Flying is just throwing yourself at the ground and missing.

[chaos_gunner]

(Falling out of this thread here!There is a hole in the ground. Well, not even a hole. More of a crater, its edges fused and glassy, the vegetation around it burned to inch-high black stalks within a quarter-mile radius. The puddle of slagged and melted debris at the bottom of the metres-deep wound in the earth bubbles and smokes quietly to itself

Comments

[giri_guy]

*a rumble of multiple engines heralds the arrival of Rodimus and the Protectobots (and no, that would not be a good name for a rock band, thank you very much), with alt-Scourge in tow. The Protectobots remain in vehicle mode while Rodimus transforms and shields his optics from the steam.*

*He can just barely make out Galvatron's form at the bottom of the crater, wreathed in steam and superheated air and slowly-cooling destruction. He's not moving, and it's entering Rodimus's mind that despite his assurances to alt-Scourge, Galvatron might actually be - *

* - no. Giving his head a sharp, impatient shake, and with no regard to the dignity of his station, Rodimus vaults over the edge of the crater and starts sliding down, steam and sparks released in his wake.*

Galvatron - ! Hang on!

[chaos_gunner]

*that voice isn't the one he was most listening for, the one he instinctively expects above all, but then the owner of that voice is a prisoner on board Void's ship and Galvatron failed to get him back! - and with that thought, full and horrifying awareness explodes through the fallen warlord's dazed mind*

*below Rodimus, the molten rock roils and surges, bubbling as powerful engines fight to fire through their submersion* *like a rising Leviathan the lord of the Decepticons ascends from his blazing grave; his armour is blackened and crusted with cooling magma, his crown is shattered, his tailsight is snapped off halfway up its length, his shining colours are burned and melted away* *but his optics are slits of carmine fire, and the way he raises his great gun as he straightens painfully to his feet says more than words*

*looks up, sees Rodimus*

Rodimus... *his voice is ragged, but still powerful - and yet, he speaks with a kind of quiet desperation that seems foreign to him*

...tell me I got him.

[hidden_watcher]

*appears from the skies above, transforms and touches down, followed by a small gaggle of Sweeps who immediately all cling to each other* *sees Rodimus, and his own alt, and the others*

Prime, what happened to-?

*sees Galvatron*

Ohhhhhh bugger. *cowers pre-emptively, wings curling inward*

[apprentice_lurk]

*thin, strained hail from the comm* //Boss? ...You okay?// *please please please say you're okay-*

[hidden_watcher]

*wouldn't ever admit that he just had to lock his knee servos really quite hard to stay on his feet there* /Is that you, Trouble? Where are you? Are you hurt?/

/I'm safe, I'm on Earth./ *worried look at the crater* /And Galvatron's... well, he's alive./ *relief, shock, and just oh gods make this stop mingle in his voice*

[apprentice_lurk]

*audibly sighs with relief* /It's me. I'm still on the Dis - it's hurt and we can't move much, but we're both okay. Sort of. We're getting into low orbit and I'm going to try hailing the EDC station up here, see if we can dock./

/Alive as in...as in just-about alive, or as in flaming mad?/ *very, very quietly* /Are you going to be all right with him if he's going to explode?/

[hidden_watcher]

*quiet, despairing noise* /I saw the Dis was in trouble but there wasn't anything I could do. Our lasers were bouncing off Void's ship like practice beams./ *very muffled* /I'm sorry./

*peeks over the crater edge again* /And alive as in... well, if he was in front of me and Unicron was behind me I wouldn't know which way to run first./ *you can practically feel him shudder* /I wouldn't be Rodimus Void for an empire's price right now./

[apprentice_lurk]

/We're alive, aren't we? We can go fix the Dis up, then go kick Void's head about like a football later./ *and the trouble with bravado is that you can show it, but not necessarily believe it yourself...* /We're all right. Don't beat yourself up, bossdude./

/...Aw, help./ *shakily* /Be careful./

[hidden_watcher]

/Right./ *it's a flat agreement that clearly implies he doesn't believe it and knows you don't either* /Yeah, but....

/Believe me, careful would be my middle name if I had one. Especially about now./ *is clung to by cowering Sweeps*

[apprentice_lurk]

/*fiercely* But nothing, boss. You can't be in two places at once, and if you'd got yourself killed trying, I'd.../ *trails off, biting into her lip again*

*half-smile* /Good. You could always pick up a middle name, if you wanted one.../ *soft noise* /Mine's Clare./

[hidden_watcher]

/No, but.../ *miserable*

/...oopsGalvatronwantsmehangon!/ *a squeak is audible in the background*

[apprentice_lurk]

/...Yeah but no but. Now stop panicking before I have to come down there and snuggle you silly./ *not that she isn't going to cling for all she's worth when her feet touch the ground again anyway...*

*cut-off little yelp and bites her tongue, sitting waiting and gnawing her lip to ribbons. Be okay, be okay, be okay...*

[giri_guy]

*another time, another place, less urgent, and he might be awed by Galvatron's rise... but now there is only sorrow and worry.*

*gazes at him a moment, then silently shakes his head*

[chaos_gunner]

*another time, another place, and he might have smiled to see Rodimus's optics shine, might have been moved to playfulness - but this isn't the time, and at the current rate, that time may never come again*

*is still for a moment while the meaning of Rodimus's little headshake sinks in, and then... there aren't words, so Galvatron simply throws back his head and screams in fury at the sky, his whole body trembling, his aura blazing so bright that it's almost visible even without electrosense*

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

*then, gasping, suddenly swings on Scourge* Why didn't you stop them?!

[hidden_watcher]

*yelps and drops to his knees* Galvatron! - Mighty One, we tried! Void's ship, the mirror plates - our weapons were useless!

*agonised look* Lord, you think I wouldn't have tried?! *and Cyclonus's name hangs between them, unspoken*

[chaos_gunner]

*draws a shuddering breath, shaking his head* Then at least, why didn't you pursue them?!