Sixshot and Demolisher arrived in the hangar, uncertain what to make of a new situation developing. The Predacons and Vehicons they had recruited were not loaded or ready for battle. Demolisher was the first to snap at them all, "What's going on here? We told everyone to prepare for deployment!"

Onslaught turned to them, "It seems that we're getting bots with cold treads who don't want to fight. I've been trying to get them to load up, but they're being obnoxiously stubborn about this."

"Why I ought…"

Sixshot silenced Demolisher by pushing him back, calmly stopped him from moving. Sixshot slowly approached the reluctant recruits, all of whom gave him a wide berth. "Why do you refuse to fight now?"

One of them nervously spoke up, "We heard that things were starting to turn against us and that we'd probably get shot out of the sky before we ever got our feet on the sand."

"Not to mention there was a rumor about abandoning the fight if things continued to turn against us…"

"And the planet…"

Sixshot turned to Onslaught, "I told them those were nothing but baseless rumors of cowards."

"And right you are." Sixshot proudly stood before them, "We Decepticons fight for a greater future, one that the Autobots would oppress. I can't say who violated the laws of the dual, however just the same, we cannot back down now. You have proven that the Decepticon cause is just and that our will to forge our own destiny is possible. You represent everything Lord Megatron has preached for us to achieve. I understand, we did not prepare you for a fight like this, but your brothers are fighting nut and bolt out there for you and those we do not fight. We cannot allow their sacrifices to mean nothing. We will fight the Autobots and we will win this battle! We ask for you to lend us your blasters, and fight for the cause your ancestors proved right!"

Sixshot hated giving speeches, just the same it was motivational enough to sway many of them to start loading into the troop transports. While many were motivated, there still remained a solid number who did not move.

One of the aquatic Predacons stepped up, "If that's true, then why, for the most part, are the Autobots going out of their way to minimize Predacon and Vehicon casualties."

Sixshot wasn't expecting them to be watching so closely to the casualties, but it was something he needed to snuff out before it ignited into something worse. "I can only assume they think they can persuade you into believing they are just for not eliminating your brothers. Yet they do nothing to halt the Dinobots or Wreckers from limiting their assault as you claim?" The murmurs were enough, "Do not mistake these actions as acts of mercy or kindness. Will they show such leniency when their organic allies fully enter combat with them? So far, they have played an artillery support role, it is only a matter of time before they fight, and will they be so kind given the bad oil between you and them?" That seemed to shake their confusion, "If you still have doubt about this battle, then focus on helping those injured. Now, join us, brothers, and we will ensure none threaten you or the world you have created. Now let us show them your dedication and crush everyone standing in our path."

That seemed to motivate them, or at the very least made it so that it would be difficult for them to try and argue against it. Once they started loading into the transports Onslaught rushed to his team, "Prepare to launch. Let's show those Autobots our wraith!"

Vibes, Shred and Gnash were getting closer to the Archives when Shred suddenly got a transmission from Thrashclaw. "Sorry girls, but we need to head to the Council Chamber. Someone made a real mess of this place to ensure it was unusable."

Shred hesitated for a moment, looking back to Gnash, "I understand. Should we change frequencies?"

Shred received an even longer pause from Thrash. "Yes. Change to Epsilon Echo Delta 35. Keep in contact."

"Understood. Slice out."

Once the comm was cut, Vibes looked around, "So I take it the situation is pretty bad."

Shred slowly nodded, "It's a general warning we set up as a team. But given what she did share, she's captured with at least one other with her, and they're both surrounded."

Vibes was ready, "So, we need to get there faster to help out. I just hope we can plan for what might be waiting for us."

Thrashclaw was trying to break free from the webbing that was binding her, but it was too strong and sapping her strength. Her claws might have been able to do the job, but her foe made sure it was useless. Next to her was the archivist, "Sorry to drag you into this mess, White."

He too was struggling, though the little drones crawling around were monitoring and ensuring their webs were secure. "It's my fault for not knowing such a trap was here. My fear is for your companions whom you had to contact."

Thrash managed to crush a drone with her head, "I trust they know what to do."

Shepard's Gun Sniper was providing precision cover for the retreating Autobot forces while Tali's Rev Raptor stayed close by to protect him. "Those Zoids are making things worse. How did the Decepticons hide so many?"

"An issue for another time. EDI, did you contact the Zoidians to tell them about this new situation?"

"Yes, but it's still a mess. Especially for our aerial forces. They're planning to pull back for the time being until we can provide a better situation for them to aid us."

"The Normandy wasn't built for such a sustained fight, or against fighters this small. We gotta pull back."

"Don't worry Joker, you did plenty already. Now if we can convince the Dinobots to fall back with us."

The combined Grimmaster was continuing to lead the charge against the Decepticons, barely noticing the Zoid transformers joining the fray as the Dinobots tore through them indiscriminately. They only stopped when blaster fire from the warship provided a wall to help cover the Decepticons on the ground.

Dropships and a new wave of Seekers soon appeared reinforcing Decepticon forces. The Dinobots had to fall back for a moment as the dropships focused fire on them. "Combaticons! Combine into Bruticus!" Without missing a beat, three of them jump out in vehicle form, the first two shifting into legs as the third became the torso and head as two massive cannons emerged from the back. A jet dove through the air, rushing at breakneck speeds until it connected to this new combiner as the thrusters turned into a first. The body jolted, letting the inertia from the jet slamming into position turned his body as a helicopter flew in backwards to become the left arm.

This combiner was far larger than the Dinobot combiner, dwarfing him relative to how Cybertronians size up to organics. He started to laugh as he looked down at them, "Time to crush some Autobugs!" With that small warning Bruticus literally attempted to crush Grimmaster with his massive foot.

Grimmaster caught the foot, but the sand wasn't helping the situation all that much. Grimlock's rage hit a new high seeing one of his in such danger. Yet there was something in him that clicked, a trigger as it were. Grimlock started roaring, though there was something different about it; optics glowing even more intensely than they had ever seen.

With a mighty roar the other Dinobots seemed to respond in kind to Grimlock's call. Sludge and Snarl moved forward as the two surprisingly started to shift into legs. The two headed Strafe swiftly climbed up as her body contorted to become part of a torso. Grimlock jumped as he formed the rest of the torso, his dinosaur head becoming the center of his chest. Scorn leapt back as his legs and tail connected to the body and his spin sail split opened out into an energy shield. Swoop swiftly slammed into the back; the wings fully expanded as though this behemoth of a Cybertronian could take flight. With Swoop locked in place the head emerged, similar to Grimlock's head by design, through now donning a golden crown and teeth-like patterns around the mouthguard. This mighty new form was nearly finished, aiding Slag to position as the ceratopsian's head was now a menacing shoulder piece and a hand formed where a tail once was.

It was rather scary how quickly the Dinobots managed to understand this new combined form, having never seen or thought such a thing was possible given their mental impairment. It let out a beastly roar before immediately rushing at Bruticus and knocking his foe back and away from Grimmaster. Seeing this, Grimmaster and the remaining raptor Dinobots started retreating toward the Autobots.

Bruticus was actually struggling against the immense power behind this new combiner, "Come on, show me what you got!"

A statement he'd soon regret as Scorn's head was still usable and the Dinobot combiner capitalized on it. He went for Bruticus' head but was just barely redirected to one of his cannons as it was snapped off as if it was made from beryllium baloney.

This may have neutralized a potential problem for the Autobots, this also left a major hole in their offensive potential now that a majority of the Dinobots were tied up. Something that the Decepticons quickly capitalized on. Sixshot personally led the charge against the Autobots while other remained behind to assist the injured into the transports. There was still a small band of them assisting their injured, but the overwhelming reinforcements was just too much.

"Fall back! We can't hold this position any longer!" Dropshot was the first to lift one of the shields to help defend the retreat. A new wave of artillery fire from their allies was helping slow the advancing Decepticons.

Unfortunately, with how many Seekers now choking the skies and the encroaching hostile Zoid force flanking the Decepticons on the ground their retreat was only going to get worse. Vibes started to fire on the Seekers, particularly at Slipstream. "Dropshot, no matter what happens, keep everyone retreating."

"Ma'am, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to ensure you all have an opening to escape." Vibes continued to fire at Slipstream before transforming to avoid the strafing blaster fire and driving straight toward the enemy Zoid force. The sand wasn't great for traction, so evading had to be kept to a minimum.

One of the horned Zoids started charging headlong toward Vibes as she continued toward it without any sign of changing course. Inches from the actual collision Slipstream dove in kicking the Zoid out of Vibes' path as she blasted away against the Zoid at pointblank while also trying to gun down Vibes driving away from her simultaneously.

"Seekers, blast the Zoids!" From Slipstream's cry a few spare squadrons of Seekers dove down cutting down Zoids while avoiding doing anything directly against Vibes. It was a rather strange spectacle watching Seekers protecting an Autobot, though it was probably stranger for the Seekers themselves being forced to follow those orders. Slipstream's fixation of personally eliminating Vibes was being used against her and aiding the Autobot forces indirectly.

Slipstream blasted and smashed more Zoids, demolishing anything in her path while trying to blast Vibes at the same time. Vibes wanted this to happen, keeping to the center of the Zoid Transformers to do the most damage to their forces via the Seekers.

A few of the Zoidan Cybertronians tried transforming to grab Vibes, though they seemed very effective at transforming they were less so when it came to trying to attack her. This actually helped Vibes elude Slipstream, though for how long will depend on the Decepticon support and when the Zoids start retaliating against them.

Vibes started to shake her head, concerning Shred. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, but we need to hurry. My double Legion is controlling isn't going to last for much longer." The original plan was to cautiously enter the archives, but with Thrashclaw in trouble and time running out they had to risk the trap before them.

With Slice still out there avoiding trouble and Thrashclaw possibly captured, Shred and Gnash were both probably going to make a rash or impulsively irresponsible. Hopefully nothing too extreme or problematic is waiting for them.

Vibes could hear plenty of skittering coming from below and if the signal was accurate, Thrashclaw was also down there. With all of that in mind, Vibes was just hoping that whatever they were heading into wasn't too problematic.

Once inside the archives it felt like they were being guided down to t eh lower levels. Proceeding down they started to find signs of a battle, with one of Thrashclaw's mini-gattling-blasters was knocked underneath a few data drives that were scattered around. The only reason they found out it was because Gnash sniffed it out.

Getting to the next level web-like structures started covered the area, and the skittering Vibes had heard before getting significantly louder. That was when Gnash jumped up and grabbed something in her teeth. Whatever it was had several legs as they twitched in her maw.

"Insecticons!"

Shred managed to pull some of the bits out of Gnash's mouth, "Worse! Arachnoids! Move!"

The trio quickly started running as a swarm of those insectoid machines rushed them. Vibes grabbed one that lunged at her face, crushing it so she could at least examine the thing herself. The drone was definitely non-sentient, a set of manipulator arms and tools stored in the main body compartment with a green spider emblem proudly displayed on the casing.

It was very reminiscent to Shockwave's design philosophy of efficiency over aesthetics. Though they continued moving further in it felt more like they were being guided toward the end rather than being chased. Shred was noticing as well when she tried to override a locked door only to find the room filled with arachnoids that didn't immediately jump her.

They eventually reached a dimly lit room that they could lock down and stop the arachnoids from overwhelm them. Shred tried looking for a way to activate the lights while Gnash followed a scent she picked up. Vibes turned on her headlights, scanning around the room filled with spiderwebs.

She stopped when she found Thrashclaw bound up in the webbing. Thrash didn't appear to be damaged, but something was off with how sluggish she was. "I'm…glad you got my message…"

Vibes got a blade ready, "Well get you down."

"No…get back! This…webbing…sucks energon…"

"Well, well, well… look what has walked into my parlor…" A sinister cackle echoed around them. Whoever this was had projected their voice all around them making it difficult for Vibes to pinpoint.

Vibes continued to try and search for the mystery bot scanning the ceiling slowly. Gnash was the first to sniff out the latest threat, leaping up to try to attack. Gnash was swiftly knocked back down as she was wrapped up in the energon sapping web.

Shred and Vibes quickly looked toward the origin of the webbing, blasting the area. He started that sinister cackling again as skittering noises slowly started building up around them. There was more than one, or maybe he was using the drones as distractions.

Shred started blasting the roof wherever she heard any noises with no sigh of actually hitting anything. She too was overwhelmed by a sudden blast of webbing that knocked her to the ground. Vibes quickly fired in the direction toward and managing to hit something.

Vibes could focus on what she hit now, following it moving around and ignoring the excess noise around her. Vibes blasted at the target and hit again but she was also trapped in webbing as well.

The wicked laughter got even louder before a surprise attack from behind taggled the Autobot in the web. "Thank you for participating in such a wonderful experiment!" From the shadows away from all of the blasting approached a spindly little Cybertronian with much of his size appearing to be in his shoulders. He had several eyes on his chest and just as many insectoid legs on his back. His clawed fingers gently ran over the energon sucking web without it affecting him, or at least not as much as it was to the others, as the mandible like mouth guard started moving. "Now, I know I was ordered to eliminate all trespassers, but I just couldn't resist having a few playmates."

Vibes violently struggled to free herself and get him off, "Why are you doing this? Predacon and Vehicon sparks are in danger!"

"Oh, and you think I care?" That twisted laugh bellowed again, "I am above such weak pathetic excuse of a lineage. Shockwave ensured that himself. Besides, who are you to judge me? An Autobot unfit to lead, and another who left her station to fulfill her own fantasies, a traitorous Decepticon too prideful for her own good, and an experiment who hasn't accepted her place."

He didn't seem concerned about the drone that they had shot, with said drone finally falling to the ground. It was much bigger than the others, having taken quite the beating from them. Probably meant as a double for this twisted bot.

He focused on Vibes, slowly examining her as he placed his foot over her rifle, "Now, I understand that you hold some value. Particularly your audio sensors…" his fingers slowly sneaking a caress of her 'ears'. "But you," swiftly moving on toward Gnash, "You are the most valuable of the rabble. A Shifter who lost the ability to shift to different forms, such a pity. But your testbed data did put many cowards at ease during the Predacon conversion. Oh, the experiments you must have participated in. The fun we'll have once I've taken care of the others…"

Gnash was getting angrier by the moment as the spidery bot started caressing her scales. Thrashclaw smirked, "Gnash…emerald time…"