awkwardly, the bot rubbed at the back of his neck. "Must seem kind of dumb huh, me being so nervous about this?"
"It's your first mission," Nimbus replied, shrugging. "Everyone has to start somewhere. Just keep your mind on the job and you'll be fine."
"You got it!" he declared, giving the ex-Seeker a thumbs up. Behind them, the last light above the control panel turned green, and the doors began to open, drawing everyone's attention. Big-S and the femme moved through before the door was even fully open, Wedge scrambling after them.
Nimbus would have joined them, save for a massive hand clamping down on his shoulder. Unconcerned, he turned his head slightly, staring into Caliburs reflective visor. "You'd better be worth the money merc," the mech growled, voice low and dangerous. "Every last shanix." Nimbus didn't reply, simply staring blandly, until Calibur made a huffing noise and released him, stomping off after the others.
***
Inside the actual refinery, hallways were replaced with exposed catwalks and conveyor belts around massive processing machines that were constantly pumping out energon in the form of glowing purple cubes. Pausing to look over a railing, Big-S let out an impressed whistle. "There's enough energon here to feed the entire slums for an entire vorn."
"And the Decepticons won't even spare a pittance for us," the femme muttered as she passed him. "All of this goes to their coupling war effort."
Calibur growled, panels across his body rippling. "Nitro, lemme tell you something. Greed, violence, those are the least of this place's sins. They call it a refinery, but the truth is easy to see if you pay attention." He swept his left arm out, gesturing at the machinery. "Be it fuels or raw electricity, there ain't nowhere near enough coming in to be converted into energon, and there sure as the Pit ain't any natural energon crystals being harvested here. No, this energon comes from below! Harvested from the lifespark of our world, from Primus himself!"
Glancing at the bulky mech, Nimbus briefly looked skeptical, before his expression faded to a more neutral one and he turned to look out across the chamber again. "Huh… a deepspark extractor?"
"You've heard of them before?" Big-S asked.
"Never been assigned to one, but they're not exactly a big secret in the Decepticons. One of Shockwaves' ideas, if I remember right. Draw energon from the one place on Cybertron that should never run out."
"Never run out?!" Calibur snapped. "You think Primus is just some magic well you can tap without consequences?!"
"Never said I agreed with it," Nimbus shrugged. "That's just how High Command viewed it."
"Right. Just how your old bosses see things. They don't care about the long term consequences of their actions." Turning, he spat off to the side. "They burn the world down with their lust for war, enslave entire nations, and then, because that ain't enough, they cut into the divine spark of the Creator, just for more fuel for their war machine!" Spinning back to face Nimbus, he glared at the other mech. "Those are the mechs you followed like a good little drone."
If he'd been hoping for a reaction with that last comment, he was disappointed as Nimbus merely met his gaze, unconcerned. Calibur held the glare for a moment, then turned away, snorting in disgust as he stomped down the walkway towards the elevators. The rest of the team started to follow, Nitro turning around momentarily to shrug apologetically at Nimbus. Watching them go, the ex-Seeker spun his turbines in mild irritation. "Should've charged more," he grumbled to himself, before glancing over the edge of the catwalk and frowning.
Below, another Vehicon patrol emerged from a side entrance, accompanied by a bulkier mech, with what looked like heavy rocket launchers built into his torso and upper arms. In Nimbus's experience, that usually indicated some sort of artillery vehicle alt mode. Deciding not to give them time to set up to open fire on his teammates, he leapt over the railing and fell a short distance, before transforming to his own alt-mode, a somewhat battered looking, but still rather sleek jet fighter. Turbines roaring to life, he swooped down on the squad, opening fire with twin laser blasters before they even realized he was there.
***
Across the city, in a small residential block, a red, yellow and gray comm unit sat on a table, dials spinning as it spun its reception across various frequencies. Then, without warning, it stopped on one specific frequency, volume dial now turning towards maximum. "Security breach at Refinery Seven confirmed. Multiple squads not responding, security cameras down. Refinery manager requesting reinforcements," a voice reported through its speakers.
"Well that's a surprise," said the red and blue mech standing by the tiny energon mixer on the kitchen bench. Putting his glass down, he turned towards the comm unit. "I didn't think there were any other Autobots this far inside Decepticon territory."
In response, the comm unit transformed, growing in size and leaping off the table as it assumed a more humanoid shape. "News to me as well boss-bot," he admitted as his feet touched the floor. "And I don't mean ta brag, but knowin' stuff is kinda my job."
"Hmm, so they're probably local." Stepping over to the window, his companion moved the curtains slightly and glanced out. From their location, he could just see the massive tower that formed the center of the refinery in question, spewing out an endless cloud of smog over the city. For the moment, he couldn't see any outward signs of trouble, be it violence or the local Decepticons moving to respond, but that didn't mean much. Tapping his fingers against the window, he considered the matter for a moment. "Blaster."
"Yo?"
"Get the others in here. We might have work to do." Turning towards the door, Blaster gave a sloppy half salute, before leaving the room and leaving the squad leader to his thoughts. Outside, the city continued going about its business, with no sign anything was amiss. "Always something to keep life interesting," he muttered to himself, closing the curtain again.
***
"Always something to keep life interesting," Nimbus growled, using the flat of his blade to block a laser beam.
"Interesting my aft! What in the Slag Pit is this thing?!" Calibur roared, arm cannon springing to life. Across the platform from the pair, a massive six-legged beast hissed as Caliburs shots tore shards from the mismatched armor plating across its main body, before it lunged forward, claw arms snapping at the pair.
Boosting to the side, Nimbus shoved his employer clear of the attack, then brought his sword around to parry one of the claws. "At a guess, I'd say one of Scorponoks clan. Enough limbs for one of them anyway." Ducking under another swing, the ex-Seekers wings transformed, flipping over his shoulders as a pair of laser cannons that he promptly fired directly into the beastformers face. The creature screeched in pain, distracted just long enough for Nimbus to dart back out of range.
Calibur growled, pulling himself to his feet, before opening fire on the creature again. "You saying it's a transformer?" he yelled.
"Might have been. Not sure it still is." Glancing at the rough welds across his opponents side, Nimbus couldn't help but wince in sympathy. "I think we're looking at one of the Science Divisions repurposed experiments." He flinched slightly as his vision inexplicably blurred for a moment.
"Well ain't that charming?"
Above, on one of the catwalks torn in half when the beastformer dropped into Energon Storage from wherever it had been hiding, Nitro Artemis dragged herself to somewhat more stable ground, took a deep breath, then transformed both her hands into blasters and opened fire on the creature from above. For a moment, it seemed that her attacks weren't even being noticed, the plasma pulses doing little more than chipping at the armor plating on its back. Then a panel blew clean off via explosive bolts, revealing a mass of machinery that unfolded outwards, reconfiguring into a series of long tubes. Optics widening, she sprinted down the catwalk, shifting to her motorcycle form and racing away, even as the first missiles closed in.
Calibur roared in rage as the catwalk vanished in a series of fireballs, switching his arm cannons to an alternate mode of fire, one that left lingering blue flames on their enemies armor. Meanwhile Nimbus paused, watching the explosions until he caught sight of Nitros form, now flying off the catwalk and into the open air. Planting the tip of his sword into the floor, the ex-Seeker launched himself into the air on an intercept course. Grabbing the motorcycle in both arms, he spun in midair, then fired the thrusters in his legs again, sending both of them in a high arc across the room, landing next to where he'd left his sword.
"My hero," she said as Nimbus lowered her to the ground, transforming back to her robot mode as he did so.
"Just fulfilling my contractual obligations," he replied dryly, retrieving his sword. "Can you fight."
"Yeah, yeah I'm good," she said, switching her hands back to weapon mode. Nimbus nodded, swept his sword around, and charged back in.
***
The small group of Autobots had relocated to the top of the residential building, giving them a better view of the distant refinery, now surrounded by a small swarm of flight capable bots and transport vehicles, many of which seemed to be flying around rather aimlessly. "I'm thinking they don't know who's in charge over there," said the team sniper, a blue red and black mech by the name of Crosshairs. Opening his chest panel, he removed a pair of binoculars, using them to take a closer look at several of the aircraft. "Yup, I'm seeing local security forces, some regular army units, and even a few Sky Soldiers in naval colors."
"Well, we know Decepticon High Command wasn't exactly assigning their best to this region," the team leader noted, rubbing his chin. "Blaster, any word on what's happening inside?"
The comm unit sitting on the rooftop spun his dials, shifting through frequencies. After a moment, he emitted a burst of static. "Getting conflicting reports from what few mechs have gone inside. Scrap, at least half of those are Vehicons, and it sounds like they're shootin' at shadows. There IS something about an 'experimental heavy' that was stored on site being deployed, but it sounds like it might have made a bigger mess than the intruders before it got taken out."
"As usual for things like that," one of the other bots muttered, drawing bitter laughs from several teammates. Many Autobots were all too familiar with the various 'experiments' of the Decepticon Science Division being used as guard mechs or shock troops once the labs had lost interest in them, and didn't think much of them.
Considering that for several seconds, the team leader went to speak, then paused. In the distance, something was happening on the massive smokestack of the refinery. A strange pink glow began to emanate through several windows and doors on the facility, growing in intensity. Then, less secure panels were blown off the tower as explosions began to erupt across its frame. Watching as they increased in intensity, his optics widened. "Down!"
A moment later, with a roar that knocked all their audio receivers into emergency shutdown, a massive explosion erupted from the tower, launching into the sky. After several seconds of that, the tower gave way, much of it thrown into the surrounding buildings and gathered Decepticons, while the shockwave continued on to wash over the rest of the city.
After several minutes, when the building had stopped shaking and the Autobots managed to restore their audio receivers, Blaster managed a weak laugh. "Call me crazy, but I think someone hit something important."
Crosshairs chuckled, not moving from where he was still lying on the rooftop. "Intel said there might be deepspark extractors in Kalis. If they detonated the primary unrefined energon storage, it'd almost certainly ignite the whole supply, and, well…" He waved a hand at the sky. "That."
Pulling himself to his feet, the team leader looked towards the refinery, now little more than a massive inferno and falling debris. "Odds the saboteurs were expecting this kind of damage?"
"Even if they knew it was a deepspark? Hard to say. Not many civilians realize just how powerful energon from the core is. They might have expected a more conventional energon explosion."
Scowling, Orion Pax didn't look away from the flames. "If they made it out, we need to find them," he said at last. "Before the Decepticons do."