(( OOC: All right, here I go! Lots of catching up here, so if I miss anything/anyone or misunderstood anything, please let me know and I will edit. Kind of jumping back and forth between characters. Splee! ))
"Bad move rodent." "Now i'll just make your death MORE PAINFUL!! HAHAHAHHAHA"
What a lunatic, thought Rattrap. Besides, the mantis had already made the worst move; invading enemy territory.
"Rattrap!! Behind you!"
With a light gasp, the Maximal Commander turned and ducked at the same time so that his side lowered just enough for his arm and shoulder to be grazed by Manterror's saws. A gash on his upper arm, and scratches decorated the wheel on his shoulder. Grumbling from the pain, he was fortunate he hadn't lost his entire arm, and that was thanks to Airazor's warning. Quickly he rolled out of the way across the floor and got to his feet as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, hearing Airazor and watching Manterror sneak up on their leader, Tigatron narrowed his optics and took advantage of the opportunity, firing at the Predacon's back and wings while the bug attacked the rat.
"Rattrap this is Wintersong, sorry for being late with my report but I was a little wrapped up with one of the Preds...least I think he was. He was just dropped me close by but I should be there in a few kliks."
While Tigatron gave Rattrap a hand with Manterror, the TransMetal rodent picked up Wintersong's report. He wasn't sure which Predacon she was talking about; after all it could have been Onyx or that Silverbolt bot. At least it sounded like she was okay, but he was growing worried about not hearing from Cheetor, Saber-Fang and Silverstreak. How did Optimus always manage all of this? He made it seem so easy.
"All right, Wintersong. Just watch yer back out dere." Rattrap was interrupted when Orcariner suddenly showed up in the hangar.
"MANTERROR!!!"
Wow! He looks like slag, Rattrap thought grimly during the whale's introduction to their battle inside. But he was glad to see him, and to still see him functioning and ready to kick more Predacon skidplates. Hopefully he wasn't pushing himself too far.
"If you want an opponent worthy enough to test your skills, then fight me instead!"
Tigatron halted his firing on Manterror when Orcariner showed up and looked to Rattrap for direction.
Watching Orcariner trying to power up his shield and it failing, Rattrap frowned for a moment as he took in the TransMetal orca's damage and injuries. He was in really bad shape, so he wasn't going to let him handle Manterror alone. So Rattrap exchanged his weapon that he was holding in his hand with his injured arm to his other hand and stood his ground before the mantis, targeting him and waiting to see his next move. With some pain, he motioned to Tigatron to head for the CR so he could help Stag get Airazor out.
Nodding, Tigatron stealthfully snuck away from his position and headed over toward the CR.
"What's it gonna be, Bugboy?" Rattrap asked Manterror with a grin, hiding the aching and throbbing from his arm that he held at his side now, and aiming his gun at the Pred's chest with his good arm.
-----
"I prefer watching her torn in half."
"Watch it Cecaelia."
Rhinox ignored Cecaelia's terrible comment, much like how he usually ignored Rattrap's sarcasm and negativity, and focused on helping Whitegrazer with Aurora. He briefly glanced at Umbra on the floor to make sure he wasn't awakening for a sneak attack.
"Are you ready?," "On the count of three.." "One.." "Two.." "Three!"
The large engineer kept his red optics on Whitegrazer's as he gripped her hands and pulled her toward him at the appropriate time with the necessary strength as Aurora successfully pulled off her maneuver. It had worked!
"Thank you, Aurora. Rhinox, "
Rhinox gave Whitegrazer a smile as he released her and a confident nod of pride to Aurora. If only Optimus and Icebreaker could see her now and how she was adapting to this unfortunate war. However, there was the matter of the bomb being uncontrollably tossed into the consoles, but as quickly as it all transpired, Rhinox instinctively wrapped his arms around Whitegrazer, Frilla and Aurora as best as he could and roughly pushed them all to the ground with him as he used his body to protect them from the debris and wreckage. His audio sensors were ringing and smoke engulfed the entire command center.
As his hearing came to, he heard the Predacons moving around, so Rhinox pushed himself up off of his female comrades and turned around, squinting his optics to try and see through the smoke. Some small shrapnel from the destroyed console units was stuck in his back but because his armor was so thick, he barely felt it. His back side was also covered in black soot, but who cared about that. Right now he was worried about these sneaky, aquatic Predacons.
Hate to bomb and run.. but we have more important matters to take care of..
With the smoke slowly lifting, he followed Umbra's voice and saw him and Cece scurrying away toward the hall, exactly where he
didn't want them to go. Glaring at the duo, he was about to tackle Umbra when he witnessed him toss up a demolition charge toward the ceiling and it exploded only a mere second later. Rhinox had slightly turned his body away and blocked his face and chest with his arms to protect them. After the explosion and more smoke cleared, he examined the damage quietly that blocked their way to the corridor allowing the Predacons to escape, thinking about how internally trashed their ship was now, and started to move some of the heavier debris with his still sore hands from his encounter with Inferno earlier. Like every other Maximal right now, all he could do was keep pressing forward, no matter how bleak things looked. Especially now that the console that was feeding data into the blank protoform had been destroyed, and he feared the wires and cables running through this area were also damaged. Had they lost their chance...?
(( OOC: No, they haven't lost Optimus. Just trying to keep it dramatic.
))