| abstract
| - Entrance to Autobot City The vast atrium of Autobot City's entranceway stands before you. When Metroplex is not in residence, this area doubles as a military spaceport. Large towers relay information from around the globe and keeps the spaceport in contact with Earth's solar system outposts and the rest of the known universe. Security cameras and gun emplacements surrounding the entrance make sure that only those who are welcome enter. Scorch marks and small holes in the wall are reminders of the last battle here for Autobot City. When Metroplex is not present, a gate allows easy passage to and from the battle station's facilities. The Space Bridge to Cybertron is constantly monitored by solemn-faced personnel. To the north is the landing pad for flights to and from Earth. TWO CYCLES AGO.. Dogfight, after a severely savage fight while out on a routine patrol duty with a couple of seekers, comes in low to Autobot City's landing pad. His engines are trailing smoke and his comm system is breaking up pretty badly. <> is all that comes through before something bad happens. NOW.. The assembled Protectobots are seeing to the wanton damage inflicted on Autobot City's flight tower, specifically trying to reinforce the structure after Dogfight's run-in with it. Hot Spot holds some beams together with an super-industrial polymer adhesive. Not a permanent fix, but it'll hold.. for now. A ways from the 'landing pad', Ultra Magnus stands next to the Autobot flier. "No no, I assure you Dogfight. It's quite alright, you shouldn't have had to patrol alone." the City Commander reassures the younger bot of his folly, even though the damage done was pretty substantial. After a pat on the back from Magnus, Dogfight is escorted to medical by a couple of gumbie medics. Turning to his 'secretary' Sideswipe, Ultra Magnus notes. "That will be a A-973 Aerial Incident form -and- a G-338 Ground Incident form.. as well as the appropriate patrol incident log that needs to be filed." he rattles off. Somewhere among the confusion, Kup can be heard directing the Protectobots.. "A little to the left, a little more.." Sideswipe was standing behind and to the side of Ultra Magnus, looking upward at the damage as he listened with half an ear to what Ultra Magnus said to Dogfight. His thoughts were on a number of things, strangely enough for someone who didn't appear to think about anything other than fighting. When Ultra Magnus dismissed Dogfight, his eyes shifted to the tall bot and his head shifted so he was now looking downward again. As the list of forms was rattled off, Sideswipe pulled a data pad out of subspace and began making notes, his mouth set in a grim line, saying nothing. Hardhead comes stomping through the gates leading towards Metroplex, he pauses as he looks towards the smoke and commotion coming from the landing bay. He shakes his head as he begins making his way towards the landing pad area in order to get a better look at the area. Amber MacKenzie is in a bad mood. She walks slowly towards Autobot City, not feeling safe anywhere else right now. The flurry of activity, the work and workers, and the boring talk of forms and regulations is almost soothing, and she slows even more to watch. Ultra Magnus, if he even notices her, is met with a bow - shaking hands with a Transformer is just... lame, Hardhead is met with a wave and half-hearted smile, and the busy Sideswipe with another wave. Perceptor comes down from the labs to see if his assistance is needed, having heard the commotion. He is also debating whether he should tell Ultra Magnus about something that he'd discovered earlier or not... Fortress Maximus emerges from within Autobot City, having finally settled matters that had kept him away from the situation here, and at long last he finds himself settling down at the landing pad with an excellent view of the repair efforts. He has a grim expression on his face as he surveys the damage, and soon he turns to Ultra Magnus, "I read the preliminary reports, Dogfight did a real number on that tower, but I'm glad to see there weren't fatalities." The Headmaster commander narrows his right optic, the blue glow dimming ever so slightly as he looks at Ultra Magnus, "Don't tell me Dogfight's been taking landing lessons from Encore?" Hardhead offers Amber a polite wave in return as he makes his way to Magnus and Sideswipe as he listens to Fortress Maximus and Ultra Magnus discuss the landing. "Dogfight is usually a pretty solid flyer." "Did you already file the preliminary accident report as well?" Ultra Magnus asks Sideswipe, an almost neutral look on his face. He doesn't neccesarily take pleasure in bogging the warrior down with this paperwork, but two things come to mind. One, an old Cybertronian saying.. Spare the toil, spoil the proto. Two, that's at least seven forms he doesn't have to fill out today. "Greetings Amber, Hardhead. Come out to see how the repairs go?" Ultra Magnus offers each, a nod to the Headmaster and a slight bow to the EDC member. Whirling around to face Fortress Maximus, "All things considered, he did an admirable job.. albeit with some hands-on landing help from Blades, the alternative could have been much much worse." Pausing for a moment, Magnus considers the last of Max's words. "Is this what the humans call a 'crash pad'?" Sideswipe gives a slight nod to Amber but says nothing. He looks over at Fortress Maximus a moment wondering if he's going to be called by his brothers name, then looks over at Hardhead with a slight nod before going back to typing in something on the data pad. When he's done, he subspaces it and looks back up at the repairs being done. "Something like that," Amber mutters, though she wouldn't mind looking in on Bottlethrottle. She fought for that guy, even if it were only with words. Well, and she tried to shoot Cyclonus, too. She shrugs to herself and finds an out-of-the-way place to sit and sulk. Perceptor seems a little on edge. It really looks as if /something/ is bothering him. And there /is/ something bothering him. Multiple somethings, actually. First of all, while Grimlock had been in the lab the previous orbital cycle, he had carelessly sent an experimental solution of nanoscopic cleaning devices flying all over the lab. The same nanotech that had destroyed Sunstreaker's paintjob earlier. At first hadn't been worried, as it had appeared that only some of the paint on the floor had been disintegrated. However, he later discovered--much to his chagrin--that some of them had gotten into the experimental Cold Fusion Reactor, and had destroyed some of the finer circuitry in its control/regulatory systems... Nonetheless, he approached Fortress Maximus. "May I be of assistance in the repairs?" Sideswipes optics flick back to Ambers direction and he senses something isn't right with his human friend. Hardhead returns Sideswipe's nod and shakes a fist towards Sideswipe, in the universal, stay strong, motion. He looks at Ultra Magnus. "Slow cycle on patrol, thought this was worth exploring, he momentarily notices Amber sulking, he narrows his optic bar on her for a moment, before returning his gaze on the tower. "Slow cycle.. what're those like?" Ultra Magnus dryly replies to Hardhead, smiling a bit. Noticing Sideswipe's interest in Amber's well being, and Amber's sour demeanor.. Magnus asides to his temporary secretary. "Enough forms for now, why don't you go see what's got Amber in the dumps?" he offers, stalking off towards Fortress Maximus. "Greetings Perceptor, been staying out of trouble?" the City Commander asks the bot 'o science, still with a friendly tone in his voice. Sideswipe watches Ultra Magnus stalk off after being 'freed' from duty. Finally he looks back down to his friend and goes over to her. "Hey. You ok? Wanna talk? Go for a ride around Autobot City in the second fastest car?" "...er...." Perceptor looks slightly nervous. "Yes...of course, Ultra Magnus. Thus far, anyway." Well, that's /partially/ true at least...the reactor hasn't gone critical /yet/.. Fortress Maximus lets out an audible sigh, no doubt influenced by Galen, in resposne to Ultra Magnus, "I've been trying to drill the concept of transforming before crash landing into Encore for several months now without much success. The damages alone from these incidents, which are perfectly avoidable under most circumstances, has caused us to squander away time, resources, and mech power to repair our facilities. His behaviour may result in a serious reprimand, and possible brig time." He eyes Ultra Magnus, "You can see why I'm concerned that this sort of incident doesn't become a trend." Ah, the things commanders have to put up with. Fortress Maximus turns his attention to Perceptor when the scientist approaches him, "That would be fine, Perceptor." He gestures towards the landing pad, "Let's see what we can do to speed up the repairs." Hardhead stares at Ultra Magnus. "Eh, they are boring..." He smirks slightly at Magnus. "Of course, every cycle I am not getting shot at is a slow cycle." He shrugs at the larger Autobot. "Anything on our sea rescue operations?" Amber MacKenzie gives Sideswipe a wry smile. "Just got a scare today. I've been in danger plenty of times, but in a full out combat situation where you just *act* not think. Today was different. Today I was cornered." There was something else, too, but Sideswipe can't possibly relate to it. "I understand the need for strict business, Maximus.. I really do." Ultra Magnus lets out a sigh of his own, pulling away out of earshot from most of the others. "The way I look at it, this is one mistake in an otherwise exemplary flight career from Dogfight. Secondly.." he pauses, pointing to the myriad of Autobots who responded to the call here. "We're working together, responding, rescuing, helping.." Magnus suggests, turning back to face the Headmaster Commander. "The resources aren't pletiful, but we're not near rationing yet. Think of this as.. an elaborate team building excercise." he smirks. Perceptor nods and moves toward the landing pad, making haste to assist in the repair efforts. He began by analyzing structural damage to identify what needed to be reinforced first and then setting to work patching them up. Sideswipe looks down at his friend, "You look like you could use a good ear, and a comfortable seat...." he said with a half smile. With that, he transforms and pops a door open, offering her the luxury of sitting in a very comfortable high priced racing seat, meant to conform and cradle the human body around tight turns and high speeds. Sideswipe transforms, shifting into his awesome red Lamborghini mode. Hardhead shakes his head. "We could do combat drills to build, squad unity..." He looks over towards Amber and Sideswipe and proceeds to make his way towards the pair. He crosses his arms across his chest as he tilts his head towards the pair. "What has gotten into both?" He inclines his head towards Sideswipe. "First, you and Sunstreaker go ballistic on each other..." He then looks at Amber for an extended moment. "You look like you have had a brush with death." Amber MacKenzie rolls her eyes at Hardhead. "There's a report." She rises gracefully to her feet and smiles at the luscious Lamborghini. "I think I'll take you up on that." Once again, she doesn't take the driver's side, but the passenger's. Sideswipe is the driver, and it wouldn't feel right. Slipping inside, she leaves the door open. "Did *you* read the report?" she asks him. "I read the report." Drolls Huffer. He's been here for like 20 minutes. No one noticed. "Your sentence construction is...interesting. Not optimal, but interesting." Fortress Maximus turns and nods understandingly in agreement with Ultra Magnus, "Indeed." It wasn't the usual suspect this time around that's creating a mess. Dogfight probably has a good reason crash landing instead of transforming to minimize damage unlike a certain other Autobot. In light of all of this, it becomes clear that the Headmaster commmander has no intention of investigating the matter further, rather he focuses his attention on something he truly enjoys. Building things! Once Fortress Maximus is on the landing pad he transforms into his defense base and out pops his pair of drones who will act as his hands as his main body goes about fabricating raw components into building materials to be put together, "There'll be plenty of materials to be put together, Perceptor. I'll leave the electronics to you." Fortress Maximus' armour plates splits open, accompanied by the distinct transformation sound, as towers and buildings rises up. Defensive batteries, communications and radar dishes can be seen emerging all over while the three main ramps can be see unfolding and extending down to others access to within. Soon the distinct form of a defense base sits before you. Hardhead has not read his reports, so he pulls out his data pad as Amber and Sideswipe take off, he scans through the EDC reports. "Interesting..." He muses for a moment, before stomping towards back towards the landing pad, maybe something heavy will need lifting. Loadout is actually up above everyone else's heads. No, he hasn't gotten taller through some rebuild in the last little while. The Autobot Technician is currently tethered by several loops of cable and two magnetic clasps to one of Metroplex's upper control towers, right near one of those huge MASER turrets that gives the Autobot goliath his massive firepower that he can turn against hapless Decepticon foes in short order. At the moment he works away securing the last of several armored plates that had been removed in order to be replaced by freshly fabricated ones, eliminating the last of some old battle damage that had been more cosmetic than truly hindering the giant in any way. But Loadout, like some of the more techical staff out there, would never be happy if the job was not completed to 100%. And recently things have calmed down enough that he could finally get around to -finishing- that job, one hand holding the lowermost corner of the plate in place, the other retracted into his forearm as he uses his built-in welding device to finish securing it in place, humming happily to himself the whole time. Red Lambo of Doom haven't really gone anywhere, just sitting there. Sideswipe has his passanger door open, letting Amber relax in one of his seats. The idea wasn't entirely cemented in Ultra Magnus' blue plated dome, but it was at least something constructive. After all the wars, skirmishes, battles, infighting.. at least they were working side by side. Till all are one? Ultra Magnus approaches the main control tower, offering his tremendous strength to keep it upright while others mill around him making the neccesary welds and fixes. "Perceptor, can you check under here for wire integrity? I'd hate to have this all welded up and then need Wheelie to crawl in to rewire it." he says with a grunt, lifting up on a portion of the base so Perceptor could lean in to do the job. Huffer sighs as one of Fort Max's towers takes the place of the part of skyline he was looking at. "That figures. Oh, well...most of those colors are due to industrialized pollutants, anyway... I wonder how many biological constructs have contracted diseases from this atmosphere today?" He looks up at Loadout. "Hey Loadout! You know, statistics show that those plates will just be scorched on Metroplex's next take off. And that'll probably be soon, given how much fighting is going on during this never ending war that's completely absorbed our lives and the lives of everyone we love. He pauses. "Love. What a waste of processing power. Sideswipe, you should ask that human female if she's ever experienced love. True love is what I'm really curious about, not shallow recreational encoutners. Not that I'm really all that curious. Curiousity is almost as useless as love. Hi, Ultra Magnus." Perceptor nods to Magnus and makes his way over to the main control tower. Utilizing his scopes, he examines the wiring underneath it. It would appear that there were a few that needed repairs. He leans in and begins working to re-connect a few cables, focusing his mind entirely on the task at hand as was his habit. Besides, it has its advantages now, since it distracts him from thinking about the reactor. But he's still deciding in the very back of his overactive processor whether it would be necesarry to evacuate that sector of Autobot City or not... Red Lambo of Doom remains quiet for a moment, "So, tell me about this report, tell me about what happened today?" Sideswipe asked quietly. Loadout keeps on hanging from the tower like a window washer attached onto an upper story of a tall building. Even as Huffer makes his own observation into the situation, Loadout doesn't even miss a beat, having finished with the welding and now using a tube with some sort of glue-like substance to add extra sealing around the edges. "And if it -does- get scorched, then I'll simply fix and polish it again and return it to the state it was previously in! And again and again if needbe. True I would love nothing more than to see something remain in a pristine condition I have left it in, but that's hardly a realistic expectation given the state of affairs now is it? I can only endeavor to always leave something better than when I found it." His attitude hardly dented in the least, this probably isn't all that surprising for Loadout. He may bitch and moan when someone does something like track dirt all over the inside of his nice clean floors in the medical bay or the main entrance hallway to Autobot City...but he's never happier than when he's currently fixing something or scrubbing away or polishing something to a shine so bright that one could nearly go blind looking at the reflection. Ever the perfectionist. Hardhead stares at Huffer for a very long time, his posture weakens slightly as his shoulders slump down, his fingers start to fidget at his side. Quietly he murmurs to himself, "True love, is a hell of a thing." For a moment, Hardhead's voice seems to have an organic quality, in sharp contrast to his normal cold metallic voice. He shakes his head violently as he straightens back up, the moment of lost love sorrow seems to fade away as Hardhead moves to some rubble which he begins to lift out of the way. "Thank you for your opinion, Huffer," Amber responds evenly. She sighs and closes her eyes as she leans back on the comfortable form-fitting seat. "And no, I haven't experienced love yet. I'm only 24, and most of the men I've met have been more interested in the family money or in getting in my... never mind." To Sideswipe, she continues more softly, "They had me pinned between them, and Hairsplitter pulled out a pile of torture instruments. I was talking for my life, trying to deny any knowledge of what the Autobots were up to, but they didn't believe me..." "Your pants?" Huffer finishes for her. "I believe that's the vulgar human expression, suggesting a narrow minded focus on copulation." He looks back up at Loadout. "I wouldn't call it pristine. It's almost impossible to truely keep something in an untouched mint condition. Plus, I think a few of your angles are off. But that's just at a glance. I'm sure that the crooked panel you just finished is an optical illusion." More and more pre-fabricated building materials are expertly crafted and sent out of Fortress Maximus' construction bay where technicians are waiting to haul the finished products out. Soon there's a good stack of building materials just waiting for people with free hands to pick up and weld into place! Fortress Maximus' drones cruises by Huffer and over hears the Minibot's complaint, causing them to combine into their robotic mode where Galen's voice can be heard emitted from the drones, << Hey, sorry for the visual pollution there, Huffer. It's going to be temporary. >> With that said, Cog hauls a slab of pre-fabricated building materials underneath each arm and begins handing it off to others, one of them being Perceptor, << Hey, Maximus said you can put this thing over that exposed conduit when you're done patching the electrical works up. >> Red Lambo of Doom lets his engine revv a little with a deep throaty rumble, showing how upset he is by what Amber had told him. "WHO do I need to pulverize into small pieces?" he said quietly. He was monitoring her heart rate and could tell this scared her, the thought of what had happened. He didn't like seeing his friends scared. Ultra Magnus peers to the side, "Sideswipe, think you could.." he starts to utter, but he won't have a chance to finish that sentence.
* SKKKKKKKKRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR* Suddenly, without warning, an upper piece of the tower shifts.. breaking into several pieces, they splinter the main support beam and send the balance tipping. "SLAG!" Magnus can't help but curse out, forced to attempt and bear hug the entire spiral to keep it from burying Perceptor outright. "Situation at main control spiral, need muscle ASAP!" Ultra Magnus transmits over the broadband, straining against the sagging weight of the tower. "Temporary." Huffer makes a face at the Max drone. "Optimus said our stay here would be temporary." Almost absently mindedly, he walks over and helps Magnus push the tower back up. Hardhead shakes his head once more as he runs towards Ultra Magnus to lead his brawn towards helping with the tower. He grunts as he strains to lift. "Huffer, this is still temporary. For slag sake, I was in battles that lasted as long as our time on this planet." "I -would- take offense to that if not for the fact that I have supreme confidence in my ability to measure something right down to the micro-millimeter and then some." Loadout chirps, giving the panel one last going over with a scanner, then nodding in satisfaction. "Believe me, it's as perfect as it can possibly be. Woah!" Now while he's not tethered to the same tower that is threatening to topple over on Ultra Magnus and company, it -is- nearby that his own hold is suddenly thrown out of whack as the cables holding him in place start swinging wildly, causing him to weave back and forth almost comically at the end of them as he scrambles to hold on. "What in the name of Primus...!?" Perceptor completely ignores the materials he is being handed. At least it looks that way. But now he's trapped under the control tower. And actually, he doesn't even seem to be aware or mindful of even /that/, as he is still busy fixing the wiring, or perhaps, knowing him, attempting to improve them somehow. Huffer stares sadly at Perceptor. "If this smashes you, do you think anyone will miss you?" Without really having registered exactly what Huffer said, Perceptor nodded absently. "Mhm...yes. Excellent." Red Lambo of Doom starts a little Ultra Magnus's words, possibly wondering what the scrap he's done wrong now. But before he can do much more than worry about that, he shoves himself into reverse and backs up quickly, making sure that he and Amber are well out of range of any falling debris. Even with Huffer and Hardhead's aid, the outer layer of the spiral starts to crack.. the spot welds and polymer fused to it's surface earlier begin to crumble, flake, or outright buckle under the pressure. Support beams knock against their supports and bolts, some vibrating terribly enough to knock loose. "Bots, PUSH!" Ultra Magnus roars, putting the majority of his considerable bulk up against the spiral. With his back against the spiral, Magnus leans low and finally prys his hands under the base of the tower. One large *PUSH* and Perceptor is given -some- breathing room. "Anytime now Perceptor, we haven't.. GAH-t all day!" It's obvious these Autobots can't keep the tower up for long, especially given it's sorry state. Perceptor stands up suddenly, or at least attempts to. His back and head smack into the underside of the tower, causing it to waver and wobble even more. "Oh!" Well, slag...that was rather painful... Amber MacKenzie rolls out of the Lamborghini and tells Sideswipe to "Go!" She herself sprints back towards Autobot City and hopefully out of the way. They were already some distance away, so she should be safe enough. Hardhead strains against the tower, a bolt from his arm armor pops off, harmlessly hitting the ground. "Ghhhh...you're right Magnus...ain't no quiet cycles left..." He lets out another grunt as he continues to strain against the towe. The Tower clearly winning. Defense Base ejects out all of the raw materials he had been in the process of fabricating from his construction bay and promptly rises up into his robotic mode! The Headmaster commander races over to the location where Ultra Magnus has called out for assistance and can't help but let his blue optics widen in shock at the sight in front of him. Fortress Maximus' subordinates talks about the Headmaster commander's notorious strength, but even he concedes that the feat of strength displayed by Ultra Magnus at this very moment to keep Perceptor from being pasted can only be summed up as legendary. A few quick strides is all it takes for Fortress Maximus to cover the remaining distance between him and Ultra Magnus, soon he too begins to assist in the heavy lifting. Ooof, it's heavy! It's definitely going to take more Autobot assistance to get this thing moving! Meanwhile, Cog would be frowning if he had the facial capacity to do so, instead he reaches an arm out and begins pulling Perceptor towards the direction out from underneath the building. Fortress Maximus' current form begins to reconfigure itself, shrinking in size, and he eventually emerges in his robotic form. The sleek, red Lamborghini transforms into Sideswipe's bipedal mode. Sideswipe transforms as he takes off at high speed and runs towards those trying to keep things from falling apart. Using his jet pack, he takes off for the air around and looks around for Perceptor. He might not be able to help lift things away but if he needs to get Perceptor out of the way, he's there to help...along with anyone else he might be able to get to saftey." Loadout is probably one of the physically weakest Autobots around barring a few tapes. And even then it's debatable. Not to mention he's not exactly in a position to be able to help as he's now dangling from his own tower and pretty much relegated to just spectating by this point. His optic visor flashes orange in obvious alarm as he sees the tug-of-war...or maybe push-of-war would be more appropriate, unfolding before him. "My word! This doesn't bode well!" Master of the understatement, much? "Just get.." Ultra Magnus grunts, servos in his legs failing.. warning lights flashing red, signifying systemwide failure of output capacities.. his own massive boots grinding against the pavement, digging deeper and deeper into the foundation leaving giant ruts in their wake. "Perceptor.." One last reserve of strength, Magnus manages to almost swivel his position around.. still crouched, but now awkwardly facing the base of the spiral. His left leg's motors fail, a puff of smoke emits from the rear followed quickly by a small fire. An audible *BHRMM* sighs from the exasperated belt, the leg itself quickly losing the advantage it just held. "Free!" Ultra Magnus chokes out, in one final attempt to garner Perceptor a passage free.. he lunges towards the tower, half in a risky gambit's football charge. But the other, to wedge the left large obelisk-like white shoulders under the lip of the base. Risky, but it works.. as Maximus' added strength keeps the tower secure enough for Cog to snatch Perceptor out. Huffer looks up at Magnus. "That was pretty close. I suppose we should have run the statistical comparison of energy expended vs losing Perceptor." Perceptor has a blank look on his face, as if he had no idea what had just happened. "Oh...my..." He mumbles, as he catches a glimpse of the exhausted look on Ultra Magnus' face. Sideswipe looks up at the sound of Loadout's voice and sees the small bot dangling by some pulley's. Quickly swooping over there, he holds out a hand, "Want a ride down? Save you wear and tear on the joints..." Hardhead flops to the ground as his systems give out, he lays on his back as he stares up into the sky. "Ughhhh...that was fun..." Slowly he pushes himself back up as he looks towards Huffer, shaking his head. He looks at Ultra Magnus and gives him a nod of admiration. Loadout is totally not small! Okay he's a little shorter than your average Autobot but he's no minibot either! Nonetheless, as Sideswipe offers one hand, he takes it a moment later to let himself get a 'boost' down to the ground level, dropping away when he figures he's safe enough to touch down with that harsh metallic *CLANK* of his feet making earthfall and his knees bending a bit with the impact. "Hnnf! Thank you, Sideswipe. I didn't relish the thought of climbing back down and marring my work up to that point if I could help it." As he nods at this, he idly brushes himself off with both hands, as if to get rid of any imaginary dust that's built up. Hey, he looked small from down at ground level, what can I say.... Amber MacKenzie watches from a nice, safe distance. She sighs at her frazzled nerves and silently congratulates Magnus for an incredible feat of strength. At least by human standards, and from the reactions she sees, Cybertronian as well. She straightens her dark green blouse and leans against a wall, still watching. Sideswipe lands next to Loadout and goes over to Ultra Magnus, giving Perceptor a look over, then back to his 'boss', "Need help?" Not noticing that he's not getting much in the way of response, Huffer goes about his business. "You'd have to make sure to include energy spent in the clean up process in the equation, of course...The gel that incubates our spark at the correct temperature is extraordinarily hard to clean from most surfaces. A lot of mechs don't know what. Because a lot of mechs don't do any clean up. You guys remember how long it took to clean the launcher room in Autobot City after Ironhide and Prowl died? Rodimus had defeated Unicron by the time I finished cleaning up *that* mess. Fortress Maximus grits his teeth with intense exertion as he shifts his body about, struggling to find a better holding. It's during this endeavour that he discovers Ultra Magnus' precarious situation. The brunt of the weight is still being carried by Ultra Magnus' shoulder, and judging from the gradually noticeable stress fractures forming on the armour plating underneath it isn't going to hold much longer either. Times like this calls for quick action! Fortress Maximus quickly looks around and makes a snap decision as he announces, << We're going to need to drop this tower forward a bit! It's going to damage the bottom half of the tower some more but it's better than it potentially rolling back on us when we let it down. >> He looks at the Autobots still lifting the tower for confirmation of acknowledgement before continuing, << Alright! On the count of three, we push this thing forward! ONE! TWO! THREE! >> With that said, the Headmaster commander grunts and pushes forward against the tower, hoping the action is in time to keep Ultra Magnus from sustaining any further damages. The timing couldn't have been better, as a stress fracture plays up his shoulder spire.. the spiral itself is shifted up and away, allowing Magnus to roll to the side. Safe. Laying there, a little taken aback, Ultra Magnus sighs.. rising to a seated position, his left arm sagging at his side. The small fire that broke out earlier has extinguished itself by now, though plumes of the acrid smoke still creep up from the recesses of his leg joints and crevices. Giving Perceptor a haphazard grin, the City Commander attempts to get up to his feet. "Hrmph!" Magnus lets out, falling back down to a knee. "Anyone get the number of that bus?" he attempts to joke out. Sideswipe goes over to offer a helping servo to his 'boss' "Need to get you to the med bay, sir." he says quietly. "Nono, I'm.. fine." Ultra Magnus tries to bargain, pointing to some of the others. "They need the help, I'll be.. fine." Cog gives Perceptor a pat on the back, satisfied that the Autobot scientist is alright before walking over to Ultra Magnus and the other Autobots. He'd smirk if he could, but when you have that darn annoying mouth plating on your face, you can hardly express anything. The drone points a finger at the tower, both the standing and broken pieces of it, "Well the bus is still right there if you want a closer gander there." Loadout may not have been much help when it comes to heavy lifting, but there are -other- areas where his expertise comes into play, and that's something he's already on the move about. "Yes, yes to the medical bay in a moment. But first, a diagnostic!" He's already stepping up on the other side of Magnus and leaning down to peer at his shoulder. Though his optics are hidden behind a visor, the way it dims suggests that he's narrowing them in tacit disapproval of the stress fracture that he sees. This is only further evidenced by the way he's now playing a medical scanner over the injury. "You most certainly are -not- fine, Ultra Magnus. I never understood where this false bravado comes from with many of you larger Autobots....refusing treatment." Huffer agrees with Loadout and Sideswipe. "You really shouldn't overtax yourself, Ultra Magnus. Remember when you took on all those Sweeps on Junk and they dismembered you? We almost lost the Matrix that day. Of course I wasn't there. I don't tend to get invited to go on adventures." Amber MacKenzie nods approvingly of Loadout's stance. It *is* stupid. Are there *any* big, strong Autobots who don't always insist that they're fine when their innards are hanging out? Medics should be even bigger, stronger guys so they can drag the idiots back to the hospital, kicking and screaming if need be. Sideswipe snorts, "No, you're not. You look like a two bit lug nut..sir." he says with a slight smirk. "LIterally, this time. So, stop being so damned Primus macho and let me get you to the med bay. Get yourself fixed up then you can come right back and start listing out all the forms that need to be filled out on this incident." Hardhead looks at the others and shakes his head. "Magnus said he is fine, he doesn't need to be coddled. If he was hurt, he would go to the Medical Bay." Amber MacKenzie snickers quietly. Sideswipe gives Hardhead a look that tells him to aft out. Letting out a hearty laugh, Ultra Magnus finally relents to Loadout's forced physical analysis. "Okay, okay. I get it." he grunts, lowering himself back down to the ground. Before the med-team can cart him back inside, he snatches ahold of Sideswipe's arm. "You're.." he chokes out, wheezing from inner systems compression. "..going.." Magnus stutters, finally coming out with the last bit. "..to need to fill out a T-639 structural damage incident report and an accompanying E-29 material procurement request." Before the laugh track can play, Ultra Magnus is wheeled inside Autobot City and into the Repair Bay. Huffer glances at Hardhead. "Look like you were wrong. Hopefully that doesn't happen when you're making combat decisions with lives at stake." Sideswipe blinks at the hold Magnus has on his arm, almost wincing....listens to what he's told and as the bot's wheeled away, actually does facepalm himself with a slight groan. Loadout is of course right there, fussing and harping the entire way as he walks alongside the platform upon which Magnus is wheeled into the medical bay, the whole time chastising the Autobot second about overdoing it and what will the others think and he just -had- that actuator maintained and now look what he's done with it... ...if nothing else he's in good hands, no? Hardhead looks at Huffer and glares at him. "I have made poor decisions when lives have been at stake." He points at the mini-bot. "It isn't a pleasant thing to think about." Fortress Maximus can't help but let a smile creep up on his face as he watches Ultra Magnus get nagged from all directions. Everyone seems to be out of immediate danger though, light hearted humour seems like a perfect fit right this moment. The Headmaster commander backs away so as to not intefere with the various Autobots' attempts at diagnosing Ultra Magnus. With Ultra Magnus wheeled away and Sideswipe unceremoniously tasked with official paperwork, it looks like there's only a few Autobots left to tackle the clean up and reconstruction efforts. Fortress Maximus gives Hardhead and Huffer a smile, "Let's let the professionals argue over Magnus' physical health." He points at the broken tower in front of him, "There's plenty work left to do once the cranes gets here and moves the broken segment away." Perceptor finally speaks up after watching Ultra Magnus being carted off to the repair bay. "Primus...what transpired out here?" he wondered aloud. "War never is." Huffer agrees completely with Hardhead, giving him a sympathetic nod. "I'm sure you've gotten better with command missions, though. I haven't seen any data to support that, of course. That's just my way of making you feel better." He looks up at Perceptor. "Is your brain finally giving out?" Perceptor folds his arms at Huffer's question. "Excuse me, are you attempting to undermine my intellectual capacity?" he asked in a rather indignant tone. Hardhead glares at Huffer for a long moment. "Some days I have my doubts." He shrugs as he is nearly impossible to cheer up. "But Primus willing, my mistakes will be kept to a minimum." Huffer shakes his head at Hardhead with a sigh. "Quantumly that's practically impossible. You're going to make a pretty big mess out of most things. Might as well accept it. It'll make you happier. Look at me." He looks back up at Perceptor. "Did you forget the thing where you almost died a minute ago and then Ultra Magnus strained his power frame saving your life? I tried to warn him that his system reverberators are more expensive to maintain than keeping a midsize Autobot alive, but he didn't listen. Shock of the vorn." Hardhead stares at Huffer as if a light goes off in his head, a dim light, but a light none the less. "Your words carry the hint of truth to them Huffer. I need to..." He pauses as if he can't believe what he is going to say. "Meditate on this." With that he turns on his heels and begins two stroll back into Autobot City. "Expensive, you say? Pff. I hope you are aware, Huffer, that there are things of higher value in the universe than simple /currency/." Perceptor shook his head. "Perhaps you should reconsider your priorities." Or, perhaps, his allegiance. Huffer just stares blankly at Perceptor for a minute. "But you remember the..." He points at where the tower collapsed, and then sighs. "Never mind." Perceptor says, "Hmph! I am having diffifculty believing that remaining focused upon the task at hand is a negative habit." Amber MacKenzie feels her own depression returning, and she can't even blame it on Huffer, who's apparently targeting just about everyone else. Shrugging to herself, she heads into Autobot City to rest, but she expects horrific nightmares tonight. Cowardly Decetpicons, going after those who can't really fight them. Bloody hell, she wanted to kill them so badly. The difference of opinion between Perceptor and Huffer is ignored as she continues on her way. "Speaking of which, I'm supposed to talk to Ultra Magnus about the armor plating on these deep sea missiles." He unrolls a comically oversized blueprint and then sinks his head forward. "Wait. Of COURSE he's in medbay now. He glances at Amber as she passes by. "Good night, human female." Perceptor sighs, having had enough of Huffer. He should really check on that fusion reactor, anyway. Without a word, he turned and headed back into Autobot City. "Just you and me, Cog." Huffers blahs as he rolls up his blueprint. "Just you and me and the weight of the world."
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