The Lines Blur

[LeoKingdom]

(Ooc: I really hope at least someone had...)

A simple matter it was to hear what words Moonhunter and Bane spoke to eachother. Two combatants of great and terrible skill engaging in combat, a sight to behold for sure. Still, Crosshare stayed focused upon the remaining Predacon's. The possibility that one of them would try some sort of underhanded trick was all too real.

The world viewed through his scope was a simple one. A black tunnel at the end of which a single dot, no bigger than a pin prick, hovered before the form of some unfortunate spark, never knowing how close to deaths door they were. At the time, Crosshare had the scope set at a mid-range magnification, granting him a large feild of view.

Suddenly, a crackling woosh swept from somewhere out of sight and an explosion torn into Moonhunter's back, blowing him to the ground. Paniced, Crosshare rapidly swept back and forth across the forces, searching for a sign of who had fired upon the Cybertronian Werewolf.

Then the voice came, heartless and unfeeling, sending chills up Crosshare's back. He wasted no time zeroing in upon the mech, hidden among the native foliage. Increasing his scope's zoom to maximum, he saw who, or what, the attacker was. It was like a punch in the fuel tank. Unus had returned. Not as the heroic Maximal Commander, but as a twisted nightmarish relfection.

[Gravity_Dragon]

"HA HA HA HAA! I think your question has been answered Moonhunter. I am a proud Predacon now that I've shed the shackles of that bit of jewelry I used to fawn over. I went mad for a time, and then with some coaxing, turned sane in a new way." he said as he approached and was fully revealed.

His graceful white form was long gone, twisted into something much more sinister. Spikes, and patches of leathery hide adorned his heavy frame, and a pair of wings fit for any devil were folded along his back. His beast mode's head was part of his arm still, but it was now feral and nearly skeletal.

Black flames seemed to leak occasionally from the sharp toothed maw of his new cannon, indicating it's readiness to fire. His faceplate was twisted into a Cheshire like grin, revealing even more teeth.

"Think about your situation Moonhunter. You are damaged, but alive! If I had wanted you dead, your body would be half molten slag at this very moment. Sparing you was the last act of leniency you will get from me. Tell your men to lower their weapons and back away. You're welcome to enjoy the show of this thick headed fool being humiliated, but after that, you will leave this territory on pain of death." Unus snarled.

He was obviously getting himself worked up a bit, as some of the spikes along his body were glowing slightly, seeming to give off horrible black flames of their own, though no heat could be felt. He turned, ignoring Bane and Moonhunter for a moment, and stared at what was left of Scrounge being tended by Maydae.

"Scrounge..... By calling upon the Maximals for help, you have betrayed your fellow Predacons. For that, you are to be executed." he said, looking at her dimming optics.

Before anyone could voice an objection or make a move he spoke again.
"However, since your actions resulted in the destruction of the parasite known as Ulgris, you are to be exiled from our territory forever. Once she is stable enough to be carried, she is no longer our concern. Ah, Maydae is it? Good, you can tend to this slag heap's wounds. I want her stabilized for transport out of our territory." he said, some of his old self surfacing for just an instant when he spared the pitiful mech's life.

He then turned back to Bane, who was most likely furious and ready to attack, and motioned with his hand as if to say "bring it on".

This post has been edited by Gravity_Dragon on Oct 24 2009, 11:27 PM

[Shadowcat9279]

Scrounge heard every word that was said. She saw what was going on around her but she could not react. Executed she expected... and at this moment she was wishing for the sweet embrace of death. Exhiled???... what was she supposed to do with herself now? It wasnt as if she had an existance outside of working for the Preds. ".....no...." Was all that she could say and it was bearly a whisper at best.

[XtheSuperSaiyajin]

He had been watching the fight, never letting his optics off the action. Ravager hadn't seen a fight like this in many a stellar cycle, all that he'd seen at the base was never anything more then a practice bout. It seemed like no bot ever wanted to just trade punches over some matter of honor, a seemingly unfair card game, or even a femmebot's servo. It was all just a sign that he really was a bit 'over the hill' as humans called it.

Then in a flash it was all over, while Moonhunter had Bane at his mercy a dark fire blast came out of nowhere and struck Moonhunter and knocking him back a ways. Ravager's double barreled blaster extended out of his arm on almost pure instinct he was ready to fire but what he saw when he looked back at the attacker he wasn't quite so ready.

"What in the name of Primus?" he said spoke in almost a whisper. The real surprise came when he finally recognized the strange demonic mech as Unus. However it wasn't exactly the Unus he remembered, that mech wouldn't exactly condemn a injured Pred to death by execution. It was a relief though when exile was given instead. Despite that small show of mercy Ravager kept his blast drawn on his arm, and his optics glued to the new Predacon Unus. He thought to himself that this must be how the Decepticons felt when they first met Galvatron.

[Mayhem]

Maydae had been secretly rooting for Moonhunter. Actually, it wasn’t all that secret that she hated Bane. Seeing Moonhunter shot down infuriated her. Here was someone who could destroy Bane once and for all and someone else had to jump in and ruin that. She snarled to herself but she had work to do. Grumbling to herself about idiotic mechs, she returned to working on Scrounge. Most of Maydae grumblings were of course about Bane and whatever idiot had helped him.

More stupidity was going on but her primary focus was on Scrounge. Maydae worked quickly in hopes to stabilize her and get her into the medbay. Surprisingly, the young bot worked skillfully and decisively. Unlike her work in the lab with her experiments and inventions, when it came to medic work, there were no mishaps and explosions.

Hearing her name, she glanced briefly over her shoulder. Then the words truly filtered through her processor. She bolted up and angrily stood in front of Scrounge. Fury burned through her.

“Who’re you to suggest something so rust-brained?! I wasn’t programmed to do sub-standard patch jobs!”

No way would she let Scrounge be exiled by some loon of a mech.

[Gravity_Dragon]

Unus was only mildly surprised that the medic was objecting to his order. He wasn't the established leader quite yet, and she obviously had some strange wish to preserve the life of the traitor. However, instead of threatening the medic, he let a sinister grin grace his features again.

"Either you stabilize that slag for transport, or you can be forced to watch as I scrap her. Make the choice quickly, my trigger finger is getting itchy...."

((sorry for the short post.))

This post has been edited by Gravity_Dragon on Oct 26 2009, 11:24 PM

[Mayhem]

This was insanity! Why did everyone stand around like they were about to go into stasis lock? As much as she hated Bane, he led the Predacons so why did he not step in? And wasn’t that pony part of the Maximals? Why weren’t they controlling their deranged leader?

The thought of watching Scrounge being disassembled permanently horrified Maydae. Even if she had not been threatened with being forced to witness it, Maydae still would have been appalled. Scrounge had saved them all. Without Maximal back-up, that Thing would have slagged them all. Were the two femebots the only ones to compute that?

“Stick it in neutral,” she growled and glared at him with burning red eyes.

Being small and young, she had learned to always act as ill tempered and angry as possible in the presence of other bots. There was no way she would allow herself to be labeled a weakling and thus made a target for intimidation and manipulation.

Reluctant but acting more annoyed than anything, she bent back down over Scrounge.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she worked swiftly. The more she could do for Scrounge the better. Bane had caused much damage and it worried Maydae that she would not get enough done in the limited time frame. As much as she could, she worked in helpful but not essential repairs between larger jobs so that it looked like she was only attending the critical jobs.

[Gravity_Dragon]

Nemesis Unus was pleased with his progress. The medic assumed she had a time limit to get Scrounge stabilized, and she thought he was stupid enough to miss the minor repairs to the crippled femme's systems. He really didn't care either way, and casually used his tail to flick Scrounges severed arm at her mangled body.

"Work as long as you like, she is to be exiled, not tossed into some hole, we ALL owe her that much, since her call was what led to Ulgris' downfall, instead of ours." he said, his voice carrying just a hint of respect for the accomplishment.

He again turned to Bane, and pointed his cannon at the Predacon Leader in a decidedly threatening manner. "Now to return to the reason I'm here for. Bane, I hereby challenge you for the right to lead the Predacon forces on this expedition. Your stupidity and arrogance have cost us too much. EN GUARD!!"


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While Nemesis Unus and the others had their little conversation, Recoil was listening intently through a directional mic. He was amazed at the identity of the one that was currently challenging Bane, but he couldn't find it in his cold ruthless heart to give a damn about their stupid leader.

Bane had proven time and time again that he cared little for his crew, and this had alienated even Recoil quite thoroughly. His piss poor attempts at providing tactical commands during the last fight had been the last straw for the naga sniper.

With a hiss, he sank his anchors into the ground and readied his rifle. It was for two reasons. One, it gave him a great view of the fight, two, it gave him the perfect opportunity to put a round into anyone stupid enough to interrupt this fight.

[Big Kahuna]

Resigned, Moonhunter lowered his weapons. “Hunter mode,” he muttered, his personal activation code to transform back into a white werewolf. In these circumstances they could not engage Unus to try to reclaim him. He did not even know if Unus would be worth getting back. He had been worthless as a leader, but he now had the potential to be horrendously dangerous as an enemy, with an army of pissed off Predacons under his command. But there was nothing they could do right now. Optimus Unus had been powerful as a Maximal, and he looked to have a few new tricks now. Couple that with the battle-worn condition they were in and it was not a recipe for a success. “Stand down. Prepare to withdraw,” he ordered his troops, impotent rage tinting his voice.

They could not leave right away though. He walked over to where Scrounge lay and a Predacon that he recognized labored to stabilize her. “Just get her safe for transport,” he said softly. “Once we get her to our base, she will receive the best medical care possible. We all owe her our lives, and I honor my debts.” He didn’t know how much this Predacon cared for her comrade or what her personal ethics were, but that wasn’t important. His words were just as much for Maydae as they were for Scrounge and anyone else around them who could hear, especially his Maximals. He knew many of them would not be happy with his decision, but he had made a promise to Scrounge and Moonhunter kept his word when he could.

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Returning alongside the two Maximals he had finished fighting alongside, Toxicon watched the proceedings with interest. So, this must have been the project those scientists had labored on in secret. He could understand their indiscretion. This was borderline treason… but he could understand the need for drastic measures. They were a race capable of great adaptation to survive. And Bane had become a liability… there were few mechs on this planet strong enough to challenge him. At the very least, Optimus Unus would weaken Bane enough for the rest of them to finish the job. While Toxicon himself would not participate in the execution of their “leader,” he would not go out of his way to stop it, either.

Still, this former Maximal, if he had been properly reprogrammed, could give them the proper leadership they needed. That was why the Autobots had defeated the Decepticons and why the Maximals retained their chokehold on the Predacons: superior unity through competent leadership. Toxicon was loyal to no individual but himself and his mate, who he took a seat alongside and transformed into his beast form as the Predacons began forming a circle around Unus and Bane. His allegiance lay with his species and their corporate cause. He would follow this new leader if he proved himself worthy to lead the Predacons. Defeating Bane would be a good start.

[FireHex]

Listening to everything that wass going on around him, Bane could feel his processor just twitching. He couldn't make sense of what was going on?! Wasn't this mech a Maxi? How could he be a Predacon and what is the deal with him ordering his minions around!?!? He got to decided what they were going to do with the traitor and everything else.

"Ya not worth to call yer self a mech!!!!" roared out Bane as he charge right towards Nemesis Unus. Pulling his fist back, he took to launching a nice and hard one right towards Unus' face.

[Gravity_Dragon]

Unus let a sneer play across his features as Bane made a rather large show of throwing a punch. No doubt it could do some damage, but dodging, or in this case, countering was sparklings play.

With a twist of his torso, Unus easily pulled his head out of the path of Bane's hefty fist, and latched his own onto the ex-pirates wrist. Deciding to save the built up charge in his cannon for another move, he simply drove the spiked head of his beast mode into Bane's midriff.

With a subtle shift in his center of gravity, and Bane's own momentum working against him, Unus was easily able to use his position to chuck Bane over his shoulder.

[Charger426]

Sabreblade just stared down the sight of his weapon, optics transfixed on the new figure that entered the field of battle. " Is that... nahhh. Can't be." He quietly said to himself in amazement. The form was there, winged horse thingy, only twisted in a malevolent way. Very sinister looking. But deep down, he knew who it was. " Unus?"

He watched in amazement as the situation unfolded before him. He used every bit of self control with in him to resist firing on the Dark winged Mech, adhering to Moonhunter's last order to stand at the ready while he sacrificed himself in battle. And was Unus still his commanding officer too? What was the protocol for this situation?

All he could do was wait, finger ready to pull the trigger. But instead of covering Bane, who was now on the ground, he aimed dead center mass at his (former?) commander. He began to idly think about the past when he insulted him during their first meeting. Hopefully the newer, meaner Unus would have forgotten that incident from so long ago.

[FireHex]

Pain took to coursing through his body within moments. Bane choke out as the horn enter through his gut. It really shouldn't have hurt that much, but his body was so weak from the radiation and the fighting. Now he was sent through the air and crash hard on to the ground. Coughing energon out of his mouth, Bane fought against his body shutting down, but he couldn't as he enter into stasis lock.

[Gravity_Dragon]

Nemesis Unus spun to face his opponent, only to be disappointed by Bane entering stasis lock from the damage and radiation overload. "Pathetc. I had hoped that this would have been a challenge, but this was a shameful display." he said, his voice low and filled with anger.

He kicked at Bane's prone form to see if he was trying to get the jump on him, but there was no response. Unus shook his head and looked to Toxicon. "You, gather whomever you need and drag this slag bitten heap back to Deathknell's lab. I have plans for him." he said evenly.

His optics were narrowed just slightly, and he was watching Toxicon for a moment or two. He broke it off to look toward the Maximals. "Once the exile is ready for transport, you are to leave Predacon territory." he said as he changed into his nightmarish beast form.

His hooves were oddly quiet as he made his way toward the damaged Conquest.