capitalh | ROBOT FIGHT CLUB

Who: Orion Pax and the Autobutts.
Where: Next to a conveniently places crevasse near the tower.
When: March 16, around the time that Fake Dynamo is freaking out.
What: The bad guy figures out there are more robots lurking around and sends its biggest robot to try to deal with them.
Warnings: SUDDEN ROBOT ULTRAVIOLENCE (ok maybe not ultraviolence, maybe just super violence.)

He's barely conscious, after what just happened, but his body is still moving. He doesn't know what the objective is. He can just feel himself slip in and out of awareness, the only consistent thing being the terrible mental pain that lingers from having his processor slammed by some kind of code push from the AI. He doesn't even really know why.

He just knows that something happened, and that the creature got extremely angry because of it. And that it was apparently somehow his fault. He's not sure if he should be proud of himself for that nebulous victory or not.

His pilot has decided that the Cybertronian being fully conscious during these efforts has been far from helpful thus far - this is something it can deal with more permanently later. But for now something urgent is happening, and paranoia is rising in its alien mind. Enemies are going to be coming, from all sides. These are only the first, but it will not be cornered by filth.

It forces the bot's body into its vehicle mode and charging towards the group at full speed, as soon as his scouts' observations have been visually confirmed. Having more of these metal bodies at its disposal could be very useful in this war.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This is why Arcee had brought Rodimus, in the end. It's exactly what makes him so infuriating to deal with. When it comes down to it, he just doesn't give in -- he'd rather buckle and break than knuckle under every time. And as much as he might constantly resist Arcee's authority, she knows he cares about this mission. And that's why Arcee knows they need him, knows they need him to keep fighting even though she knows just as well that they can't bear to be down even a single bot.

"Rodimus, we don't have a medic! And right now, I cannot afford -- ugh!"

One of Orion's last shots catches her square in the abdomen, hurling her off her feet with a spray of sand. She knows she's bleeding, energon streaking down her midsection, but it's not nearly as bad as Rodimus or Ultra Magnus -- not nearly as bad as Orion. She pulls herself back to her feet, one hand over her dented plating, her other blaster still pointed up. But the shooting is over now, it seems. She watches Orion go slack against Ultra Magnus, and it feels like her spark's just sunk into her fuel tank.

She's heard of hollow victories before, but she's never tasted one like this.

"Ultra Magnus, how are you holding up?" Her voice is thick and heavy with static, but she resets her vocalizer, trying to clear it away. "Can you make it back to base with Optimus?"

Rodimus lets his arm fall as Orion does, the barrel of all three guns glowing red hot even as his spark grows cold at the sight. Well, they'd done it. They'd brought down their leader. The symbol of all that the Autobots stood for on his knees, broken and bleeding. A good bot, who deserved none of this.

He looks around, his Optics unfocused; everyone is down, but alive. Magnus is bleeding, Arcee is bleeding, but she's still talking. Bad as she sounds, it's reassuring. Rodimus is no stranger to bittersweet victories, but this....well, it would definitely be a solid contender if he were to (completely hypothetically) keep a list of such things.

Okay. Rodimus thinks to himself, shoving aside wayward thoughts. Okay. One step at a time.

He realises just how apt his metaphor is as he stands and it becomes apparent just how hard that step is going to be. His optics are focused hard on Orion, and he ignores that the feedback is loaded with static. He notes that he's not bleeding out energon so badly anymore, but also notes that this might not actually be a good sign. He takes a step...maybe. It's getting hard to tell if he's successfully doing the things he thinks he doing, and there's plating falling off his wrecked shoulder now, and - Primus, there are things, falling. off. of me. He feels a slightest edge of panic, before pushing it back again.

Optimus. Magnus. Arcee. These are the things he needs to focus on. Their mission is so close to done. So close - they HAVE Orion. They can fix him; they can get Optimus back. They just need to do this last thing. But...Optimus is so far away...too far, and there's nothing he can do to help with that. But...maybe Arcee. He can't help Magnus with Orion, but maybe he can help her at least. He looks around; knows Arcee's been shot, knows she's still alive, but for some reason he can't find her.

Making his vocaliser work doesn't come any easier than the walking.

"....Arcee?"

It's a relief in a way when Optimus finally runs out of vigor, because Magnus could feel his bleeding arm getting weaker. But he's dealt with worse a hundred times before, he wasn't going to stop for this. His teammates needed all the support they could get after that fight, physically and emotionally. And literally, as Optimus goes limp in his hold and Ultra Magnus has to quickly adjust his grip to keep him from falling. He slides Optimus' good arm over his shoulder, grunting a bit as he tried to get most of his weight off his injured legs.

He was about to reassure Arcee he could handle getting back to the ship when Rodimus started stumbling. And losing plating. The flash of concern in Magnus' eyes was evident even as his expression hardened.

"Rodimus, wait! Just stop for a minute. We don't need you injuring yourself further." The urgency of the command conveyed more concern than his words as he struggled to carry Optimus closer to the others. There was no confusion that this mission was not going to plan and they did not need the complication of two critical injured soldiers on a foreign planet.

Orion doesn't react to being physically shifted, even though it hurts. He is only very nebulously conscious, his optics flickering at the space in front of him. It isn't until a tremor goes through the ground that he shudders as well, as a tower seems to erupt from the ground in the distance.

Sounds come through his vocalizer that never quite make it past just being glitchy static. He shutters his optics and passes out.

It's over now, and they're a mess. Worse for the wear is too generous a term, but at least it's over now. Arcee's spark is heavy as she comes up swiftly at Rodimus' side, ignoring the weight of her heavy spark as she slings his good arm around her shoulders. Orion's blaster fire had done a serious number on his shoulder, and to say she isn't worried would be a bald-faced lie. She feels more than responsible. This happened under her command.

"I've got you, Rodimus. I'm right here." There's no triumph in her voice, just weariness, but she swallows it down and keeps her voice steady. They need some kind of leader right now. She lets him lean against her as he needs to, supporting his weight. "Come on, soldier -- one foot in front of the other. Let's get back to base."

She looks back at Magnus, gratitude and concern both shining in her optics. "There's a first aid kit back at the ship. I'm no Ratchet, but I can at least patch you up for now. Thank you, Magnus. We couldn't have done this without you."

ROBOT FIGHT CLUB

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