((There's a battle going on, so please be prepared for some character deaths on both sides. Wrecker fans, I'm sorry.))

So much about not getting involved in this, Springer thought. He had lost three Wreckers this orn: Twintwist and Topspin were guarding the Bayon Fuel Hub, and Arcee who died in this mess with the Decepticon Justice Division. Arcee... Arcee was special, for him and for the rest of the Wreckers, and not only because she was the only female among their lines. She was a deadly ally, she shouldn't have died in such pointless way. Whose idea was to repower a transwarp platform? Who built the Wrecker assembly hole in the still-functioning platform, by the way?

Now they would have to get out of here, and storm after the most dangerous target. Until Whirl formally accepted the apology, he would be just as willing to let the DJD ran amok in the Institute territory, especially since he had a larger enemy to handle. But what were these five doing down here anyway? They couldn't have simply came for Ratbat, as Springer had a clear visual of the tiny worm melting inside that oven-shaped Decepticon. What did they want, then? He looked at Kup, hoping for an advice. Wrecking and ruling was the easy part. If only he could have contacted Optimus!

"Where to, boss?" another mech asked behind his back.

"After Overlord!"

In the other side of the tunnel, Tarn transformed to take one last look at the black mess of metal that used to be Vos. The recently rejuvenilated old Wrecker, Kup had blasted the gunformer in the heat of the battle, and they didn't even have time to grieve him.

"'Cybertronian by birth. Decepticon by choice.'" The masked mechanism turned back to the direction of the prison level while transforming, and rolled after Tesarus. There was no time for more.

::I will catch up with you later:: Kaon messaged them. ::There's something here I need to check out. Not more than an echo, but I need to make sure.::

Tarn transformed to look back at the tracker, and noticed the sparkeater's empty shell close to the wounded red Decepticon. He guessed that Kaon just wanted a moment in contemplation. But even then, this wasn't the right time to leave anyone alone in the maze of the Institute.

"Helex, stay with him. We can't afford any more losses."

The walking smelter acknowledged his task. Besides, Kaon's pet was somewhat his pet too. In fact, he preferred the chewy beast over this snobbish, overfueled Vos.

To his surprise, however, Kaon moved in Overlord's direction, away from the white shell. Pure determination was written on his face.

"What's up, Scrapper?"

The bright green and intense purple payloader gave Grapple an angry look – and that wasn't only because they were standing on the yet again ruined Interstate bridge. The Constructicons' joorly two-breems stand-down had just started, a well deserved rest in the hard work. Their Autobots were not supposed to disturb them at this time – this little privacy the gestalt members still maintained and held on to. It wasn't like their keepers couldn't have startled or harassed them. Technically, they had the means to do so – only, nor Grapple nor Hoist would have ever done that. Or at least, they haven't before.

Grapple must have realized his mistake by himself, too, because he quickly unsubspaced a gleaming cube of midgrade and handed it to his co-worker. Now that was better. Scrapper accepted the fuel, and consumed its content while keeping an optic on the light brown Autobot.

"I was thinking I could call Hoist over here, and after our break-time we could consult about the Bayen Fuel Station. Since we will be the ones to deal with its remains anyway, we might as well start soonish. And we can come back to this accursed bridge after we're done with everything else." If there's still something left of it by the time we return, Grapple added silently.

Scrapper handed back the empty cube, and scratched what he could reach of his neck under the security collar. He was well aware that they would be ordered to the explosion site soon anyway, but he wasn't in the mood to appreciate Grapple's modest approach.

"Fine" he said flatly. He looked up from the almost-yellow Autobot to Mixmaster, then at the other side of the bridge where Hook, Scavenger and Long Haul just put down their tools. The thin girders between the two workplaces were just strong enough to let one mech pass at a time – nor Hook nor Grapple agreed to make a stronger makeshift connection, when the task was to have the bridge (eventually) properly connected. Hoist crossed it first, closely followed the other three Constructicons.

"Hey pal, have you saved any energon for me too, or are you giving...?" Hoist never got to finish the sentence. As soon as both Autobots were in his arm's reach, Mixmaster grabbed him with one hand and Grapple with the other. He clashed the two Autobots' heads together with such force that both their head modules shattered to pieces, and their deformed shoulder panels would screech before they were gracelessly dropped to the ground level, half a hic below the bridge. An alarm went off nearby, and an automatic call was sent out on the medics' radio frequency. Another automatized reaction was the numbing static the five captive Constructicons' collars, but this was delayed several astroseconds – both Hoist and Grapple used manual settings on their workers' collars to avoid their 'Cons from getting accidentally punished for something they didn't do. Now both Autobots were lying in critical condition under the almost-done Interstate bridge, and above their wrecks, Mixmaster was quickly tearing off the collars of his gestalt-mates, one after the other.

Scrapper's collar fell on Grapple's wreck just as his brain module threw its lasts sparks.

"This is what happens to naive idiots" the bright green mech stated before turning back to the other free Constructicons. "Now, let us form Devastator!"

Kup cursed loudly at the half of a phasesixer, which left Overlord just as unbothered as his standdown-code had a few astroseconds before. His audiosensors were still threehundred hics above the surface, although the jet half was descending rapidly. The black machine was firing with deadly precision at the Autobot capital's defense system, taking out one rocket launcher after the other. He was careful not to miss out the main radio tower through which most of the collared prisoners would have been paralyzed. He didn't even need to tell the captive Decepticons what to do: they had seen their opportunity to turn against their keepers and Devastator was already showing a good example.

And, best of all, the Autobots were clearly without a leader. All their nonexistent military structure shattered in the moment Prowl had resigned without an explanation. Optimus Prime was nowhere to be seen. Jazz, Ironhide and a few others were trying to maintain some kind of organized chaos on the surface, showing some vain attempts of a counter-attack.

The jet blasted his way through the ground, to the well-isolated hiding place, and reunited with his lower half. Now that he could transform to robot mode, he picked up a silver and black gun from the berth (the only piece of furniture in the austere room) and laughed hysterically.

Roadbuster fired the banger gun without hesitation.

Helex threw himself in the way of the shot, defending Overlord at the cost of his life. His large, shattered torso's splinters were thrown backwards by the force of the direct hit, the molten metal of his smelter-cavity splashed against the gleeful phase-sixer's frame.

Only then did the remaining Wreckers realize why he took the shot for the grinning destroyer. The new-found gun with which Overlord was shooting them one after the other (though with a terrible aim) was no less than the Autobots' archnemesis. Apparently, he hadn't been executed effectively enough.

He was powered with rage, filled with hatred. He loathed the Autobots with passion. Perhaps he had also despised Overlord who was now holding him as a weapon, but for now, he had to bear with the big brute. Much to his disdain, they were on the same side for now.

::Kaon:: he radioed on his very limited range.

::My lord?::

::Tell Tarn not to divert from Soundwave. I can handle this idiot, but he has to take care of my future::

Kaon transmitted the message. He barely picked up the acknowledgement feedback from the Division's leader before Kup spit his cy-gar into his aggregator. The device sent Kaon's powerful electric weaponry into a vicious short-out, and he practically electrocuted himself until he wasn't more than a sparking red pile of unrecognizable metallic pieces with the two iconic coils on the top. His last sizzles were finally silenced by Overlord's mercy kill.

Without the soothing presence of the cy-gar, Kup was aware he would loose it in a matter of astroseconds. He only had time to tell his fellow Wreckers to run. And when he looked into Overlord's brilliant red optics, he was ready to reap the whirlwind. Despite his building, insane rage taking over his processor, he found he was somewhat at peace with his fate: he knew he would go down like a Wrecker.