Battle's End

[dens-extra-pups.livejournal.com]

Continued from here.



Fallstreak and Movor are keeping in formation - something theoretically easier for the manoeuvrable fighter jet than the bulky shuttle. But Fallstreak's attention is on killing, and he has to keep correcting his position.

It doesn't help that - unlike Movor - he recognises what Lumen is chanting far below, and the dissonance that makes coming from an Autobot gives him pause long enough to force Movor into covering his wing. Again.

Unlike Chromia, Desinex does recognize what Lumen is carrying on about, and hearing familiar words and pronounciations does a good deal of mood-boosting, even as she tears into the closest enemy. Things seem to come down to the enemy in front of her, Lumen's voice, and herself. There is only the battle at hand. No thoughts of the past, or of the future, only the heat and movements of battle.

Chromia, for her part, notes the change in Desinex's behavior, doing her best to keep the headstrong Decepticon from getting slagged by an enemy the other fails to notice.

Vector too recognizes the old Autobot's words, and Optimus can feel a tiny wash of nostalgia from him at the back of her processor. //Desinex, hold position.//

The swarm is soon finished, one last lone beast trailing smoke as it tries to flee from Fallstreak with erratic zigs and zags. Optimus transforms in mid air and turns her head to scan the area more thoroughly. //Movor, are we clear to take care of that last target?//

Fallstreak rockets out of the wing in pursuit as Movor runs a sensor sweep and confirms, //We're clear to engage, sir.//

Desinex growls a bit at the comm from Vector Prime, but holds her position. The battle has her revved up and she's giving the impression of a large jungle cat with the way she paces while she awaits further orders.

Chromia checks her weaponry over and takes stock of what she has left as she also awaits further orders.

WakeJumper appears to have fallen into the familiar-to-him role of field medic as he checks in with everyone, asking about damage. If there are minor injuries that he can tend to here, he will.

"Alright," says Optimus softly, both aloud and over comms, as she turns in the direction of the large ground unit. "Everyone follow me, but hold back unless I tell you to come forward. Understood?"

Movor acknowledges immediately, climbing as he follows, the better to cover his commander.

Fallstreak... is pulling away from the smoking, tumbling remains of his target, and doesn't answer as he wheels and circles back into formation with lazy ease. It's only then that he checks his comm logs and adds a slightly belated confirmation.

//Undahstood, Optimus.// Chromia nods and glances to the other blue femme. Desinex opts to send a wordless acknowledgement as she turns her attention towards the large ground unit. WakeJumper also acknowledges, glancing at Lumen for a few moments.

Lumen is still but for a wordless nod of his head and an absent ping in the code that he'd used back during his life. The old warrior is focused and waiting; an old wardog ready to spring forward at his commander's signal. He's still humming his song softly to himself, but only one who is very close would hear it.

"Good." Optimus nods, then tips forward and flies toward the walker in root mode. //Ground units, transform and roll out. Desinex, hitch a ride with Lumen.//

Lumen doesn't even nod this time, he just transforms and then starts out slowly so that Desinex will have no trouble catching him and he'll still be close to Optimus and the aerial units.

At this point Movor uses the advantage of his altitude and sensors to do what he does best: recon. He transmits a detailed tactical map of the ground ahead and around them to the rest of the team - including marking the position of the thing ahead. All the better to position themselves with...

Fallstreak rolls left until he's upside down for a few seconds, as if to see the creature from every angle, and whistles. //I want one of those next posting.//

Desinex moves to catch up to Lumen, and soon, she's situated herself in the bed of the old mech's alt-mode. She's braced herself pretty good, so it would take something like Lumen hitting a deep ditch and flipping to dislodge her.

Chromia transforms and moves to follow after Lumen, Desinex, and WakeJumper, noting that WakeJumper's alt-mode seems even better suited to the terrain than she is.

WakeJumper, in the back of his processor, is wondering whether he should've gone with a pickup truck as his alt-mode, but most of his focus is actually on following orders and keeping an optic on his teammates.

Lumen whistles softly as he studies the map that Movor sent, then makes a static sound as he accelerates to keep up with Fallstreak and Optimus. //Watch the claws, Aunty Desi. And... Fallstreak. You're nuts.//

//We're all mad here,// quotes Optimus absently, feeling Vector's amusement at her literary tastes. She studies the incoming beast for a few clicks, then reaches back and pulls out her mated swords. A soft chime rings on the air as she separates them, and then she's signalling the others to stop and wait as she once more tips forward and powers ahead. //Alright, I'm going in.//

Fallstreak hastily swings away and into a holding pattern that'll keep him at the same safe distance while he watches. He's never seen Prime - any version of Prime - at work yet. It's probably why he's still alive. But he's heard enough. He did his research, back home, when he learned how his new chain of command went...

Movor slows almost to a dead halt, antigravs and thrusters balancing their forces like a steel beam on a knife edge, to keep the shuttle in a position his wingmate Ro-tor could have held with ease. He knows what to expect, and the Decepticon is almost relaxed, sensors strobing for a good place to train his laser sights. Just in case. You never know when your boss will need a hand.

Desinex snorts a bit, but is careful where she puts her claws, and how hard she holds onto Lumen. //Just don't dive into a ditch, mech.//

Chromia lets out a soft, surprised sound as she watches Optimus. This isn't anything she's ever seen before, so it's a bit distracting... at least until WakeJumper gives her a gentle bump to keep her on course.

Lumen halts as commanded, every sensor snapping to alert as he senses something like a hush fall over the battle field. He turns his attention to Optimus, and then to the massive reptili-insectoid horror that she's approaching, one door transforming to a cannon as he, like Movor, prepares for just in case. And then he gives a muffled shout of astonishment as Optimus seems to burst into blue flame.

From Fallstreak's vantage point overhead, of course, it's much less quiet. The wind is whipping about him, his guns are humming, his engines are roaring, the shuttle's engines are going up there, Optimus's systems are down there...

And then a different kind of 'silence' is broken as Optimus's systems surge with power as if she's just Powerlinked. He swears at the wind, banking to see as he realises it's actually visible, a corona of excess power flaring off her shell. He'd been pretty sure that story was pulled out of an aft somewhere.

Desinex lets out a low, startled growl as she watches Optimus burst into blue flame. This shows her that Optimus is far more powerful than she initially thought, even with having seen some of what the larger femme is capable of during their sparring session... Lordy, was it only a few days ago? All the more important to not underestimate their leader....

The startled blurt of static over comms could have come from WakeJumper or Chromia. They're both that surprised. Neither knew Optimus was capable of that....

The tyranid fires, massive organic cannon sending a belch of molten plasma that is sliced and deflected by the red and blue femme's swords as she races toward the beast. A second and third volley are dodged as she twists and turns in the air.

And then her swords flash. Blue fire blooms on the tyranid's shell and then spreads....

"Oh sludge!" Lumen transforms, grabs Desinex, and hits the dirt with the femme beneath him as the tyranid comes apart.

Fallstreak barrel-rolls and swings away from the imminent ground zero, wondering what the frag he just saw even as he high-tails it to somewhere he can ride out the blast.

Movor, for his part, just pulls up and away, trusting his mass and armour to blunt the impact of any shockwave. He's more concerned about tracking his commander.

The string of cursing coming from Desinex is purely Decepticon and quite rude. Seems she's not too amused at being underneath Lumen, but even less amused at exploded Tyranid.

WakeJumper is quick to shield Chromia from exploded Tyranid parts, though his plating winds up covered in yuck. //Oh great. Covered in land shrimp guts.//

There's a slight storm as the portal that Optimus opened sucks in a portion of the remains of the tyranid, but then it clears to reveal the femme still floating in place, her head lowered slightly and her arms crossed in front of her face. She holds that position for a moment, but then raises her head and looks around.

//My word,// says Vector with amusement. //Why is Primus laughing?//

//Because he never told me that thing would explode like that.// Optimus drops lightly to earth, her knees bending with the impact. "Is everyone alright?"

"Traumatized for life." Lumen sits up and pulls Desinex out of the dirt, his optics dancing despite his words.

Distantly, Fallstreak transforms and delivers a thumbs up with his status check. Movor reports green, disregarding the faintly sizzling splatters on his undercarriage and wings. The shuttle moves in to hold position over his commander while the others report, sensors sweeping the area.

Desinex's language is far from polite as she's helped up, but she's uninjured. She lets Lumen know what she thinks of being knocked to the ground, but her harsh words lack any real heat.

"Th't.... w's EPIC." And now Chromia is overcome by a gigglefit. She's uninjured as well, which is verified by WakeJumper before the medic moves to check on Lumen and Desinex.

I'm fine." Lumen pitches a wriggling gut worm at WakeJumper, then gets to his feet and gives a joyful bellow. "YES! I'll mix the first round!"

There's a brief rise in engine noise as Fallstreak shifts into jet-mode and blasts his way back over to the group. He slows down just enough to transform and land without quite skidding into anyone else. "Whoops. All right," he says, grinning, "who's going to tell me what just happened down here?"

"Optimus blew the pit out of the enemy." Desinex mutters just before she shoves WakeJumper's hands away from her with a dangerous-sounding growl, "Back off. I'm not injured."

Chromia continues to cackle, having to introduce her aft to the ground. Frankly, she's amazed that they all made it through the battle relatively unscathed.

"Are we ready to go home?" asks Optimus as she strides over to the others, unmindful of the scar on one wing where that acid spitter managed to tag her. "Chromia, are you alright?"

"Oh. Ah. Hang on, I want to look around this place." Fallstreak remembers what he barely had a chance to try in battle and takes off - literally, spinning in and out of jet-mode as he hops over to some of the Tyranid corpses. He brought jars, and he wants to use them.

Chromia nods, cycling air for a few moments in an attempt to get her giggles under control, "Ah'm jes' tickled pink th't we all survahved, Optimus...."

WakeJumper frowns as he watches Fallstreak, confusion clear on his face, "What are you doing, Fallstreak?"

Desinex sighs and leans against Lumen, "Green drinks tonight?"

"Green drinks I am!" crows Lumen. Then he pulls out his last vaper, pries off the lid, adds a handful of mineral powder, and knocks the thing back.

"Lumen?" Optimus' optics flash with surprise as she forgets about Fallstreak to shoot the old frontliner a concerned look.

"Yummay!" He burps hard enough to shake his plating, and then grins broadly.

Movor's sensors abruptly refocus on what Lumen is doing, and then he resets them. What in Galvatron's name?

Fallstreak barely glances up. He's halfway back to their starting point by now. "Taking a closer look at the enemy!" He fishes a tool out of subspace to scrape goo and shards of exoskeleton and flesh from the different classes of Tyranid into separate containers. Acid? Well, that's what force-field linings were invented for.

Desinex snerks a bit and ganks the canister from Lumen before she's finishing off the contents and letting out an equally impressive belch.

WakeJumper shakes his head, before carefully picking the gut worm off of his armor and chucking it at Fallstreak, "Here. Another sample."

Optimus is facepalming and shaking her head. "Lumen and Desinex, if you get internal damage from that I'll make you live with it for a couple days."

Lumen just gives her an absent, owlish blink, and then returns to trying to get the vaper shell back from Desinex.

Fallstreak being so far away, the worm falls a little short, but his head whips around to track it. "Thanks." He seals the jar in his hand and strolls over to collect the worm, pulling an exaggerated face at the thing. "I will never understand biologists."

Desinex snerks and holds the canister closer to her chest. Lumen, if you want it back, you'll have to fight her for it.

Chromia moves to get up, taking in the bug-related carnage, "Th' sooner we c'n git back, th' bettah.... Ah'm worried 'bout Perceptor."

"...You are so weird, Fallstreak." WakeJumper stretches and makes plans to hit the washracks before partaking of whatever it is Lumen comes up with.

"So... we're ready?" The swords come out again in one smooth motion, and then there's a glowing X opening up and showing the familiar backyard of the mansion.

Lumen looks at it, then looks at Desinex. And then he snerks and grabs the little femme up before tucking her under his arm and charging forward like a football quarterback. A yell and a splash follows.

Movor transforms and drops down, taking up position at Optimus's flank as seems fit.

Fallstreak seals the wormjar and tucks it into subspace. That thing better not get out. "I'm not weird, I'm a scientist," he retorts mildly, smirking at Wakejumper. "And... yes, sir, I'm ready."

Desinex's startled yelp comes shortly after the splash.

Chromia nods and moves to follow after Lumen and Desinex, chuckling when she sees where they wound up. Then she's heading inside to check on Perceptor and Kimchee.

WakeJumper snerks and shakes his head, "Whatever... First thing I'm doing once we're back is hitting the washracks..."

Optimus just shakes her head at Lumen's antics, then waves the others through. "Go ahead."

Fallstreak strolls in, only pausing once in Mansion-space to wait for the officer.Since no briefing appears to be forthcoming, after a minute he heads off with a spring in his step to find Perceptor. He brought him presents!

Movor delays until the last second, keeping an optic on the area as they pull out. Once he and Optimus remain, he glances to his commander for clearance to leave.

Optimus nods to the shuttle bot, and then follows him through the portal, which fades, leaving only a few large footprints as hints to the demise of the tyranids.

((co-written with random_xtras and fallen_flakes))