The beams eminating from the cabs of Long Haul and Mixmaster
illuminated the shiny, almost slimy, mucous interior of the cave.  The sounds
of industrial heavy metal music echoed through the interior.
        Scrapper felt a shudder in his frame.  It was the ghost of Soundwave
calling them, but Starscream was adamant in his orders, nothing was to be
done to extract the Decepticon communicatro from whatever fate he had
found deep in the cave.  The adamantum was far more important.
        "Starscream," Mixmaster informed, "the ore behind these walls covered
in the organic material is gradually richer deeper into the cave."
        "Excellent," Starscream mused, "we've come far enough, extract what
you can, here."
        From the shadows a metallic Jaguar stepped forth.  Quietly.
        It was a moment before Starscream saw him, standing in mute
contemplation.
        "Ravage!  Why have you not reported to me earlier!"
        Ravage, more animal than transformer, was nonetheless capable of
intelligent thought and speech, and at this moment he chose to do so.
        "Starscream, we must leave this place, you have no idea what you're
up against."
        Starscream felt a sinking feeling in his metallic gut, but his command
of the situation allowed to stifle it in a fit of anger.
        "COWARD!:"  Starscream's lasers focused on Ravage's head, "DO NOT
QUESTION THE ORDERS OF ALMIGHTY MEGATRON!"
        Ravage, quite uncharacteristically, sat on his haunches and said
nothing in compliance.
        
        Roadbuster took aim carefully.  He squeezed the trigger, careful not to
jerk it, and exploded a round straight for the back of Starscream's head.
Ravage, a little more endowed in the physical senses, detected Roadbuster's
presence a split second before he pulled the trigger, leapt straight at
Starscream's face.
        Starscream ducked, as Ravage flew up to meet the blast, that tore
through his torso.
        Starscream whirled to face his would-be assaisan, and rose to see the
forms of Trailbreaker, Bluestreak, Blur, Blaster, Jazz, Beachcomber, Hound,
and Roadbuster standing between the Decepticons and their only way out
of the cave.
        Starscream whimpered for a split second, and then dove behind the
relative safety of a crevice in the wall.  The other Decepticons began a mad
scramble for cover as they were hit by repeated Autobot fire.
        Hook, realizing the desperation of the situation held up a hand to
surrender, but it was suddenly reduced to a mist of steel and carbon by a
blast from Bluestreak.
        Starscream, not one to surrender, leapt from his crevice.  His
incredible speed prevented any Autobot from gaining a bead on him, but
did aid his shoulder mounted cannons in emitting a blast of cluster bombs.
        
        The Autobots fell back.  Hound's backside hit the rocks and a burst of
pain exploded in the back of his head.  Blur, Blaster, and Jazz threw their
arms in front of their faces, but still felt their bodies twist as they were
peppered with shrapnel.
        The world had stopped, and then began again as Jazz opened his eyes
and felt the first warm sense of pain, then immediately increasing to a
white hot sensation snaking through his form.
        The Autobots screamed.

        "COVER!" Was Roadbuster's order, as he fell prone to the ground.  He
felt his fists tighten.  Not now, not after all this, would the decepticons
gain the upper hand!
        Roadbuster reared up and charged with gun blazing.  The Decepticons,
taken somewhat by suprise, now turned and fled.   Long Haul, who was
carrying the load of adamantum in a trailer behind him, found himself
lagging seriously behind the others in speed.
        Roadbuster leapt and caught the end of the trailer, and climbed on
top.  Feeling him climbing, Long Haul screamed for help, unsure of what
else to do.
        Luckily enough for Roadbuster, Frenzy was close enough to flip
backwards and land on Long Haul as well.  Both barrels blazing, he ripped
into Roadbuster's chest.
        Roadbuster yelled and twitched as he fell off the Decepticon cargo,
but as he hit the ground, he immediately steadied himself to aim his rifle.
As Frenzy bounced away from Roadbuster he felt a blast clip him suddenly
in the face.
        Roadbuster was up again, but his pace was slowed, obviously, by his
recent wounds.  "Pursue!"  was his order to the other Autobots.  They'll be
trapped against the far wall!"
        
        As Blaster was running, he strained his audio receptors to sort out the
sound echoeing throughout the caverns.
        "That sounds like...........like PANTERA!"

        Bonecrusher was far out ahead of the other Decepticons when he ran
into a dead-end.  Confused, and then angry, he turned around, disgusted
with the idea of fleeing from Autobots.  With a click and a whirl, he
emerged in his humanoid form and drew his blaster.
        
        Suddenly, a slippery black creature with a head like an axe popped up
in front of him.  Being one to think deeper with his fists than his wits,
Bonecrusher smacked the creature to the ground.
        Ordinarily, it was a hit that would have put a regular transformer out
of commission, but these creatures had adapted to the conditions of life over
deposits of adamantum, and the mineral laced their bones, making them
unbreakable.
        The alien spawn sunk its teeth deep into Bonecrusher's leg.  He yelped
more in surprise than in pain.

        Roadbuster had managed to transform into his hummer form and
was coming up to Starscream.  Fast as he was, with no room to transform, he
could not outrun Roadbuster on wheels.  The Autobot Master Sergeant
undercut Starscream's legs and toppled him.
        With the Decepticon riding his hood, Roadbuster emerged in his
robot form and wrapped his arms around Starscream's head.
        Roadbuster reared up and heaved Starscream in the air.
        "If I die today, Starscream, you're coming with me!"
        In his rage, Roadbuster threw Starscream directly into the cavern
wall.
        "I'm gonna stomp you, Decepticon, I'm gonna crack you like a walnut!"

        Roadbuster pounced and attempted to drive his fist through
Starscream's chest, but the Decepticon was too fast and was out of the way
as Roadbuster dug into the rock.
        
        "You talk well, Autobot, but you fight slow..."
        Starscream placed shot a laser beam through Roadbuster's back,
        "You FOOL!  I AM STARSCREAM!  Pride of the Cybertron war academy,
destroyer of worlds!"
        Starscream heaved a boulder from the rockpile in front of him and
threw it directly on Roadbuster's head.  The body made a sound and
twitched.
        "You do in fact, die today, Roadbuster, but I will be dancing on your
grave."
        Starscream kicked the limp, still body visciously, knocking it over on
it's side.  Roadbuster revealed a pistol that he held in his pinned hand.
Starscream's gaze changed from one of triumph to one of terror.
        The first shot clipped a wing, but the second one dug deep into
Starscream's chest, he yelped and fell backwards.
        Roadbuster got up and picked up his rifle.  He walked over, and with
one foot on Starscream's head, and pointing the rife into it, he murmured
        "It ends now, Starscream."

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