He manages to crush eight more guards before the rest grew wiser and kept their distance as best they could.
The guard screams in agony as his internal gas evaporates under the extreme heat. In just a few short moments the body is half melted and lifeless. N n
At that moment, all attention is drawn to a large shutter door just past the courtyard. There was a loud metal crash, and the heavy door dented. Another crash and the dent grew larger. One final crash, and the entire wall came down.
Out from the rubble came the towering gold and grey form of the dinobot Grimlock. In his mighty beast mode he roared to the sky. And sitting on his back was one very thrilled predacon.
âThis is easily the coolest thing I have ever done!â
Maximus shouted eagerly.
From the room a cybertronian space fighter came racing out, bolting into the skies. Taking quick action and engaging with the Vex aircraft. While on the ground a rolling artillery platform drove out and took aim at the army of guards, firing four missiles into the crowd.
Backbreaker and Oddball are drawn to the explosions and look on as their allies join the fight. Oddball whoops for joy while Backbreaker grins behind his battle mask. The gladiator tries to reach Hotshot on his comlink.
âHow are the ships coming along, Hotshot?â he asks, shouting to be heard over the cacophony of gunfire. âWe canât do this forever!â
With the cavalry now here, Simulus drops the Unicron sim with some heavy breathes. He takes a short break so that his processing and slow down and cool off.
âIâm working on it!â
Hotshot replied.
âThereâs a least a hundred ships down here across two different eras. Instructions werenât to clear either, so Iâm just trying my best!â
As Unicron faded away, most of the battle field was left confused. Only for Grimlock to charge in and kick things up again. With a single breath of flame he incinerated almost half of the opposing army.
Iota came rushing out of the main entrance, seeing the sheer chaos before him.
âNo no no NO!â
He shouted frantically. Sounding absolutely terrified.
âAll of you return to your cells NOW! Today is far, far too important for this to happen! Cease this immediately!â
If Iota can be heard, Simulus turns to look at him. His optics still scan the battlefield for his own protection of course, but their warden did pick up his interest. All he could do was run guess work calculations when he couldnât see into memories and none of the Vex were all that keen on battling the sim machine. At least not the one in the Cybertronian quarters. And so Simulus never did pin down what their casting director was all about.
But this was a prime opportunity, provided no-one shot the fragile tin can first. He knows some have already tried. So he comes towards Iota in an almost casual approach, walking like he was meeting a colleague for a business meeting.
âYes,â Simulus says just loud enough for Iota to hear him. âHow rude of us to forget todayâs plan. We really should have delayed til morrow, it is just so ill suited given today. But what was so important about today again? Maybe weâll reconsider.â
Backbreaker wouldâve responded, but Iotaâs entrance catches his attention, as it does with Simulus. He turns to glare up at the master of the games, the jailer of himself and his fellow cybertronians for ages, and reloads his cannon.
âWeâre not playing your game any more, gasbag,â he snarls. âWeâre leaving this prison tonight, and thereâs nothing you and yours can do to stop us.â
Iota shouted in frustration. He wanted to give a rebuttal, but knew his words would be wasted.
âEnough of this!â
He grabbed a close by servant and pulled him close.
âYou! Run into my office and activate the goliath system. Now!â
âSir? They arenât ready yet. Repairs have only just finished and conversion-â
âYou dare disobey me? Look at what has happened! We have no other choice! Get them online so that I may put an end to this obscene catastrophe! Under no circumstances is anyone leaving this planet!â
âY-yes sir!â
The servent said before running off.
Meanwhile, one of the guards charged at Backbreaker from behind. While three others ran at Simulus.
Hearing them coming, Simulus turns around and starts unleashing rounds from his rifle. He goes in a sweeping motion, going back and forth, mainly aiming for upper torso and moving up to their heads. The body shots primarily in attempts to slow or determine them just enough to get headshots.
The blasts rip apart the vex guards, and they collapse to the ground.
After a few minutes passed, the ground began to tremble. All eyes were turned to the center of the courtyard, as a massive section of the ground began to slide away. @Chromeharpoon
Backbreaker just barely has enough time to react, turning around and using the stock of his cannon as an improvised shield to hold out in front of him. Oddball launches an energy disk at the guardâs midsection.
As a platform rose from beneath the ground, the prisoners could see something rising from below.
The heads of what seemed to be five colossal vex rose from the ground. Each with large fins protruding from the sides. Right away they seemed far different than any Vex technology seen before. Rather than the shining silver color of the guards or Iota, they were a harsh black. Their featureless glass faces a crimson red.
Their upper bodies were broad and powerful. Their designs seemed far more dense and industrial than what prisoners were used to seeing.
Their arms were long, with large barrel shaped forearms, and powerful fists at the end. Massive pistons extended up from their elbows.
Four spider like legs supported their collosal bodies. Each one as big around as any of the cybertronians present.
All across their bodies were patchwork sections of modern looking Vex technology. No two looking quite alike.
At their full height, one of these behemoths stood just as tall as Grimlock, if not taller.
If Oddball remembered, he may recognize these behemoths from the historical play he saw earlier.
On the shoulder of the central giant stood Iota, looking down at the crowd below.
âBehold! My latest attraction! I was going to wait until they were finished before their grand debut, but you savages left me no other choice!â
The games master shouted. He had completely lost any and all composure he bad before.
âSo I will not ask again. Either return to your cells, or die like the animals you are!â
Backbreaker wastes no time in firing off another blast from his cannon, aimed right at Iota as he stood atop one of the giant mechsâ shoulders.
Oddball takes a step back. This was a bit of a turn for the worst, he knew. Best to take a moment to analyze the changing situation for a quick second before taking action.
His processing kicks back up as he analyzes their potential means of attack. If he had to guess, the giant machines either had rocket fists or some sort of projectile or energy blast that would fire out of the palms. Or both, wouldnât that be something. Either ancient war machines or repurposed manufacturing, in either case it appears to have exploitable structural weaknesses.
The spider legs, depending on how reinforced they were, would be an obvious target. The pistons on the arms, while dense, would likely disable whatever they were capable of firing. And of course the faceplate, if it was similarly weak to their Vex makers.
Simulus power walks forward, firing his rifle at the faceplate of one of the behemoths. Might as well test one and see what it does.
Iota ducked out of the way, then looked down at the autobot.
âFine! Youâve made your choice! Now die!â
The giant walked forward, and moved its arm back as if it was about to throw a punch. Instead the piston in its elbow shot forward, sending its colossal fist rocketing towards Backbreaker.
Meanwhile Grimlock charged at one of the other giants. The mechanical behemoth threw a punch at the dinobot, striking Grimlock in the face. He responded with a cascading blast of fire, though it seemed to have little effect. Maximus jumped off and transformed into beast mode. He flew up to survey the situation, seeing the other three giants move out. One going towards Fafnir.
The shots bounce harmlessly off of the massive machine. In response itâs crimson faceplate flickered twice, before blasting a powerful laser at Simulus.
Backbreaker rolled out of the path of the flying fist. He brought himself back to his feet and drew his sword.
âCome down here and fight, you coward!â he bellows to Iota.
Oddball transforms into his rocket mode and blasts after the giant headed toward Fafnir. He catches up to the machine and starts to weave around it, shooting out colorful fireworks and sparks to try and confound it.
With the first flicker, Simulus knew that wasnât a good sign. He had seen his reflection in othersâ optics enough to guess what came next. He quickly throws up a thick hardlight barrier in front of himself, giving to his left once the blast comes. The barrier probably shatters, but at least gives him enough time to get out of harm.
Not enough firepower to damage face, disabling it is. Provided the giant gives him the chance, Simulus attempts to cloak himself and appear like the surrounding area. If the machine losses track of him, heâll try to cautiously approach it.
The impact of the fist shook the ground tremendously and left a small crater. The shock also caused Iota to loose his balance, and he fell off the towering war machine. He landed face first on the ground, though seemed to be mostly unharmed. Save for a small crack on his face.
He stood up and dusted himself off.
âFine. I would usually never stoop so low as to engage in combat, it would seem youâve left me no choice.â
With a snap of his fingers, the games master manifested a large hard-light shield on his left arm, and an energon-prod lance in his right hand.
The giant is sufficiently distracted. It stumbled back and tried to swat at Oddball as if he were a pesky bug.
With the behemothâs attention turned away, Fafnirn took a step forward. Opening its mighty jaws, the mechanical beast fired a powerful laser blast. It struck the giant dead center, causing it to stumble back even further.
The beam persisted, tracking just behind Simulus as he ran. But as soon as the giant lost sight of him, the beam ceased.
Target lost
Searching
Awaiting Knight's command
The giant slowly paced around, moving its head, trying to find Simulus.
Backbreaker grabs his shield and attaches it to his left forearm. He stares Iota down with unrestrained rage in his eyes, daring the gamemaster to make the first move.
Oddball is hit by the giantâs hand and careens into the ground, breaking apart and reforming in a heap away from the fight. His robot form solidifies, and the little bot shakes his head to clear his mind.
Iota waved his lance above his head towards Backbreaker. The behemoth behind him launched another piledriver punch at the autobot.
Maximus circled above the giantâs head, firing several lightning bolts at it. All to little effect. The machine looked up and fired a burning red laser beam at the predacon from its face plate. Though the predacon easily avoided the attack.
He flew down and landed next to Oddball, watching as Fafnir fired its back mounted cannon at the behemoth. The shell exploding on the giantâs chest, barely leaving a mark.
âFor Primus sake. We can barely make a dent in this thing!â
He looked over at Oddball.
âHey weird guy. You think you got something that could do some good? As strange as you are I wouldnât be surprised if you were packing some heavier fire power.â
