Backbreaker rolls over onto his feet, holding his sword in front of him as he waits for Wildsong to get back up as well. He wasn’t a complete barbarian, after all; he would fight fairly.
Giffin, who turned to his air drone mode while the other two were falling, pointed two small underwing guns at Backbreaker and started shooting at his head, more to distract his attention than anything.
“Slag!” Backbreaker swears, quickly dropping to evade Griffin’s fire, assuming his dragon mode again as he did so. A growl builds up in his throat before Backbreaker spits a column of fire at the minicon.
Giffin evades, as he continues shooting from the air.
The bullets ping as they strike Backbreaker’s armor, stinging the gladiator. Roaring, the dragon rushes forward and rears onto his hind legs, swiping at Griffin with his claws.
Giffin ascends above the height that Backbreaker could reach.
This whole distraction gave Song enough time to take her four daggers and lunge at Backbreaker, trying to throw him into the ground and to stab him multiple times in his chest and limbs.
Backbreaker lowers himself back on all fours just as Wildsong collides with him. Fortunately, his solid footing kept him form being knocked over, but he is still caught by surprise, grunting as her knives cut at his armor.
Backbreaker’s secondary heads hiss as their jaws snap open and each spew out a crackling jet of plasma at Wildsong.
Song uses her wings as shield. They were strong enough to protect her of most of the damage, even tho their outer side get damaged really fast. There is also the small whole that Backbreaker made earlier, which under the pressure of the fire gets wider, and the fire come through it, burning Wildsong in the left eye.
She staggers backwards as she tried to regain her view of the place.
While the battle was fought in the arena, many of the fighters took this time to mill about. Talking with friends, thinking up new attack names, and generally finding other ways to burn the time.
Railfire had since returned to his medical office.
Axis was taking a nap on her charge bed. Maximus meanwhile was having a pleasant conversation with Blackout. The usually quiet decepticon talking noticeably more than usual.
Demolishor walked up to the predacon.
“Hey Maximus. I wanted to ask you about something.”
“Oh hey Demolishor. What’s up?”
The young pirate asked, leaning back a bit.
“Gronius and some friends of mine are trying to start a union of sorts. All us prisoners working together and demanding for better living conditions. I figured with as big of a splash as you’ve made, having your support could probably do a lot.”
“An interesting idea, but seams like a waste of time to me.”
He said casually.
“What? Why would you say that?”
Demolishor asked, very surprised and confused.
“I’m all for working together, but from what I’ve heard this Iota guy isn’t gonna listen no matter what you do. If we’re gonna team up it should be to break out of here. Anything less would just be flat out pointless.”
Maximus spoke with a nonchalant tone. His voice just loud enough for Gronius to overhear.
Backbreaker backs up, making a show of rearing up onto his hind legs as an orange glow fills the spaces between the armor plating on the neck of his main head; conduits on the secondary heads surge with a blue light.
With a roar, the gladiator drops back onto all fours and launches a barrage of fire and plasma at Wildsong.
Wildsong’s knives had made thin, shallow cuts on the Autobot’s chest and forelegs. Backbreaker pays them no mind; he had endured worse.
“Then you are nothing but a fool.” Gronius snapped at him. “You are here only for one day. I was here for years. I’ve met Iota in person multiple times, due to my popularity. Do you really believe that you can outsmart me on that too? Demolishor. Come back here. We are not allowing him into our union. Let him see how this place changes under my command.”
Song turns back into his dragon mode and flies above Backbreaker, shooting her own fire shots.
“Look, I don’t mean to insult you.”
Maximus said, genuine apologetic for making Gronius upset.
“All I’m saying is if you’re going to go through all the trouble of uniting the prisoners under one cause, why stop at just better conditions? Do you honestly believe that some cloud in a tin can and his guards could stand up to all of us fighting them together?”
“Yes, I do. I know how this place works better than you do. And even then, if we escape, tho this will never happen, do you really think that we will just magically all decide to follow you? Don’t we first need to be united in the first place?”
“Hey. I never said I wanted to be leader. I am three things. An explorer, a Star Talon, and a sniper. I’m not a leader, and I don’t intend to be. What I am on the other hand, is determined. And I won’t quit until I see everyone in here free, and this whole place torn to the ground.”
Maximus spoke with a very determined tone. Sounding a bit more serious than his usual cheery self.
“Ah! So you are a pirate! A murderer! One of those dirty Star Talons that bug the head of Cybertron for centuries! This explains quite a few!”
Maximus immediately regretted sharing that particular piece of information. It seems Axis had a point.
“Alright in my defenses I’ve never killed anybody.”
“It doesn’t matter. You are one with them, you sustain them and their crimes across the entire Cybertronian land. They are all a bunch of dirty, uneducated outlaws that come in our lands and kill innocent people to have a few more barrels of bear, and now you admit that you are one of them! Not only that, now you try to differentiate yourself of them? If you aren’t even loyal to them, why would others have loyalty in you and follow you into this revolt?” he once again said so that his group and the ones around them would hear.
“I never said I wasn’t loyal. They’re my family. And given what the maximals do to the predacons can you blame us?”
Indeed a crowd began to form around the two. Many bots becoming interested over the commotion.
“Ah, you say you are loyal to them, but your action show otherwise. There is no loyalty in your band of space pirates, there is no hierarchy! There is only anarchy! If every single one of us oppressed Predacons would start becoming space pirates, we would only bring doom over our already unstable governmental system! Just look at the loon that was Megatron! If it wasn’t for Optimus Primal, the whole universe would have been changed by one single idiot, just like the one who thought that making a huge and of space pirates to ransack our colonies and planet is a perfectly sane thing to do!”
“Megatron was a madman that made all of us look bad! Including you! Don’t forget we’re both predacons here! Don’t act like you’re any better off than I’ve been!”
Maximus snapped. A sensitive spot had clearly been touched.
Blackout stood up.
“Alright. How about the two of you cool it down.”
He said.