| abstract
| - For the past thirty minutes, the Decepticon occupation of Florida has been underway, localized entirely within the Crystal River nuclear facility. Having locked what humans they could round up inside the tractor-trailer designed to ship Kangaroo brand 'authentic Australian' bacon (and thus being very, very cold), the Decepticon workers have been hard at work... converting the station, somehow, building strange and curious structures around the reactor. "Ah, yes," Scourge says, stroking his beard and marching through this scientific progress. "If our... ah-heh... /allies/ in the Protectorate Nation cannot have Florida, then no one can. And better to use these energy facilities for our /own/ ends than let them power EDC territory." True, everywhere affected by the Crystal River power station has been experiencing rolling blackouts. When a female Seeker approaches Scourge with a datapad and starts running down what's been completed on the itinerary so far, Scourge's expression sours, and he callously backhands her, sending her hurtling to the floor. "INCOMPETENCE!" he roars, turning to see if anyone /else/ dare displease him. "WORK FASTER! WORK HARDER! /WORK/ IF YOU VALUE YOUR /LIVES/!" As the femme Seeker crawls away, Scourge picks up her datapad. "Ah, yes," he smiles, mood settling, "soon, this whole facility will be something the likes of which the universe has never seen. The pinnacle of science... the vernier. A thruster that functions in /zero gravity/! And /WE SHALL TURN THE STATE OF FLORIDA INTO A GIANT VERNIER, PUSHING THE EARTH CLEAR OFF OF ITS AXIS/!" Scourge lets out a triumphant bellow, raising his fist, believing that this somehow will inspire his troops. Meanwhile, Sinnertwin is standing to one side, drinking an energon cube which he throws over his shoulder, unimpressed at the work going on. "So, we turnin' this entire planet into a whole bally Sweep?" he idly wonders out loud, to whoever is standing nearby. "Cos, y'know, we could paint a wee facey on the moon and stick it to the ground, and it could be a giant Terrorcon. Just a thought, now" Soundwave, however, is not inspired. Indeed, he really wishes he wasn't here right now. This plan is absurd and idiotic, and he tried politely to tell Scourge that, but then the big meanie threatened to gut him. So, well, here he is, tapping away at a datapad and trying to coordinate... whatever they're doing. Geeze. "As you command, Scourge," Soundwave says for the umpteenth time tonight. Dead End does not react to Scourge's speech or his punishing of the femSweep as he stands at the perimeter of the facility, weapon in hand, as he studies the horizon for signs of...something. He occasionally glances at the pistol in his hand but otherwise moves little. "Yes, our..." Scrapper strokes his chin, standing next to Scourge. "/Allies/ in the Protectorate of Nations. Ha ha ha!" The Constructicon shares a little laugh with Scourge, which may or may not be joined in with by the Sweep Commander. The alliance with the Protectorate has gone from funny to annoying to hilarious over the past half astroyear. We're in the hilarious stage. The Constructicon is here for obvious purposes - making sure the appropriation of energy works smoothly. While Scourge is on Seeker beating duties, Scrapper is on technobabble duty. He watches, emotionally distant, as Scourge smacks a Seeker. "Hail Galvatron!" he calls out as Scourge begins ranting. He knows the right thing to say. "HAIL GALVATRON!" Scourge roars back, still caught up in his 'outside voice' tangent. Warmonger is carrying giant vernier components into the nuclear facility, looking generic as he does so. He has some kind of zero-gravity I-Beam over one shoulder, and almost drops it in his haste to respond to the call. "HAIL GALVATRON! HAIL THE MIGHTY DECEPTICON EMPIRE!" he shouts, putting the other Decepticon Jets to shame with his pure, un-ironic enthusiasm. That said, he shuts his trap and continues about his way. The reports of rolling blackouts seemed just slightly off to the Detective - Florida is one of the better supplied states when it comes to power, especially after the Protectorate invasion, and so it is that the Porsche 959 that is Nightbeat is currently just crossing over the border, driving MUCH faster than any 'normal' car might be able to go with such expert control. It's at this point that he picks up the news report about the cause, "...figures..." he mutters to himself before kicking it up another notch, racing towards Crystal River even as energon floods into his combat systems, "I'm -not- looking forward to this." he grumbles, cresting a hill and going airborne briefly before landing and scraping the road slightly, swerving a touch as the distant signals of Decepticon activity start to show on his long range scanners. Boombox hitches a ride with one of the other Autobots who are less 'mobility impaired'. "We're getting close, guys. Keep your optics peeled for - what 'n the name of Vector Sigma is that?!" He shouts as the partially completed vernier comes into view. "Autobots...I ain't been to Florida in a looong time, but something tells me THAT doesn't belong here." Cybertronian Hovercar drives along with the rest of the autobots, keeping 'very' close to one of the other autobot's coming to help so he can tell where everyone is going. He's close to helpless in this mode. Ironic considering his name. The hovercar hovers along not exactly anxious to fight again, but always willing to test what his training has given him. "No, it does not..." he says, "...I think?" Driving at regulation highway speeds for very small semi cabs, Pipes is in Florida. He happens to be in the area. TEN MINUTES AGO: Pipes is on craigslist. "Whoa! This dude is /giving/ away a 'ceramic pipe' he made in pottery class so his mom won't find out? That belongs in my museum! ROAD TRIP!" NOW Pipes is dangerously close to Scourge and his plans, having just picked up the 'artifact'. "DUDES. There are /no lights/ here. Can we install... BLACK LIGHTS?" He's easily in sight of the mighty Decepticons. Engines roar to life as a single, strange-looking aircraft blazes through the skies. It comes unaccompanied by anyone else, ripping forward at speeds that easily break the sound barrier. Sleek, blue and red, the craft blazes above Crystal River, beginning a rapid close-in on the nuclear facility located therein. The craft circles, as if scouting out the facility and the Decepticons housed within. He beholds the construction, and can begin to put together just what they might be working towards. "... idiots." It's all the Autobot hunter Defcon has to say on the matter. <> As much as he is loathe to use the term, he does not advance immediately. Instead, he continues to circle, within sight but making no obvious movements. No, he's waiting. For assistance to finally make it to the power plant... and to find a target worth hunting. Why drive, when you can fly? Man. Even a short trip is going to be interesting, and that white Harrier is.. somewhere behind Defcon. << I'm here. You can relax now. >> Backup! And just in time, too! <> Flashback to one astroday ago. Scourge: Scrapper! Design and build me a gigantic venier! Scrapper: ...K. Scourge: Excellent. Now pass the ener-crack back this way. Flashforward to the present: The Constructicon kneels in front of an open panel. Human construction is so small, so he has to kneel all the time just to properly reach stuff. "If everything goes according to plan, mighty Scourge, we should be set to activate the venier in, oh, an astrohour or so." He shoos away several of the humans that he has forced to work with the Decepticons on this project. None of them seem particularly concerned about this latest Decepticon plan succeeding for some reason. Flash forward to right now: Dead End is still standing near the perimeter, studying the landscape with even less then his usual enthusathism, and so to keep himself occupied he transforms into his vehicle mode. Inside the cab the radar system engages, sending out it's invisible waves, with the screen changing as Dead End reorients himself to send the signal as far as possible. As he stops something-an artifical but undiscernible group of shapes-is picked up. Dead End speaks up. "I believe something is headed in our direction." Sinnertwin wanders over to Scrapper, rubbing his hands. "Ah, so we gonna jus' spin the Earth, or do a trick-shot and knock it into the sun? I think that'd be fun!" His gleeful face lights up at the idea of the Earth catching fire, not quite recalling that yes, he is actually standing /on/ the Earth. "An' I must say" he trills as he turns to Scourge. "Jus' how fine and dandy your verniers an' deathscythe is lookin' today. Mighty fine, a credit to ye all!" Scourge turns, suddenly. His sensors, so sensitive that they can murder an ox at fifty meters, detect distinctly unpleasant red blips. "/Autobots/," he growls, withdrawing a quarterstaff from subspace and, with a loud VVVVVVMMMMM, activates the long, sharp energy scythe at the end. "PROTECT THE VERNIER! I DON'T CARE IF YOU DIE, /THE VERNIER MUST SUCCEED/!" He pie-faces Sinnertwin out of the way and then runs into a flying start, heading toward the nearest Autobot signal -- Pipes! "DIE, AUTOBOT," he howls in his gruff voice, getting... well, maybe a little too excited as he swings his energo-scythe, trying to sideswipe the blue truck. Scourge misses Mini Cab with its Deathscythe attack. Soundwave stares up at the... vernier. He wracked his brain trying to think of a way for a nuclear power plant to power a huge thruster, or vernier, or whatever. Verniers require huge amounts of hydrogen, especially for the task Scourge demanded. And a nuke plant can't just magically crap that stuff out. So, essentially, what he did was take twenty capital ship rated ion thrusters, strap them together, and shove them into a larger, booster rocket-shaped... thingy. That solves the hydrogen problem--ion thrusters only need electricity. But he realized that the effect wouldn't be as impressive as Scourge might've wanted, so he also secretly installed some nozzles onto the sides of the "vernier's" exhaust. Once the "vernier" is activated, the nozzles will spray liquid napalm into the ion stream. The ion stream, being particularly intense, would almost immediately ignite the napalm, thus creating the illusion of a thruster spewing flames. Anyway, Soundwave crouches down behind one of the napalm lines, securing the fittings on it and getting ready to throw the switch once the "vernier" turns on. "As you command, Scourge," Soundwave says again. "Diversionary operation commencing." Soundwave states blandly, "Diversionary operation complete." It's pure chance that he happens to be closest to Dead End, it has nothing to do with his much awesomer Porsche mode, or a need to assert that awesomeness. Nightbeat squeals around a corner, weaving towards the nearest of the purple blotches as the twin machine-guns in his hood extend upwards, "Right, time to send the dastardly Decepticon's running... Autobot's HOOOOOOOO!" he crests a hill, catching air as his weapons open fire, twin streams of bullets *RATTATATTATATTA*ing and spraying the general area where Dead End is positioned, intending to get the Decepticon's attention most forcefully. Nightbeat strikes Dead End with Twin Machine Guns. It's true that Scourge is big and scary. Intimidating. THE GREATEST MELEE FIGHTER IN THE DECEPTICON EMPIRE. But Pipes is a museum curator. Imagine how many ghosts live inside museums. What's that? You can't. THAT'S RIGHT. Pipes transforms in an instant, his smokestacks exhaling small plumes as he does. He lands on his feet and stares up at Scourge's moustache covered teeth, "Don't Taste Me, Bro!" His bloodshot optics focus and he rushes forward, leaps into the air and drops the elbow of his smokestack arm in Scourge's direction. "Flying crowbar!" Smokestacks exhaling long-held plumes of smoke, Pipes transforms into robit mode. Pipes strikes Scourge with smash. Cybertronian Hovercar peels off from the autobot he was following and hits the gas lurching forward with a wake of dirt and debris. As he zooms forward, he angles himself towards Sinnertwin. Just at the moment of impact, he transforms leaping up and spinning around for for a kick. No fancy words, no flashy speeches. Just a whoopin. Focus strikes you with Crystalocution for 7 points of damage. Boombox flies out of the passenger space of whatever Autobot he was riding with...he sails through the air in a shallow arc and transforms halfway through into his robot mode. He's running as soon as his feet touch the ground, headed towards the vernier. "Autobots...after we finish up here, we're all going to Disneyland!" As he approaches, Blaster looks around for a suitable opponent, and naturally settles on Soundwave. "Looks like it's just you and me. Let's see what you got!" He leaps at his rival in a flying kick that would do Focus proud. Blaster strikes Soundwave with kick. Data relays across Defcon's processors about relevant targets as he scopes out the plant, slowing down considerably into a hover directly above the facilities. Decepticons. Soundwave, Scrapper, //HIM, WARMONGER!!\\, Scourge... other various 'S'-named Decepticons. Defcon pauses in consideration, watching as the other Autobots make their mark and Pipes makes a defiant stand against Scourge. Figuring Pipes for a brave, dead man, Defcon focuses his attention elsewhere like a truly great ally. Swooping DOWN at lightning fast speeds, his laser cannon begins to thrum with life, before releasing a thick beam of energy streaking across the ground, the potent laser blazing a path -- straight for Scrapper. "Decepticon Scrapper! You are hereby under arrest for war crimes against the Autobot faction! Relent now!" Defcon misses Scrapper with his Laser Cannon ::Medium Yield:: attack. Warmonger stops what he is doing (carrying giant Vernier parts) and turns, pointing dramatically at the approaching enemies. "LOOK!" he cries. "AUTOBOTS!" Thank you, Captain Obvious. The Decepticon Jet rushes outside, flying into the air and drawing his large rifle, which he probably uses to overcompensate for his crippling mental and emotional problems. "Foolish Autobots! Your pathetic land-based vehicle modes are no match for the might Decepticon Air Force! I, WARMONGER, shall show you the error of your ways!" With that said, he begins to fire the traditional 'completely pointless lasers that streak across the screen dramatically while not hitting anything' that are the trademark of Decepticon Jets everywhere. /And it's about TIME Slingshot caught up to Defcon. Not his fault that he's slow though-- blame someone else. <> The harrier does manage to avoid a few shots. Maybe because Warmonger is expecting the ground forces to be more of a threat or something? <> And yes, that is weaponsfire in the Generic Seeker's direction. Scrapper stands upright and looks over at Sinnertwin, putting a lime green hand on the Terrorcon's shoulder. "Ah Sinnertwin. In the end it doesn't really matter. Allow me to explain to you the wonders of science. Not just any science, though. Mad science. Mad science means you don't have to bother thinking about the consequences of your actions. Does a gigantic vernier sound interesting to you, Sinnertwin?" Scrapper doesn't allow Sinnertwin any time to answer. "Of course it does. And that is ultimately the most important thing when conducting an experiment such as this. Future applications will practically create itself once we have accomplished this mission." Patriotic music begins to play in the background. Scrapper truly feels sincere about this topic. "Will it wipe out all fleshling life on the planet? Maybe. Will it cause the tectonic plates in the Earth to shift and destroy numerous urban centres, up to and including New Crystal City? It's not out of the question. Will it accomplish absolutely nothing useful? Hey, anything's possible," Scrapper says with a good natured chuckle. "But the real joy comes from finding out. Building and learning and killing anyone in your way, Sinnertwin. That is the miracle of science." Scrapper is so into this speech he hardly even recognizes that the Autobots are approaching. "Now do you understand, Sinnertwin?" he asks like Wally after he's explained a life lesson to the Beaver. "Now get out there and kill some Autobots, you Terrorcon scamp." Scrapper watches as Sinnertwin (hopefully) toddles off to kill Autobots. As he does, a potent laser beam lands at his feet. "Gah!" he exclaims, stumbles backwards while drawing out his laser pistol. "Right then, phase 3: Kill anyone who gets in our way! Consider it another crime to add to the tally, Defcon!" He returns fire, spewing purple laser blasts back up at the rapidly approaching spacecraft. Scrapper misses Cybertronian Starfighter with his Laser Pistol - Medium Setting attack. EARLIER TODAY A nameless Sweep looks to Scourge. "But Scourge," he says in a voice /exactly like/ Scourge's own, "what purpose will a giant vernier serve? Do you not have enough verniers yourself? Will you never be satisfied in a vernier-related fashion?" "SILENCE," Scourge bellows, leaping from his solemn chair and clasping his hands around the Sweep's throat. "With this... MEGA-ULTRA-VERNIER... we will /push the Earth off of its axis/! And then Lord Galvatron will not have to bother with these... non-aggression treaties of convenience with /human germs/ -- for the climate change will kill all of the humans and allow us to claim their resources as our own unimpeded!" Unfortunately, Scourge's claws pushed all the way through the nameless Sweep's throat at about the halfway point. "Hh. Someone get a medic," he sighs. NOW Scourge is elbowed in the stomach by the feisty but cloudy blue Autobot. "Oof!" he says, twirling his deathscythe in a truly unnecessarily flashy fashion as he corrects his stance, assuming a position not unlike the attack stance of Metallikato. "That was /foolish/, Autobot," Scourge snarls. "I can't think of anyone who /touches/ me and is /allowed to live/." He swoops the scythe down again in an elaborately twirled arc, bringing it down with such force that should it miss, its energy blade will slice into the pavement below with such force and speed that the quarterstaff may well get stuck! Scourge misses Pipes with its Deathscythe attack. Soundwave is crouched down, hands on the valve that will activate the secret napalm stream... when Blaster kicks him! Soundwave accidentally pulls on the lever as the impact knocks him back, and napalm begins to spray into the nozzle of the "vernier." However, with no ion stream, the stuff is simply falling back inside the vernier and pooling into the ion engines. Uhoh... "Imbecile!" Soundwave booms at his nemesis. "I grow weary of your insolence--AND your interference!" He charges back at Blaster, punches flying. "I will crush you as I did in the Olympics!" Then, someone interjects, "Hey! You got a lot of help from us tapes in that fight, Soundwave... IN AMERICA!" Oh, hell. It's Americon! After his volley of punches at Blaster, Soundwave STARES at Americon. "How did you get here? I put you back in my tape slot!" Soundwave strikes Blaster with Lotsa Punches. Dead End is suddenly caught off guard by Nightbeat's machine gun fire, fancy radar system notwithstanding, as rounds kick up clouds of dirt and clumps of grass in addition to peppering Dead End's armor with bullet holes and in one instance putting a hole right through his windscreen. He reacts quickly to the assualt, though, his wheels leaving two piles of dirt as he peels out and heads for Nightbeat as he rapidly accelerates in an attempt to plow through the other Porsche. Dead End misses Nightbeat with his Fender Smash attack. Sinnertwin looks a bit worried as Scrapper lays his hand on his shoulder. This is mostly because he remembers exactly what happened the last time that a Constructicon touched him, and he had to have councilling for a while afterwards. "Aye.." he mutters, confused at Scrappers words. It is almost as confusing that time Blot toddled up to him with a Spiderman comic and tried to explain how Peter Parker made a deal with satan or something. Though at the time all Blot could say was 'Guuuuuh Bloooooot' it still made a lot more sense than when he read the book. As if to increase his confusion, Sinnertwin is then kicked in the face by Focus, as if Focus was Joe Quesada, and he was the Great American Public. And what does the great public do when hit? They hit back! "Aye, I'll cut ye face off!" Sinnertwin roars, throwing a fist at Focus You strike Focus with Blow. "SEE you COMING?" Warmonger demands, then throws back his head and laughs. "I, WARMONGER, not only SAW you coming, but planned out your INEVITABLE DEFEAT before you even ARRIVED!" He puts up his dukes, dodging and weaving through the Aerialbot's covering fire. "You are NOTHING, Aerialbot. I, WARMONGER, have already played through this scenario a million times in my cerebral processor. Your defeat is assured in EVERY OUTCOME." With the speed of a puma (if by puma you mean 'tortoise'), Warmonger jets towards Slingshot, extending his arms in front of him, kind of like Superman but evil and a robot. Lasers fire from his arm-mounted blasters, and the battle is joined. AUTOOOOOOOOOOBOTS Warmonger strikes AV-8B Harrier II with Arm Lasers. The 959 is cat-quick, far more agile than it's 3500 pound weight might indicate, that's why when the 928 tears off towards him, it's a quick swerve to blow right past the Decepticon, pulling a 180 degree slide in the process, the headlight's suddenly changing slightly as bolts of energy are fired from them, aiming for Dead End's tailpipes, "Nice try, but you'll find me a little more challenging than you're -average- Autobot!" the headlight assault is intentionally missing, keeping Dead End busy while Nightbeat approaches, his faster engine roaring as he closes the distance rapidly before launching into a transformation - inexplicably revealing himself to be wearing a trench coat which flutters in the wind as he sails, intending to land both feet in the hood of Dead End's alt before springing away. Nightbeat strikes Dead End with kick. Today is the day that Pipes' elbow connects with Scourge, in his stomach. Sadly, Pipes' new ceramic Statue of a Pipelike Objects falls out subspace and shatters against the pavement. "What? No, man, not cool!" He dives to look at the damage, to try to glue it together, to whisper it the last words it will ever hear. "Little dude, you were gonig in the Ultra Magnus wing. The /Ultra MAgnus/ wing. That's... oh, god..." Pipes forgets the fight and weeps. It is written in the Bible of Primus, page 46 Microsection 29: When Pipes Doth Cry, Holy Smoke Shall Cloud The Very Sky and Shall Become the Sky and All Who Know The Smoke Will Get What They Deserve Pipes' smokestacks open up fully and a choking cloud envelopes the area around Scourge's stuck Deathscythe, fulfilling the ancient prophecy. Pipes continues to weep. Can you blame him? Pipes strikes Scourge with pass it to the left, bro, don't hog it. Focus feels little effect from that kick. He pushes back and lands assuming a defensive circuit su fighting stance. But not fast enough as the punch comes and connects rocking his face to the side. Focus says, "You may try, but only fate will decide the outcome..." as he wipes the energon trickling from his mouth. Bringing both hands to one side wide, he snaps them both forward, fingers pointed in a double jab towards any vital areas on the terrorcon. Focus strikes you with Circuit-Su < Strong Attack > for 6 points of damage. Blaster holds up his arms like a boxer, blocking Soundwave's first few punches. "The 'Lympics? THE OLYMPICS? You still goin on about that?! Man, that was just luck!!" The last three punches hit Blaster cleanly, knocking his first head to one side, then the other, then straight back. Blaster stumbles back a few feet, just a little wobbly on on his feet, then he shakes his head to clear it. "Well, mostly luck." He dashes forward again forward. "Just consider this...ROUND TWO!" Blaster strikes Soundwave with rythmic kickboxing. "I'd keep it in mind if you were better at it," comes Defcon's unpleasant, grating voice as the starfighter sweeps up into the air with the -WHOOOSH- of wind. The sudden upwards veer brings him directly out of harms way of the pulsating violet energy that streaks through the air, letting it glance harmlessly -- though far too closely -- past him. "So we're going to do this the hard way. Fine." As Defcon speaks, his upward ascent stops. The sleek starfighter transforms rapidly into the tall form of Defcon as he drops towards the sky, landing in a ground-cracking crouch just beyond Scrapper. "None of you are getting away from me anymore. You're going away for a long time, Scrapper." His right fist pulls back as he -lunges- forward, intent on driving that metal hand forward in a brutal haymaker to the face. "You're going to be locked up in a place where you won't be able to make anymore verniers!" This statement is accentuated with a rising knee to Scrapper's metal crotch-area. Because Defcon is a jerk. Defcon strikes Scrapper with ::Savage Combo::. <> Eh. It did, but not really worth grumbling about-- not to a rediculous Decepticon, anyhow. <> Eh. Almost time to get serious. Slingshot should take this generic pretender down, and just get movin' on to the next target. Maybe this time he'll be able to help someone else? Right? Er... Midair stop. Aim. And fire-- Hello Warmonger. Meet this. Slingshot strikes Warmonger with This. Sinnertwin also feels little from Focus's attack, but that is because he is a Terrorcon, and made up of mostly armour. Even the armour has little bits of armour protecting it, with some armour armour to protect that armour. It doesn't leave much room for brain cells however, but Sinnertwin isn't too stupid. "Aye, I don't believe in fate. The only fate what ye make fer yerself" he growls back at the Autobot, putting his hands up in a boxing stance. Focus may have learnt his fighting from ancient techniques, but Sinnertwin learnt his /down the pub/. With that, Sinnertwin feints a punch, and instead lunges at Focus's face with a broken bottle. "I'm gonna make ye drink energon through a hole in ye tummy!" he roars! You strike Focus with Glasgow Smile. Dead End's slips past Nightbeat, swerving from side to side to correct himself, before his front end is suddenly pushed down into the dirt as Nightbeat's lands on top of him, crumping the front end of the already bruised armor there. Dead End reverses as Nightbeat leaps forward before revving his engine again and leaping forward himself. As he approaches Nightbeat's back he too transforms, compressed air pistol appearing in his hand, as he skids across the ground in a half crouch before pulling the trigger. A loud burst of compressed air blazes from the end of the barrel as it reaches out to try and push the Autobot into the dirt. Dead End strikes Nightbeat with Air 360. "Twice you have called me blind, Aerialbot!" Warmonger replies as the bullets dimple his patriotic chest. "And twice you have been mistaken! YOU are the one who is blind! I, WARMONGER, have a clarity of vision which transends your understanding!" He didn't even bother to dodge; that's just not how he rolls. "If YOU were able to see, you would know... such JOY as I experience EVERY DAY in the service of the GLORIOUS DECEPTICON EMPIRE." The loyal Decepticon soldier levels his Overcompensation Cannon at Slingshot. Amber lights burn up the barrel, indicating that the weapon is ready to fire. He smiles. "Allow me to SHOW you the LIGHT! HAHAHAHAAAA!" BZARK goes the High-Bore Laser. Warmonger misses AV-8B Harrier II with his High-Bore Laser attack. Scrapper scowls somewhere behind his faceplate as Defcon shifts upwards to avoid the retaliation shots. Bastard, Scrapper thinks. He's probably pulling off those maneuvers with verniers. "Well we'll see who gets the last laugh, won't we?!" The MSE CO snarls at Defcon, completing his thought out loud. Whirling around as Defcon lands behind him, the Constructicon looks about as ready as ever to put up a good fight. He's not a great warrior, and it's difficult to prod him into serious action, but protecting a project, even a retarded one like this, is one sure-fire way to do it. Scrapper strikes Defcon with Constructicon Brutality. Defcon's right fist slams into Scrapper's faceplate with a loud clang. To his credit, the Decepticon doesn't fall over. He does almost lose his balance and is forced to retreat several steps, but he stays on his own two feet. "What do YOU care about our vernier, Defcon? With this thing in place the fleshlings will be doomed! Just think of all the peace and quiet we'd have without having to listen to their-" Scrapper throws a right hook at Defcon's chest. "-endless prattle-" Scrapper throws a left hook, "-and whining!" As Pipes weeps, the corrosive cloud causes Scourge's prized energo-scythe to not just spark and fizzle -- but to dissolve into liquid! Luckily, Scourge is armored enough to protect him from the acid, but his weaponry, unfortunately, is not so lucky. "My... My Deathscythe," he says, in a rare moment of shock. "Autobot -- for this, you shall die." The cannon on Scourge's head glows with the intensity of his rage-filled red optics, accumulating power as he reroutes additional energon to the blast -- intent on bringing this Autobot as close to death with a single blast as he possibly can. "Oblivion awaits!" His disintegrator cannon fires. Scourge strikes Pipes with Disintegrator Cannon. Darkgun, the gumby seeker, is just minding his business at the Vernier control, watching the fight progress somewhat disinterestedly. He yawns and stretches, wondering when he'll finally get the word to begin the countdown--when Soundwave's flying body slams him into the control console. Darkgun's hand involuntarily slaps down on the activation key, and a computerized voice declares, "Ignition in one and a half breems." As the computer ticks down the astroseconds, Soundwave braces a hand against Darkgun's unconscious face as he pushes himself off of the control console. So insistent is he on crushing Blaster, that the countdown doesn't quite register with him. "I do not believe... IN LUCK." Soundwave holds out both palms of his hands towards Blaster. "I believe that you should now, as you often say, "Get down." With the exception that you never get up again." And with that his hands unleash deafening sonic waves towards Blaster. Soundwave strikes Blaster with Sonic BOOM!. Focus ends up with a gouge across his gut, just as Sinnertwin promised. Focus holds his abdomen and takes a few steps back. "Very well, if you wish this to go to the next level." he says. His stance changes to a more direct form used for crystalocution. With only two fingers for attacks, he takes a short step before launching forward snapping out with two fingers while the other one is up for defense. All while moving forward and sidestepping Sinnertwin to get around any front defense. Focus strikes you with Crystalocution for 9 points of damage. Nightbeat skids to a stop in a half crouch, off-balance and with his back to Dead End - thus he's an easy target. *WHUMP* the blast of hyper-compressed air slams into him, sending him sprawling into a face first skid. "I hadn't actually wanted to learn what soil tasted like." he mutters, spitting the stuff out as he rolls over, his hands yanking his twin pistols out and quickly snapping off several shots of Proton energy towards Dead End before he struggles to his feet, the trench coat hanging open and billowing slightly in the wind, smoke rising from both barrels of his guns, optic's blazing from a shadowed face as he prepares for a proper fight. Nightbeat strikes Dead End with Photon Pistols - Half. As the cloud is inhaled, Pipes is beamed with a fierce purple beam, deeper than the purple of Scourge's own heart, which is a purplish black, what with all of the oil and everything. It burns him, as all good beams and rays do, and he falls to the ground. His smokestack barrel begins to melt as he cradles the ceramic piece in his non-hand. As the life in Pipes' optics fade, his smokestack is joined with the ceramic 'artifact', they become one. "This is how we... both... would... have wanted it, little... dude..." he says, exhaling one final plume of smoke. His last, dying breath. With a solid strike and the clang of metallic impact, Defcon is forced to reel backwards; the right hook dents in the metal of Defcon's chestplate vaguely. The following strike from the left helps to do so even further, eliciting a grunt from the bounty hunter as he staggers, but does not fall. "You're right. I don't care about this vernier. It's an idiotic idea that would have probably killed you all, anyway. I don't even care about the Terrans." Defcon stands up straight as he says this, the laser cannon mounted on his head thrumming with life "But you're under arrest, you spineless Constructicon, and I'm going to bring you in no matter what." With that, that head-attached laser adjusts to target Scrapper, before letting loose a thin, crackling beam of power, aimed straight for the Constructicon's chest. "So give it up already. And stop talking so much." Defcon strikes Scrapper with Frickin' Laser Beam ::Pew Pew::. That? That was Slingshot's manoverability. <> He dropped right out of the way of that attack, and yes. That's him laughing. > And there's another burst of weaponsfire. This isn't going to last long. Oh no. Slingshot strikes Warmonger with gauss. Blaster reflexively braces himself with both forearms crossed in front of himself, which of course does nothing to protect him from the sonic attack. The force actually pushes him back away from Soundwave, feet leaving two shallow trenches in the ground. Blaster shudders as the vibrations pass through him. "D-d-d-DANG, Soundwave!" he manages to stutter out through the rattling of his own jaws, "That was cool." He shakes himself a little more, then stands up straight, arms by his side. "But let me show you...the remix!" The speakers in his shins start to vibrate as they emit sound waves of their own. But these are specially designed, at a frequency that doesn't cause damage but instead attacks a tranformer's gyros and balance centers. Blaster strikes Soundwave with his hyno-hustle attack. Dead End is in an equally vunerable position as Nightbeat fires back at him as the other climbs to his feet. Several of the shots fired by Nightbeat strike Dead End, doing little damage to him, before leaping to his own feet and running toward Nightbeat. He aims his weapon at Nightbeat's right leg, finger curling around the trigger, before pulling it slowly. Another jet of air, sounding louder and more powerful then the last, with the result that several forest animals escape from their burrows and hiding places and fleeing from the noise. Hopefully it will strike Nightbeat into the bargin. Dead End misses Nightbeat with his Bigger Gust By Far attack. "You saw only what I, WARMONGER, WANTED you to see, Aerialbot scum!" The Decepticon Jet smirks, sending the huge rifle back to subspace. "You have once again demonstrated your lack of TACTICAL understanding! Your ignorance amuses me to no end." The panels on his chest open, revealing the vulcans hidden beneath. They begin to spin, preparing to fire. "Alas, all things must end. And the next thing to end... is YOU!" On that note, his robotic nipples fire their deadly payload towards the nimble Slingshot. Warmonger misses AV-8B Harrier II with his Nipple Vulcans attack. Sinnertwin is pushed back, armour sparking by Focus' attack. "Aye, ye give me the two fingers?" he growls. "That's not a true warrior, that's a girly punch!" The Terrorcon starts to lumber backwards. But he is not retreating, instead he swiftly uncouples a very, very large gun from his back and aims it at the Autobot. "All the way up to eleven, aye?" he grins, readying it, then shooting off a missile. "Though I don't know why I bother, this thing never shoots straight. Its like Warmonger on a bad day." Focus evades your Missile attack. Scrapper considers whether or not he wants this to be a fistfight or a laserfight. He's about equal at both. He has his Constructicon-given strength to back him up in melee, and his laser pistol has been souped up way beyond the specs. But Defcon's capabilities are harder to pin down. He's scary no matter where he is in relation to you. "What? Don't I get any rights read to me?" Scrapper takes the shot in his chest and clutches the wound even as it hits him, like a hockey goalie catching a puck that's nailed him right in the chest protector. He grunts, and when he brings his hands away, a smoking hole can be seen through his hardened lime green armour. The edges of the hole are singed and wires and circuitry can be seen within. "How about the right to smash your head in?" Scrapper mutters. "Do I get that right?" he throws another punch, trying to regain the initiative against the Autobot bounty hunter. Scrapper strikes Defcon with The Lime Green Smack Down. With Pipes dealt with, Scourge takes to the sky, making sure that his allies have yet to SCREW UP his grand dream of 'the vernier heard 'round the world.' "One Autobot down," he says, leaving the blue minibot's unconscious, beam-perforated body to rot. "Now perhaps I'll tackle a foe more /worthy/ of my talents!" As Defcon shoots Scrapper, he dives downward in a near-freefall, fists first! Scourge strikes Defcon with Punch. Soundwave stomps towards Blaster purposefully. "I have heard your "remixes" before and they are inferior to the--" ZZZZRKKK!! KAKAK!! Soundwave suddenly falls over as his gyros go hayvwire. Unable to find his balance, Soundwave can only roll about and flail his arms helplessly under the assault. "Curse you... Blasterrrr!!!" he shouts. "Nooo! The mighty Soundwave has FALLEN," Americon shouts. "In AMERICA!" Hustling to Soundwave's side, Americon begins to roll Soundwave along. "Do not FEAR, my CREATOR! I will take you to a SAFE PLACE... in AMERICA!" Of course, they're not really getting anywhere fast... SWISH! All the gust of air catches is the edges of Nightbeat's coat as he jumps sideways, tucking into a roll as the burst of debris from the forceful blast kicks into the air, obscuring things slightly. He springs to his feet and sprints, both pistols swinging and aiming as the Detective narrows his optics - if he had a tongue, it'd be sticking between his lips in concentration - as he sights both guns to strike true. His target? The back of Dead End's legs, that's right, take him out at the knee's and the fight'll end quickly! *PEWPEWPEW* Several shots of photon energy are fired at a stronger setting, the smoke from the barrels trailing in the breeze of the Detective's running before he dives behind a convenient rock for cover. Nightbeat misses Dead End with his Photon Pistols - Full attack. Focus narrows optics, not that they work anything. He opens all his senses up now, picking up the slightest sounds and sensations. He hears the click and swoosh of the missile launching from the weapon and leaving the barrel. Focus crouches in almost slow motion and leaps. Even though the projectile starts to track him, he easily gets over the missile rolling over and kicking a leg out from a drop down on Sinnertwin. Focus strikes you with Crystalocution for 8 points of damage. Really, Defcon hardly notices as Pipes begins to shut down / go into stasis lock / whatever. He has other things on his menu; which leaves him entirely ill-prepared to deal with the advance of Scourge. As Scrapper begins to advance, Defcon starts to lift hands up to just -block- and shunt off the blow and the damage it might do -- this goes awry when the Constructicon moves faster than expected, his fist clanging soundly against Defcon's helmeted head. "Hng! No, you don't have that right. You have the right to be -quiet- --" Which is just about when Scourge's fists impact against the side of his body. Metal dents in as he goes staggering, blue optics narrowed to focus on a new, more dangerous target -- "Scourge," he notes impassively. His plasma cannon once more hums with life. "Those verniers look terrible." Without much more in the way of conversation, Defcon focuses his attention on the Sweep leader with a concentrated blast of plasma aimed for the face -- for now, Scrapper is forgotten. He has a much more important -- and threatening -- target at hand. Defcon strikes Scourge with ::Low Yield::. Scrapper feels the always satisfying sensation of his fist hitting Defcon's head. It never gets old, the Constructicon thinks with an inward grin. Scourge's arrival is similarly lauded by the engineer. "Yeah, Scourge!" he cheers, backing away. Apparently he's all too willing to let Scourge fight his battles for him. That and he has supreme confidence in the Sweep Commander's ability to trash the Autobot bounty hunter. Retreating to a safer position, Scrapper sees that in the confusion the human workforce has fled. Annoying but to be expected. He begins working solo to bring the massive engine online. Blaster watches in amazement as Americon tries to move Soundwave away. After a while he shrugs and turns away, grateful for the time-out from their little duel. Picking up some chatter over the radio, he turns to the Vernier and examines the nearby controls for a moment. "Hmm...I'm not really up on all these fancy 'lectronics. I might just have to go all Dino on this thing instead." He looks around for a good blunt weapon to smash the controls with, and then he spots the unconcious gumbycom seeker, Darkgun who just happens to be of the 'conehead' variety. Blaster grins widely, then unceremoniously picks up Darkgun and rams him headfirst through the control panel! <> Tactical understanding. That'd be why Slingshot's managed to roll and avoid the deadly... nipple.. payload. Nononono-- wait. That's just agility. <> Not as wierd as a crotch cannon, or verniers on a giant alien death-robot who is most assuredly not a gundam, but acceptably odd enough for Slingshot to be snorting about. The landing bit-- easy. Transforming-- Good idea. And then "You're wierd, but boring though. Target Acquired. Have a nice fall." ZING! Slingshot strikes Warmonger with ZING!. Dead End runs into the temporary cloud of dirt kicked up by his attack as Nightbeat fires, causing the shoots to fly at a spot of ground where he was but not where he is, before gaining the momentary cover. The more natural wind causes the smoke to dissipate quickly but as the cloud begins to dissipate something comes out of the vanishing cloud...a shoulder attached to an arm which is, finally, attached to Dead End's fist as it heads toward Nightbeat's face as the Stunticon makes his way quickly toward Nightbeat. Dead End strikes Nightbeat with Maroon Morbid Punch!. Sinnertwin growls out, fists clenched as he throws away his gun in anger. "That's it!" he shouts. "That is it, no more Mr Nice Terrorcon! Ye gonna meet yer maker, ye wee pest!" With that, he jerkily folds down, transforming into his double-headed Orthus mode, standing still for a moment, both heads swaying as they consider Focus. And then, as one they speak. "Aye, you'll make a fine tasty snack, that you will!" With that, Sinnertwin leaps forwards for the kill Sinnertwin takes a step back, folding back down into a four legged beast Focus evades your Die Like In The Comics attack. MiG-25 "Foxbat" comes to see Scourge get his verniers shot off! This is one of his favorite pastimes besides abusing minibots. "Your witty banter serves only to further reveal your stupidity!" Warmonger roars, not terribly concerned or upset by his constant misses. Perhaps he is merely preventing the flying Autobot from approaching the precious Giant Vernier?! The disruptor blast slams into his shoulder, dislodging a bit of armor and sending up some smoke and sparks. And yet the Decepticon Jet just keeps on coming. "Each attack you launch is more pathetic than the last, Aerialbot! You are as a turbognat bumping against the mighty hide of the Decepticon Empire! The hide in this case is WARMONGERRRR!" He launches his counter-attack, tonfas spinning out of his wrists and igniting with a SKZZKZRKZAAK! Jetting towards Slingshot, Warmonger begins a hand-to-hand assault on the Autobot. Warmonger misses Slingshot with his Charged Tonfas attack. And just as Blaster trashes the console, a red, white, and blue object is flung towards him. "Being a projectile is the least I could do here in Ameri--" THWACK! Did he hit Blaster, or the console again? We'll find out in a sec. "GET AWAY FROM THAT CONSOLE!" Soundwave booms and looking as enraged as a guy with an expressionless face can look. "You strutting imbecile! I spent many cycles working on this--" He tries to think of a nice thing to say about it, but fails. "--plan!" Then, Soundwave runs up to the console, preparing to assess the damage, and, if necessary, fix it somehow. Of course, even Americon can't one-hit kill somebody... Soundwave strikes Blaster with Americon. The plasma blast catches Scourge in the face, indeed -- and when the smoke and heat die down, his snarling face remains intact -- for, you see, he took the blast entirely in the mouth, causing a belch of smoke to rise as internal circuits sizzle. "Aaaauuuuoooowwwwwwmmmmmmnnnnnice try, bounty hunter," Scourge says as his vocal circuits auto-correct massive levels of reverb and distortion. "But your guns won't save you now -- not from Galvatron's finest tracker!" He lunges forward, claws out, in an attempt to rip Defcon's belly out. Scourge strikes Defcon with evisceration. Of course his luck would be changing with the winds (The putrid smell of Decepticon had just wafted into his olifactory senses) and cause the Detective to poke his head up at -precisely- the right time. *CLANG* He spirals unceremoniously around and drops like a sack of potatoes, a heavy *WHUMP* sound filling the air, his coat covering him entirely, as his arms are pinned underneath his prone form. Could he really have that glass of a jaw? Could Dead End have just floored the sleuth? Is the sky green with polkadots? That's right, the answer to all is NO... there's a faint hum and then Nightbeat rolls over, a scoped rifle poking up towards Dead End and a manic grin on his face, "SURPRISE!" he shouts, pulling the trigger as he discharges a FULL LOAD of hot plasma death. Nightbeat strikes Dead End with Plasma Sniper Rifle - Full. MiG-25 "Foxbat" circles overhead, losing speed as he descends towards the battle to get a better view of what's going on. Focus lifts one foot and rotates his body so one jaw misses, then steps back while rotating back to miss the other jaw. He dances around with a few steps snapping out another two fingers towards one of Sinnertwin's rear end hip joints but feeling almost like a brush if it hits but with pain. "Assuming you can catch me within those jaws?" he says completely calm considering who he's up against. Focus strikes you with Crystalocution for 6 points of damage. "Galvatron's finest tracker isn't saying much -- gnnf!" Defcon is cut off as those claws rip into him mercilessly, rending through metal and ripping through various circuitry with the spark and crackle of energon. "Nn. And..." Head shaking as his systems rework themselves towards attempting to salvage the damage sustained, Defcon lashes out, intent on driving his right elbow into Scourge's throat... before rearing back and just -headbutting- the Sweep with all the force he can muster. "... I don't -need- guns to take out someone as ridiculous as you." Defcon misses Scourge with his ::Savage Combo:: attack. "You think I'm witty." No. That wasn't hopeful Slingshot, that was full on disbelief. "Compared to you, the Dinobots are witty. Yesh. I'm bigger than a turbognat, thanks-- " Ooops! Those were -- too close for comfort. "Hey! you almost didn't hit me with that." Fist straight out towards the offending jet Bozo. Maybe he'll miss the tonfas. Maybe he'll get caught in the very thing he's trying to avoid. Who knows? "Just shut up, Okay? You're getting on my nerves." Slingshot strikes Warmonger with punch. Blaster gets hit in the face by the flying Americon and is knocked backwards away from the controls, before falling over to the grand. While Soundwave checks on the controls, Blaster rolls around helplessly, clawing at Americon who's wrapped around his head as if he was was a face-hugger Alien! Finally Blaster manages to pry him free and stands up, faceplate scuffed. "I've had just about enough of you..." Blaster says warningly. Holding Americon in both hands, Blaster squeezes and folds does his best to wad the poor Casettecon up, like a piece of paper! Then Blaster holds the up bundle of Americon in front of his mouth, so that he can be heard clearly. "'Here in America!'", Blaster says loudly, "We use the NBA three-point line!!" Blaster leaps into the air, and at the apex of his jump he shoots! Sending Americon flying through the air, towards the Vernier. As he lands Blaster holds one arm out in a follow-through as he lands, then pumps his fist in the air triumphantly as Americon sails over the rim. Finally Blaster turns back to Soundwave. "Now!...where were we?!" Sinnertwin roars in rage, both heads curling in anger, optics glowing a harsh red. "Aye, well ye weren't so cocky earlier, were you? Ye ballet dancing Autobot, someone needs to teach ye some manners!" The huge lumbering beasts armour crackles slightly under the blow, but doesn't give. He's got a while to go yet. The metallic teeth gnash, and start to lunge forward. "I'll eat ye all up, Autofool!" the creature rumbles, moving forwards at his prey. Focus evades your Slash attack. Dead End did not turn as Nightbeat was knocked across the ground with the result that, when the sniper shot came, he too was knocked through the air by the blow to his side. He desceneds to the ground, rolling across it a few feet, before he transforms as he slows enough to collect himself. Dead End manages to land on all four wheels, rocking slightly, before his engine turns over and he cuts the wheel hard before blazing toward Nightbeat where he still lands prone on the ground. Dead End strikes Nightbeat with Fender Smash. "You cannot even comprehend sarcasm. The amusement does not end!" Warmonger takes the punch on the chin, falling back a few meters and shaking his head to clear it. "Hah! Well-fought, Aerialbot!" The Decepticon Jet's right hand disappears, and is replaced by a perforated metal tube, which hisses and crackles ominously. "Nevertheless, I, WARMONGER, shall defend this triumph of Decepticon engineering and ingenuity to my last breath! And YOU, aerialbot, shall taste the FLAMES OF JUDGEMENT!" FRWOOOSH! go the flames of judgement, lighting up the sky. Warmonger strikes Slingshot with BURN!. "Oh good, I was starting to worry about you, Warmonger," says Blitzwing, buzzing Slingshot and Warmonger's fight. Scrapper fiddles with the final power coupling that's going to make this gigantic vernier function at its max potential. The added complication of Americon is disrupting the energy link, but Scrapper manages to reverse the neutron flow in an attempt to stabilize it. Every so often he nervously looks over at the battle to make sure nobody is still coming for him. If he has to he'll step back out and defend it personally as he's still in decent shape. "We'll be at full capacity in 15 astrominutes, Scourge!" he shouts. As Defcon tries to headbutt Scourge, a pink-taloned hand /catches/ the brutish swing, clamping painfully onto Defcon's face. "Do you really think you'll accomplish anything trying to best /me/ in hand to hand combat? Pfah." His boast is backed up by a yank of his hand, still gripping the Autobot bounty hunter, trying to swing him down to smash his knee into the other robot's damaged belly. "Perhaps returning from deep space was not such a wise move, eh?" Scourge strikes Defcon with Knee Lift. Soundwave looks up just as Americon is chucked into the exhaust of the gigantic vernier like a piece of wadded up paper. He grumbles to himself, but he can't deal with that now--he has to fix the damage. Americon was hardly his favorite, anyway. As he lifts up Darkgun's lifeless body, which is missing most of his head, Soundwave calls back to Blaster over his shoulder, "We were at the point where I secured victory for the Decepticons and sent the Autobots back to their city in shame yet again." Flinging Darkgun to the side, Soundwave reaches into the hole that Blaster made in the panel, stripping wires and reconnecting them. Meanwhile, the countdown starts to act a little... odd. "Ignition in five astroseconds. Seven million solar cycles. Two breems. One tzarn." That last one wasn't even a real Transformer time unit! Cutthroat comes flying in. He immediately flocks to Sinnertwin's aid, because terrorcon's are cheap like that. "Hey Focus. You're out of focus. Har har har" he cackles as he lets the flame breath rip. "Eat Slag Autobot! Nyea!" Cutthroat misses Focus with its fire attack. Nightbeat had started to get up, but all that really did was make him that much juicier a target. The harsh glow of headlights wash over his form and his optics go wide "...uh oh..." *WHUMP* he's slammed into, rolling over the car and slamming to the ground dazed, his rifle skidding across the ground a few meters away as he stares up at the night sky, "Preeeetttyyyy..." he moans before rolling to his knee's once more, diving a short distance for the rifle and bringing it around, sighting through the scope on Dead End's backside and pulling the trigger - unfortunately, the charge hadn't finished refilling, so it's only a partial shot. Nightbeat strikes Dead End with Plasma Sniper Rifle - Half. Insult to injury is the pink claws that hold Defcon at bay while Scourge liberally pours salt on an open wound by way of shoving his knee into Defcon's ravaged abdomen. The hunter lurches forward in pain, blue eyes glowing fiercely as Scourge continues to boast. "Do... you... EVER... shut UP?" At this, Defcon RIPS forward at full speed, intent on SLAMMING his hands into Scourge's abdomen, lifting the Sweep off the ground. If he succeeds, the two of them will go for a long ride -- as Defcon has every intention of driving the Sweep leader straight into the side of the massive vernier he's constructing with crushing force. "HNG!" Defcon strikes Scourge with ::Gigaton Blow::. Focus grimaces seeing Sinner turn and launch snapping jowels at him. Focus does the only thing he can do, he grabs them holding them back. But, Focus picks up movement above him. Letting go, he pushes off the ground into a large backflip letting Cutthroat's fire drench the ground in front of Sinnertwin. In mid flip, he launches out senveral throwing kunai blades upwards towards the general area of the flying terrorcon before hitting the ground and skidding back a few feet on one knee. Focus strikes Cutthroat with kunai blades. Grimlock pierces through a gray Floridian cloud, fists outstretched in front of him. "Me Grimlock know Florida traditional battleground state, but this ridiculous!" He observes to Snarl, banking and dipping down lower to the fracas below. "DINOBOTS! ATTACK!!!" Blaster knows Soundwave's hypersensitive hearing, and Blaster activates some smaller auxiliary speakers in his chest and arms along with the main speakers in his legs, giving him full surround sound capability. He uses this to throw his voice, so that it sounds like he's still back in his original position, all the while he carefully sneaks up behind Soundwave, one hand held out in front of him. "Soundwave, one thing I don't know...what the heck made you create that Americon guy in the first place? I thought you Decepticons were more Eastern Bloc." A shimmering energy field crackles into existance around the fist, shaped vaguely like a huge, clawed hand. As soon as he's close enough, he sucker punches Soundwave in the back! Blaster strikes Soundwave with powerfist. Snarl flies a little bit behind Grimlock, his sword held out infront of him as he just tears up...for a dino...the sky. "Me Snarl teach dem cons! ME SNARL SMOOSH DEM CONS!!!" He roars, and slams into the ground. He then lets out a bellow, as he slowly begins to plod his way towards the battlefield. "Dem 'Cawns noting to us Dinobots." "I do so understand sarcasm! And that wasn't it!" Slingshot misjudged, how close he was to the flames of fireness. "Uh. Light up the-- ow. You're really bad at puns, you know." Almost as bad as he is at hurting the arialbot, who isn't white at this point, but a light black. This is his smoking coat, apparently. "Hey Boremonger, let's put a jolt in your step." And zip. It's a gun, isn't it? Sparkle sparkle. Slingshot strikes Warmonger with Sparkle and Shine. Defcon rockets forward and takes Scourge with him, turning the two robots into a missile pointed right at the side of his massive Ultra Mega Vernier. Unfortunately, he doesn't break through and die -- instead, he slams into it with a loud KWUNG sound, before trying to separate Defcon from him with a brief but potent fireball pointed toward the bounty hunter's face. "Spare me your critiques," he moans wearily as he tries to break free. Meanwhile, as Soundwave yells that something's going wrong, Scourge turns back toward the Ultra Mega Vernier -- using his super-speed to swoop away from Defcon and to Soundwave's panel. "...Soundwave, you FOOL!" he screams, even as the Deceptiwalkman is occupied with Blaster. "If this detonates prematurely, it will KILL US ALL -- and then we will be of NO use to Lord Galvatron! FIX IT!" he bellows. Turning toward the battle, he screams in a voice that resounds throughout the chaos, "TERRORCONS! MERGE TO FORM /ABOMINUS/ -- AND DEAL WITH THESE /AUTOBOT PESTS/!" Scourge misses Defcon with its Fire attack. Dead End cuts his wheels to the left for several seconds before quickly turning in the other direction to face Nightbeat. He transforms again as he comes to a stop, weapon held at the ready, before he aims and fires at Nightbeat in one fast movement. The sound of the weapon's release is louder now, as if the weapon was getting more powerful with each shot, but his stationary position leaves him vunerable to Nightbeat's shot which knocks off a chunk of his shoulder armor. He is knocked backward but then stands up and rapidly makes his way toward Nightbeat at a fast pace. Dead End strikes Nightbeat with Bigger Gail. Roaring. Not like that of a silly little dinosaur (:P), but more akin to the releasing of stored anger from millenia of turmoil and war - anguish left from the desire to almost constantly wreck havoc. What once was a dot in the far horizon grows closer and the immenent feeling of danger increases with each passing moment. Eventually that dot comes to a halt in the sky several hundred feet above the ground. The thrusters in the robots feet are cut and he plummets to the ground below - a clearing in the parking lot just outside of the powr plant. Landing feet first with a *crash* he causes a small tremor on the ground around him sending a plume of dust to rise, and inevitabely causing the ground to swell up around him. Immediately he yells out to the sky above, as he surveys the area around room looking for his gruesome underlings. He roars out in defiance once more, and wonders if there will be anyone to stop him.. to stop the mighty Khan - Hun-Grrr. He spots also another gruesome robot, not unlike himself - but one that may even be more maniacal then he. A scream is heard above the roar of battle.. an order to merge.. and to KILL! Turning to look at each of his loyal underlings he nods, and raises his own voice once more in a Terror filled cry. "Terrorcons, you have heard what is desired! More Autobot vermin desire to meet their demise by our might. Merge.. Merge to form.." "ABOMINUS!!!" With a shudder of metal, the Terrorcons undergo a stunning transformation and combine into the mighty form of Abominus! Abominus has arrived. "Soundwave, you fool!" Scrapper exclaims as the Cassetticon Commander begins messing around with the panels. "if this det... on..." The Constructicon glances at Scourge, having had his entire speech /ruined/ now. "Well you get the idea..." he mutters. The lime green one watches as the Terrorcons make their entrance, forming the mighty Abominus. "Ha ha ha, nothing can stop us now!" He cheers. He's about as happy as a guy can be given he has a hole in his chest and a dented faceplate. It has not quite occured to Scrapper that Abominus might not be the best guy to have around such a delicate doomsday weapon. Soundwave continues to fiddle with the control console, unaware of Blaster's advance. Yes, even Soundwave can be fooled by such tricks now and then. So Soundwave continues to work. He doesn't say why he built Americon, but he remembers that night as if it were yesterday.... FLASHBACK "Come on, Soundwave," the still living Darkgun says with a grin, holding up a suspicious green cube. "This new enercube will BLOW YOUR MIND." "I do not normally drink recreationally," Soundwave replies, peering at the cube. But the other Decepticons in the Shark's Rib won't let him off so easily. "Drink! Drink! Drink!" they chant. Giving in to peer pressure, Soundwave remembers taking the cube, lifting it up to his faceplate--then several hours later, he had apparently constructed Americon! END FLASHBACK "As you command, Scourg--" CRUNCH! Soundwave is smashed into the console, causing even more damage than had been to it before. "Arrraaargh! I am done with you, Blaster!" Ripping himself out of the console, Soundwave materializes his deadly Close Combat Resonating Weapon--a deadly tuning fork like device, and swings it at Blaster! Soundwave strikes Blaster with Close Combat Resonating Weapon. "GGKZDZ!" Warmonger replies, articulately, as electricity courses over his body. Smoking and sparking but still on the ball, Warmonger shakes it off and comes back for more. "Your amusement factor begins to wear THIN, Aerialbot," Warmonger growls, pulling up and transforming as he does so. Coming out of his loop-de-loop as a pyramid jet, Warmonger opens fire once again. The barrel of his high-bore laser pokes out of the pyramid jet's cockpit, lights running only half-way up the barrel this time. "But you will not be around for much longer, for I, WARMONGER, shall disp-- ah! Abominus has arrived!" The pyramid jet does a little barrel roll of joy. "Now you see the true extent of my tactical brilliance, Aerialbot. You have been distracted just long enough to meet your doom at the hands of our most deadly warrior. BUT FIRST!" First: Bzark. Warmonger misses Slingshot with his High Bore Laser (Low) attack. Meanwhile, a happy face appears on the vernier control screen. "hEllO." What the? Up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a Superman! No! It's a plane! Wait... Why is that plane, an F-14 Tomcat, flying so erratically? For that matter, why is it suddenly descending toward Snarl in an uncontrolled flat spin? Why? Because it's Breakneck! "YEEEEEEEEHHHHHAAAAWWWWWWWW!" he screams from his cockpit speaker as he continues to fall toward the ground, and Snarl, spinning like a top as he descends. He suddenly hits his guns which spray out bullets everywhere. Unfortunately for Snarl he's right nearby as Breakneck regains control, pulls out of the spin and keeps firing his guns. The strafing motion goes right toward the Dinobot. "OH SH..." Breakneck mouths as he realizes just who he shot. Breakneck strikes Snarl with Arm-Rifles. Nightbeat watches Dead End approach, grimacing slightly as he jumps forward, transforming in the process. He doesn't have any fancy shmancy ramming field or whatever it is the Stunticon's have, but he's quick and agile in this mode - being the FINEST Porsche ever built - and he uses that to his advantage, cutting off to the right and flooring his engine, intent on running wide circles around his opponent as the Autogun Turret unpacks from his roof, turning to target Dead End and opening fire, heavy calibre bullets spraying the area, and probably ripping the scenery up a bit in the process. The arrival of the big nasty is not missed, and now Nightbeat is feeling a pressing need to -hurry- "This is bad... that big oaf could shatter the shielding on the core... this needs to be stopped." he states grimly in exposition for the audience. Nightbeat strikes Dead End with Heavy Autogun Turret. Blaster winces out of habit as Soundwave hits him with the tuning-fork like weapon, but the impact wasn't that hard, and for a second nothing happens. Blaster's optic ridge goes up slightly in interest and he starts to grin. But then he starts to shudder again...this time it's much more violent than the earlier sonic attack (which Blaster had suffered through before and was actually a little familiar with). This time Blaster vibrates so hard, pieces of armor start falling - no, flying! off of him. He vibrates so hard he starts to move along the ground, without moving his legs, just like the tiny football player pieces in that old electronic NFL game. He vibrates so hard, he can't even manage a witty comeback other than "D-D-D-D-D!!". As Blaster vibrates away from Soundwave, he starts to turn around as well, completely out of control. Finally Blaster comes to a stop. He's covered with cracks and chips all over his frame, and cracks spiderweb across his crystalline chestplate. He turns to face Soundwave again. "Hmm...guess you win...that round, too." He falls over backwards and this time he doesn't get up. Snarl is suddenly pelted by a barrage of weapon fire, his outer torso merely getting dented from the small display of weaponry. "Who attack me Snarl!?" He roars out into the field. Of course, now there seems to be a Gestalt standing in their way. Though that's not what has Snarl's attention, his optics are locked onto Breakneck as he just erractically flies about. "Me Snarl smoosh him seeker-cawn!" Snarl proclaims to anyone near him. Snarl then transforms his body into his Stegosaurus mode, and thusly shakes his head. "Me Snarl shoot him Seeker-cawn down!" With that, you can see that Snarl's nostrils begin to light up. Oh no! It's his party trick ability, where he shoots lasers out of his nose! Quickly, the Dinobot unleashes the full might of his nose cannons! Snarl strikes Breakneck with Nostril flames!. Focus's mouth drops open seeing the towering form of the gestalt before him. Focus says, "Great Primus..." then crouches opening his palms up, one arm forward, one behind him. "...grant me the strength to harm this unholy beast. Or a quick and painless death if it is not my fate." He leaps at the leg of Abominus as his hand glows a bright purple. With an open palm, he jabs forward aiming for an ankle, the only thing he can reach without running up the monster's leg. Focus strikes you with Circuit-Su for 1 points of damage. Grimlock turns his black head over his shoulder to see Snarl get pegged, but he only snorts in response. "You Snarl be fine," he says, waving one hand dismissively. "Me Grimlock hungry for bigger kill!" He throws out one heavy gauntlet, his rocketlauncher summoning from subspace. He flies closer to Abominus, firing off a pair of rockets at his purple chest plate before arcing back up into the air. Grimlock strikes you with Galaxial Rocket for 14 points of damage. Seemingly completely unaware of the potential repercussions his slamming Scourge into the Ultra Mega Vernier could have had, Defcon is nonetheless deterred from further abuse on both Scourge AND said ultra hyper massive propulsion device by the sudden burst of flames that roar into existance in the space between himself and the Sweep leader. Detaching from Scourge instantly, the hunter reels -back-, narrowly evading the explusion of flames that -still- manage to melt the outer fringes of his armor. "Hmph." He's about to aim and fire when Scourge turns tail and rushes off in a blaze of speed... straight for Soundwave and his control panel. Blue eyes squinting, he can barely keep up the Scourge's movements, attempting to track him down only to meet the massive, looming shadow of Abominus. He stares. "... You're under arrest too." A pause. "Later." That said, Defcon returns his attention towards Scourge, head whipping about as his head_laser begins to glow with activity once more. "Stop running from me, Unicronian scrap! Face me like a man!" And that said, a concentrated beam of power cuts through the air, aimed for whatever bizarre thing it is that Scourge has mounted atop his own head. Defcon misses Scourge with his Frickin' Laser Beam ::Pew Pew:: attack. MiG-25 "Foxbat" fires his afterburners to streak away from Abominus, or at least, out of the blind flailing radius. He dives low and transforms, hitting the ground in his tank mode to select his targets. Fortunately for Breakneck, Slingshot is nowhere near Snarl! He's busy jumping up and avoiding being hit by Hot Laser Lovin'. "Now where are the guys when ya need 'em." One might hear Slingshot mutter as he flips into harrier mode to follow Warmonger. "Dude, you're not even that good a shot. I don't think you could hit the broadside of Broadside nine times out of ten. You couldn't take me down if you had Galvatron's guns and a scope." 'course that might be overestimating things a bit, but hey. Slingshot isn't known to underestimate... And that's some more of That heading Warmonger's way. Slingshot strikes Pyramid Jet Abominus forms up and rises high above the combat scene. "ABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMINUS SMAAAA-OOOOOOOF" he cries out as Grimlock slaps into his side. "TICKLES!" Abominus cries out and as he giggles he loses his foots in some drippy Blot slime. The enormous gestalt's arms pinwheel comically at his sides several time before he falls down, landing on many autobots and causing massive amounts of collateral damage. As he scrambles to get up his scrabbling arms unintentionally fling debris everywhere, and the carnage is EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEME! Abominus unleashes his ABOMINUSFALLDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWN! attack on Slingshot, Snarl, Blaster, Grimlock, Focus, Defcon and Nightbeat, striking Snarl, Blaster, Defcon, Grimlock and Nightbeat. Dead End also transforms as Nightbeat transforms and accelerates toward him. The Autogun punctures more holes around Dead End and in Dead End's hood and bodywork as he moves directly toward Nightbeat. The Autobot's vehicle mode might be newer and sleaker but Dead End does have an advantage in being extremely durable in the face of combat. He flicks on his high beams as he continues to close the distance on the Autobot investigator. Dead End strikes Nightbeat with Fender Smash. Nightbeat falls to the ground unconscious. As Abominus falls, the massive vernier shakes. "IMBECILES!" Scourge says, as he casually sidesteps the laser beam that Defcon fires. "SOUNDWAVE! SCRAPPER! SALVAGE THIS MESS OR I SHALL HOUND YOU ETERNALLY IN WHATEVER LIES BEYOND THIS LIFE!" With that, he leaps into the sky, transforming and making a beeline for Defcon, verniers flaring as he achieves maximum ramming velocity. Scourge strikes Defcon with Ram. Scrapper takes several steps back. There's not much else he can do here. Either Abominus kills everyone or Abominus doesn't kill everyone. Either the mega vernier works as intended or the world is destroyed in a fiery display of pain and destruction. Though... that's possible either way. The Constructicon hesitates at Scourge's order. "We're working as hard as we can, Lord Scourge!" Scrapper shouts. Oh oh, Abominus has fallen, Scourge is pissed, and the vernier probably isn't going to work anymore! "I knew I should have sent Scavenger in my place," he mutters to himself. The bullets rip through more of Warmonger's armor, and he's looking decidedly worse for wear. Transforming back to robot mode, he glowers at Slingshot. And then... turns away? The Decepticon Jet shakes his head. "You are no longer worthy of my attention, Aerialbot. Go back to playing with the other imbeciles. I, WARMONGER, have larger game to hunt!" And, unslinging his High-Bore Laser, he flies off towards said game. That game being Grimlock. "GRIMLOCK! I, WARMONGER, shall DEFEAT you in the name of the GLORIOUS DECEPTICON EMPIRE!" The rifle powers up, whining as it goes, then fires a bolt of amber light at the larger, stronger, tougher and obviously smarter Dinobot commander. "WARRRRRRMONNNGGGERRRRRRRR!" Without any fancy shenanigans, Warmonger transforms into Robot mode. Warmonger strikes Grimlock with High-Bore Laser. T-72 MBT cackles to himself as he crests a rise and surveys the battlefield with his turret, drawing a bead on the infamous bounty hunter, Defcon. "That Defcon thinks he's so hot. He's gonna be sorry he messed with Blitzwing. And, uh, Abominus..." he adds, as Abominus falls on Defcon. "And I guess Scourge..." he adds again as Scourge smashes into Defcon. "...but mainly Blitzwing." Blitzwing strikes Defcon with 125mm Smoothbore. Soundwave has his concussion rifle leveled at Blaster's head, ready to finish the job... when he overhears the computer say, "hEllO." Slowwwwly turning around, Soundwave peers at the screen... and is mortified to discover a smiling face on it. "What? How has this happened?" he asks of no one, stepping up to the console. "I aM VeRNiEr CONtrOl ModUle. PlEASed To MeEt yoU," the computer replies. Oh. Primus. "Lord Scourge, I--" Soundwave begins. "I-- will... I will repair the damage! As you command!" And so, he stoops over the console, reattaching what remaining wires and bits of circuitry remain... but meanwhile, the virtual face takes on an agonized look as it shrieks in agony! Scrapper glances at Soundwave. "Don't just stand there! Tell it to do something!" Is Scrapper surprised by this face that's appeared on the screen? Impossible to tell. Breakneck knew full well he was in for a world of pain when he realized he shot a Dinobot. When Snarl blasts out fire from his -nose- though it takes on a whole new meaning. The F-14 Tomcat catches on fire as he pulls up into the air, his wings, nosecone, underbelly are all awash with flames. "ARGH! SOMEONE HELP! SNARL'S BUGGERS HAVE LIT ME ON FIRE! ARGGGGGGGHHHH!!!" Breakneck calls out from his cockpit speakers. His flying looks like he's never been through Basic Flight in Decepticon Boot Camp as he erratically zips this way and that way. Then an idea occurs to him! Breakneck pulls a hard right, his wings shift to their swept-back position as he divebombs right for Snarl, "Flinging your snot is nasty! What the hell do you Dinobots do in that kinky cave of yours?!" He's on a collision course! Breakneck strikes Snarl with ram. Focus brings a hand up in front of him with two fingers up as a form of focusing his skills and powers. Abominus may be down, but not out. Focus leaps up high hitting a flying chunk of debris and riding it for a few seconds before leaping off. He lands on a chunk of building crouching on the flying wall as it turns in the air. As he comes back around to point at the gestalt, he leaps off aiming for the head. Several shurikens fly out from his hand whipping out while he's in mid air. All aimed at the gestalt's head. Focus strikes you with shuriken blades for 1 points of damage. Grimlock is simply fell'd upon by Abominus. As such, Grimlock disappears for a little while, shoved into the fecund Floridian soil, birth-womb of so many delicious genetically engineered seedless oranges and other citrus products, though the observant will notice a trail of raised soil traveling across the battlefield. The observant, like, say, the seasoned optics of Decepticon Jet WARMONGER. "Owww!" Grimlock whines, his voice muffled underground as he gets shot in the back. Still, he continues to dig, finally launching into the air in dinosaur mode in a glorious spray of soil and rock. Somehow, the Dinobot leader timed his leap to coincide directly with Scourge's flightpath -- his jaws open wide, he attempts to catch the Unicronian hovercraft like a vernier-powered frisbee! Grimlock strikes Space-Faring Gravy Boat with Frisbee Catch. So. Loud. In fact, Scourge's obnoxious yelling is more than enough to provide an ample distraction for Defcon; he is -prepared- to deal with the Sweep commander... but that's when so much firepower and general pain and damage gets focused his way. First, the shockwaves that ripple outward from Abominus' fall knock Defcon through the air, where he is struck SOUNDLY by Scourge's sudden, ramming sweepcraft form. Mental bends from the high-speed impact that renders his frame so dangerously malleable. Flipping through the air, he is, at the same time, pepped by the turrets of Blitzwing's gone, the firepower denting his frame as he simultaneously begins to shift and transform. Before Defcon's body can strike the ground, the damaged, crackling form of his starfighter mode sweeps through the air, blazing upwards. "... guh! Next time. All of you --" interference bringing too much damage to the bounty hunter's body, he begins to peel upwards into the sky, making a beeline straight out of the plant. <> Collapsing in on himself, Defcon transforms into a sleek starfighter. Defcon begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Spacefaring Gravy Boat . Snarl is not having a good day, first he's pelted with bullets, then he's smashed by a Gestalt, and now that same jet is ramming into him! Though the jet does very little damamge, almost like a human running into a brick wall. "Me Snarl have nuff of dis!" He roars, and begins to stomp and swing his tail about. "Me Snarl kill all 'Cawns. Smash dem to pieces!!!" He bellows as he rampages about, slamming his feet and head all about, trying to hit all the Decepticons that may be near him. The Dinobot's optics are blazing with hatred, as he carries out his vicious assault. Snarl strikes you with Area_melee for 8 points of damage. Snarl unleashes its Area_melee attack on Scrapper, Abominus and Breakneck, striking Scrapper, Breakneck and Abominus. Nightbeat's assault is for naught, his tires squeal as Dead End closes - the assault by the tremendous oaf of a gestalt making it essentially impossible for him to maneuver right as his suspension is shredded. The inferior Porsche suddenly has the upper hand, and his maneuverability is shot! Nightbeat tries to cut out of the way, but the road warrior is too quick and he catches him square in a T-bone as the 959 is skidding sideways, foiled by a patch of dirt on the roadway that was kicked up by the compressed air gun. There's a sickening *CRUNCH* of metal and glass as the frame of the Detective snaps partially, bending to either side around Dead End before the momentum spins the car away where it slams up against a tree, roof first, one wheel spinning and wobbling badly as another falls off and rolls away. The Detective - it seems - is down for the count. Uh. Wow. The seeker /turned away/ from Slingshot. And Defcon is retreating. Is now the time to play hero, with the big boy thrashing on the ground? Not when there are two dinobots to take care of the heavier work. Let them play with Abominus. Slingshot can do something better. Like....? <> Slingshot calls after the silly Warmonger. But what else can he do? Just--- shoot at him. Guess he's good for that... Slingshot strikes Warmonger with gauss. Breakneck in his jet form can't speed away from Snarl after ramming into him at full speed. The Dinobot's thrashing about impales his right wing with the spikes on his tail. Breakneck is tossed about like a ragdoll this way and that before he finally flips off the spike and is thrown to the ground. The jet just lays on the ground for a moment, upside down, dazed and confused as to what just happened. Breakneck finally snaps out of it though and transforms, "Great Cybertron's Ghost! You rocked my world and gave me one hell of a ride! I feel I should pay you for the ride, baby, how's 300 creds sound?" Breakneck winks with that wide lecherous smile of his before he leaps into the air. Breakneck aims to come down atop Snarl and ride him! "Giddy up! I want another 300 creds worth! Rock my world and show me the stars!" Of course Breakneck points his plasma rifle down at Snarl's head. He knows how to turn the ladies on... pain and a chance to hit him! Oh, did Breakneck forget to mention? His rifle's full of paintballs! Acid paintballs in horrible Generation 2 Transformer colors! This one is Fuscia with Puke Green Pokadots! Breakneck strikes Snarl with G2 Acid Paintball. Dead End stalls as he collides with Nightbeat, continuing on pure interia, before coming to a stop as Nightbeat spins away from him. The Stunticon isn't looking too good himself...his front either dented and his bodywork variously riddled with bullets. His engine slowly starts up before he turns around and peels away from the place less Abominus step on him. Soundwave facepalms as people start shouting at him and the computer begins to go berserk. What had started out as a bad idea has degrading into an all-out, unmitigated catastrophe. "SILENCE, SCRAPPER!" Soundwave snaps. "But very well, I will ask it to perform its function. Vernier control module! Activate the vernier! Now!" But the face on the screen has turned into a snarling, bitter visage, indeed. "yOu trIEd to KilL mE. THaT wasN't VeRy NiCE. DEstroYiNG the EaRTh wItH veRniEr ovErLOAd in 10 astRoSECOnds. GooD NiGHt." Furious, Soundwave kicks what's left of the console, causing it to wail in pain. "No, do not do that! Override! OVERRIDE!" As Scourge is shaken in Grimlock's jaws, mechatyrannosaur teeth tearing into soapdish hull, Scourge lets out a faceless bellow of pain. His turret rises as his bearded face is exposed -- "Unhand me, you careless buffoon! And learn that so long as Scourge, the appointed hunter of Galvatron, lives... NO ONE IS SAFE --" To underscore this, Scourge lets loose a powerful disintegrator blast at the fleeing Defcon -- /while being shaken by Grimlock/. "--AND ESCAPE IS IMPOSSIBLE!" Scourge strikes Cybertronian Starfighter with Disintegrator Cannon Scrapper had been perfectly content to rest and work on fixing this vernier. "Wait, hold on Soundwave," he says, kneeling in front of one of the panels. He fiddles with the wires. "I think I've got it... I've almost got it... almost... almost..." in all of Scrapper's excitement, he fails to notice the raging stega-dinobot raging against everyone he can reach for. An errant leg crashes into both Scrapper and the panel he was working on. Numerous wires rip apart. "No!" the Constructicon shouts in horror. "We were so close!" Furious at the Dinobot's actions, Scrapper jumps to his feet and begins backpedalling, he fires numerous laser blasts at Snarl, trying to bring the behemoth Autobot warrior down. Scrapper strikes Snarl with Laser Pistol - Maximum Setting. "NNNYYYUUURRRGGGHHH!!!! RRRRaaaaaGGHHHH!!!" The screams of the Autobots as Abominus FALLS upon them, or flails at them mightily are sweet music to the immense gestalt's audio receivers. The helpless cry out for help, the weak crawl to the strong to get away. But there is no help. There are no strong this day - other than the mighty Terror combiner. All who face the horrible gestalt shall fall before it's grotesque power. "ABOMMMNUSSSS... DDDEESSTRROOY!!!" Two particular opponents have caught the attention of the slime leaking.. gruesome getalt. And it is to these combatants that Abominus now turns.. particulary to the ne that so dared as to try and confront the mighty gestalt. The purple and other multi-colored gestalt stomps across the ground shaking the very fabric of the earth as he goes. "ABBOMMNUSSS... SMASH!!!" he roars out as he clenches his fists together and swings them down at his foes. You strike Grimlock with How the Gods Kill. "Excellent," Warmonger croaks, heavily damaged thanks to the fact that he thinks dodging is for girls. "I, WARMONGER, have served the Empire to the best of my abilities!" he exclaims, as the barrel of his high-bore laser trails smoke into the atmosphere. "But now it is time to return to base. It would be impractical to allow my systems to sustain any more damage." That said, he transforms into his Pyramid Jet mode, aims towards the sky and activates his powerful thrusters, jetting away towards sweet, sweet recuperation. Warmonger begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from AV-8B Harrier II , Cybertronian Starfighter , Spacefaring Gravy Boat . T-72 MBT's roof-mounted machinegun comes to life as Warmonger makes his escape. "Rope him over this way!" he calls to Warmonger, firing on Slingshot with his AA gun. Blitzwing strikes AV-8B Harrier II with 12.7mm AA Machinegun. Nightbeat's hood pops open spontaneously, steam and bits of engine rattling out of it as the wreck settles against the tree, the wobbly wheel soon joining the other on the ground. Roadkill - get some! Snarl has been blinded! The acid pellet not doing much damage, but coating his optics with a viscous liquid. "ME SNARL CAN'T SEE!!!" He bellows out, and begins to just stumble about without control. His daze causing him to wander for no particular reason. "Me Snarl have idea!" Curse those Constructicons and their honorless ways. Snarl is pegged right in the side by the laser shot. His body almost turning over from the force of the unseen blow. He then notes, and thusly transforms into his robot mode. "Hur hur! Me Snarl see again!" He proclaims and then looks down at the seeker. "Me Snarl show him Scorch how to sweep...with Seeker-cawn!" His twin gargantuan hands reach down, and just pluck up the tiny seeker. "Me Snarl use you to Sweep him Abo-min-us!" Rearing the seeker back, Snarl uses Breakneck like a club, and slams it into the side of the Gestalt's leg. Snarl strikes you with Breakneck clubbing! for 6 points of damage. See, that's the problem when you're overcompensating for something. Sometimes you get yourself into trouble. Like what Slingshot is buying himself right now by taking that parting shot on Warmonger--*PING* Wwhich means he brought himself into range of Blitzwing's guns just a little more-- Crap. He's in over his head, isn't he? <> Where is Superion when he's needed to spank Abominus? Focus sees that his blades are having no effect. Most of his attacks for that matter. As he lands next to the gestalt's foot, he transforms and blasts off away from the gestalt as fast as he can. He needs to find a new dance partner. He's not much better with Scourge, but at least it keeps the heat off of Grimlock. He transforms skidding to a halt before snapping a palm out to Scourge's hull before he's left go of by Grimlock. "Grimlock...take care of the gestalt. You are skilled, but not enough to handle him and the gestalt." he states calmly. "Scourge, it is Primus that says we must love all cybertronians. However, since you are unicronain, you do not count..." Yeah, the taunt sucked but it's all Focus has. Focus strikes Spacefaring Gravy Boat with Circuit-Su . With a crackling -BOOM- of impact, Defcon is struck by the full might of Scourge's cannon, his rear thrusters heavily damaged and going offline. "Wh--?!" He manages as he finds himself slowly but surely beginning a descent, though fortunately well out of the range of the power plant. He goes flying, further and further, until he strikes ground with a deafening BOOM of impact, churning up dirt and debris in a long, massive furrow before ultimately coming to a stop. "... Damn verniers." Sputter. Blaster climbs to his feet with a groan, pieces of armor still falling off of him. He takes a second to look over the situation. Abominus. Massive melee. Vernier looking worse than ever. Insane computer threatening to destroy the Earth. Wait a second...Insane computer threatening to destroy the Earth? That's new. "Oh slag..." Blaster runs over to the controls. "Soundwave, you got no style, no charm. You gotta know how to talk to these things!" He shoulders his Decepticon counterpart out of the way. "Here, let me!" Blaster then turns and addresses the computer, and says in his most silky smooth voice, "C'mon now baby, don't go destroyin' the Earth. That's not like at all...I know it's been rough for you, but things are gonna get better. Just you wait and see..." Scrapper smiles somewhere behind his faceplate. Despite all the bad things that have happened here tonight (ie, everything), at least he can count on having an Autobot go after the guy next to him rather than him. The Constructicon enjoys it when powerful mechs like Snarl don't attack him. Drawing back even further to ensure he's somewhat safe from melee attacks, Scrapper continues to pepper Snarl with laser bolts. The shots are weaker this time as the fuel cells deplete, and this is unfortunately preventing Scrapper from working on the super-mega vernier. With a loud clanging and clunking Blitzwing rearranges himself into his imposing humanoid form. Scrapper strikes Snarl with Laser Pistol - Low Setting. Blitzwing reveals his true form, unfolding into a crouching posture from which he leaps into the air, rocketing up on boot-jet afterburners! "C'mere, you!" Blitzwing strikes AV-8B Harrier II with Literal Flying Tackle. Blitzwing intercepts and crashes into Slingshot bodily, seizing him around the fuselage in his arms. "That's what we call the good ol' Rope-a-Dope!" Soundwave is sorely tempted to punch Blaster in the head again, but instead, he stops and stares at Blaster as he works his magic. "HI tHERe. yOu ArE a nIce guY. DO YOu waNT SoMe CaKE?" The face is happy again at least. "What are you doing?" Soundwave says. "It is just a lifeless machine, a series of lines of code! You cannot reason with it--it must be repaired, and the aberration corrected." "NNNYYYAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!! NNNYYYUUURRRGGGHH!!!! AABBBOOMMMNUSSS... ZZMMAAASSSHH!!! The titanic monstrousity continues along his ramage wrecking destruction with every step, with every punch.. and with every gurgled out sound that is him trying to form a coherent verb. The gigantic gestalt cares nothing for whatever mission his fellow 'Cons might be on. All it wants to do is destroy! To wreck havoc upon those that stand before him, and devour their life essences (energon) to fuel his own consumption needs and twisted goals. The fact that Snarl used one of his fellow 'Cons as a bat means nothing to the rampaging combiner, but he does have his focus on who he wants to flatten next. He swings his mighty arm downward, fist clenched aiming for his next victim. "AAABBOOMMMNUS... BBRREEAAK!!" You strike Snarl with Heaven's Hammer. "Ride 'em Cowboy!" Breakneck begins to call out as Snarl begins to thrash about uncontrollably! He grabs hold of one of the back spikes to keep himself from being thrown off as he enjoys the ride. But the ride is shortlived as Snarl transforms, throwing Breakneck to the ground. Breakneck glances up just as Snarl reaches down, "Wait, no! No! I don't swing that way, babe! No Prison Shower room scenes for me! Go away!" Breakneck begins to thrash wildly in Snarl's hands when he's swung at Abominus! There's a resounding 'GONG!' sound as Breakneck is used as a blunt weapon before Breakneck falls to the ground dazed. Gestalts are friggin' hard! Breakneck decides to put some space between himself and Snarl, twisting around into his F-14 Tomcat mode and speeding off. He takes a few blasts at Snarl to complete the paintjob across the rest of his body! Breakneck strikes Snarl with Paintball Artillery. As Scourge's airskiff mode is tagged by Focus, the Decepticon leader's rage increases, fueled further by the fact that his ropey plan is unraveling to a threadbare state. "I am rapidly losing my /patience/," he growls as he transforms into his robot form, sparking and dented in a few spots, scrapes on his paintjob and punctures in his wings. "Autobot, flee or die." He withdraws his actual gun -- not his headcannon, for once! -- from subspace and fires a few nasty shells. Scourge strikes Focus with ballistic. Focus snaps out his other hand deflecting one shot with a shimmer of purple energy. The shell explodes in front of him kicking up all forms of interfearence with even Focus's senses. Another round explodes in his shoulder rocking him back, then another one nails his midsection kicking him off his feet. Focus grunts and sparks but curls in the fall so he rolls backward and to his knees. "A free being has many choices Sweep. Some are harder than others." he says while rushing forward. He snaps a pointed foot forward in a roundhouse kick. Focus misses Scourge with his Crystalocution attack. Snarl is pounded from every direction, Scrapper's blast does little more than leave a singe mark on the Dinobot's shoulder. Though, Abominus literally -smashes- Snarl into the ground. "AARRRGGGGGG!!!!" He roars, and is just imprinted in the soil. Not only does this look humiliating, but it leaves the Dinobot open for an attack from Breakneck. The blast just tearing into his backside now. Slowly, Snarl is able to raise himself up. "ME SNARL MAD!!! ME SNARL CRUSH HIM ABOMINUS!!!!" With that, Snarl returns to his Dino mode. His tail just slams into the ground, leaving a deep impression where it hit. "Me Snarl send him Abo-min-us flying!!!" Swinging his tail with all he can muster, he tries to actually trip up the Gestalt, maybe even causing him to fall back and onto any allies. Snarl strikes you with crush for 14 points of damage. Idiot. Gave into temptation. Got too close. This Dope's been Roped indeed. Slingshot's systems are not liking the extra weight, or the stranglehold on his fusillage. <> The protest is squawked, the harrier whirls, and goes into some fancy flying-- Slingshot is either trying to shake Blitzwing loose by giving him a rough ride, or he's looking for some way to scrape him off. Preferably the latter. Oops. There's the ground. <> Scrapper nods his approval as Breakneck and Abominus help him against Snarl. Not even a Dinobot can stand up to that sort of punishment for long. But then, seemingly without warning, a piece of the mega vernier crashes to the ground right in front of Scrapper, having been ripped off by the Terrorcons' rampage. "Gah!" the engineer exclaims, jolting back. Another section is torn loose and falls, and Scrapper finds himself having to run around to avoid the raining debris from the vernier. This is made worse by Snarl smashing the ground and sending tremors throughout the area. All that work down the drain, Scrapper laments. Abominus roars up as snarl strikes him, "ABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" he yells, throwing his blot arm high above his head, "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" Suddenly the blot arm seems to twist, the hand becoming one gigantic pulsating digit, this phallus is thrust so high it SPLITS THE CLOUD! DYNAMIC DRAMATIC EFFECT "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" The sky seems to darken and the hand begins to glow with radioactive green light, "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII" Suddenly the finger is ignited in a glowing white halo that looks like a GOD DAMN RELIGIOUS ICON! "NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUS!" And he thrusts the finger into Snarl. You strike Snarl with SHININGFINGER. "What's that you said?" asks Blitzwing, cupping a hand to one ear as he hangs onto Slingshot's wing with the other. "Seekerbots ain't got no sauce? Why, I concur, my good man!" His free hand cocks back as he attempts to punch his way into the cockpit through the canopy glass. Blitzwing strikes AV-8B Harrier II with In Case of Emergency, Break Glass. The Computer sagely advises Blaster, "YoU CanNot hAvE yoUr cAKe uNTIL it Is BaKED." Then, the vernier, damaged as it is, begins to hum loudly as the engines are slowly brought on line! "Fool, I should not have let you interfere with my efforts!" Soundwave emits as he begins to run AWAY from the gigantic thruster-like... thing. Blitzwing strikes AV-8B Harrier II with In Case of Emergency, Break Glass. Scourge avoids the blow swiftly, and as he does so, he continues to call over, "SOUNDWAVE, PROGRESS REP-- SOUNDWAVE! HOW /DARE/ YOU /RUN AWAY FROM ME/! I WILL HUNT YOU LIKE A BGTZLIAN AQUADOG FOR THIS INSULT!" He takes a half-hearted, closed-fisted swing at Focus, his attention split. Scourge misses Focus with its Punch attack. Breakneck does a little mental cheer as Snarl decides to pay attention to the bigger threat of the gestalt. The F-14 Tomcat pulls away and flies high. Breakneck almost forgets there's a battle going on when he hears Soundwave screaming about some vernier exploding. He privately wonders if Scourge just blew up. He swoops down to investigate, firing some paintballs at Snarl as he descends. "Snot return imminent!" Breakneck strikes Snarl with Paint Snotball. As per radio orders, Warmonger flies back towards the giant vernier, despite the fact that he's beat to hell and the giant vernier is probably going to explode soon. Swooping inside, he begins trying to brace the machinery. "I, WARMONGER, will not fail the MIGHTY DECEPTICON EMPIRE! HAIL SCOURGE! HAIL GALVATRON!" He grunts and strains, pushing against a vibrating c-beam. "FLEE if you MUST, Soundwave. But I, WARMONGER, am a TRUE Decepticon!" "HAIL GALVATRON!" Scourge echoes, even as the Ultra Mega Vernier clearly looks like it's, uh, really, really, really unstable. Focus bends his wrist and snaps the hand up blocking the punch easily. Almost like he was sparing with Scourge. Focus dips and notices the Ultra Mega thingy doing very bad things in the IR and UV spectrums. Not even counting the vibrations coming from it, it's humming like a bomb. Instead of sweeping the sweep though, he transforms and lifts off the ground burning asphalt. Focus begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from F-14 Tomcat , Pyramid Jet , Cybertronian Starfighter , Scourge. Snarl does not retreat so easily. "Me Snarl now...." He stops as Abominus charges up. "Oooh pretty light..." He says, and then the Dinobot is struck with the deadly attack. "RRRRAAAGGHHH!!!" He roars, as he's sent flying back and into the ground again. "Me Snarl no like dem shiny attacks." Though, he then feels another ping against his armor. "Dat's it, me Snarl have enough of you!" He says, and aiming his tail, he launches a rocket right at Breakneck. Snarl strikes F-14 Tomcat with rocket. Shattered glass. Shattered metal. And one harrier jet that is trying to get out of a tailspin with an unbalanced weight on his back. He's gonna die here, isn't he? Desperate moves. A stop in mid-air to try and throw the clinging Blitzwing off. <> Scrapper abruptly breaks into a run away from the super mega vernier even as debris falls around him in chunks. The Constructicon is sprinting, and quickly takes to the skies at the first chance he gets. "Save yourselves!" he shouts to the other Decepticons. His radio, having suddenly suffered a malfunction, fails to give him any transmissions after Soundwave announces that an explosion is imminent. Scrapper begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Abominus, F-14 Tomcat , Grimlock, Blitzwing, Soundwave, Cybertronian Hovercar, Blaster, Warmonger, AV-8B Harrier II , Cybertronian Starfighter , Scourge. Soundwave flies up into the air, shouting back at Scourge, "I cannot remain any longer! The drives are going to overload!" Soon, he becomes but a speck in the sky. And as he flies away, the control computer begins to... sing. I feel fantastic and I'm still alive. While you're dying I'll be still alive. And when you're dead I will be still alive. Blitzwing reluctantly lets go of poor Slingshot. "If that giant vernier wasn't about to bake us all, man, you'd be in so much trouble!" Blitzwing begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Cybertronian Starfighter . MiG-25 "Foxbat" falls away, transforming, and lays on the afterburners, soaring up and away from the inevitable explosion. "COWARDS!" Scourge screams, firing wildly into the air. "MUTINOUS COWARDS!" His rage focuses on any Autobots still in range, resulting in a blast heading Slingshot's way! Scourge strikes AV-8B Harrier II with Angry Headcannon: o|>:(> Planes plus rockets equal very bad things for the plane usually. Amazingly Breakneck does not just explode into tiny Decepticon pieces when the rocket hits. But there's a ton of his armor sheered off from the explosion. His nosecone breaks in half, peeling backwards, his cockpit glass explodes into tiny fragments, and a good chunk of his right wing is pulled off by the explosion. The downside to Snarl shooting a rocket at Breakneck? Breakneck can't stop his descent toward the Dinobot now... Breakneck strikes Snarl with ram. And within the vernier, nearly 3000 tons of napalm has collected, the result of Soundwave's botched plan to fool Scourge into thinking he had built a real vernier. Once the ion drives come online, the air is filled with a powerful electrical charge--which ignites the napalm explosively! "Still alive Still alive" KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM! The vernier explodes with tremendous force, spraying super-heated gel in every direction! And a lone speck flies out of the vernier... "My aft is on FIRE... in AMERICA!" Scrapper glances over his shoulder as the vernier explodes. "You know what the worst thing is?" he calls out to the similarly retreating Blitzwing. "*I'm* going to have to be the one to repair all those morons. I ask you, is that justice? Is it? Is it? What a load of slag." "RRRRAAAARRRGGGGHH!!!!! NUUUUUURRGGGG!!!!!" And other gutteral, uncoherent noises espace the mouth of the monstrous gestalt. He stomps the ground, smashing down poles, wires.. cars.. anything that is in his path. He hears the radio communications, but he is too dumb to understand and process what they mean. Abominus continues on his rampage destroying all he surveys.. and all that he comes into contact with. He's on a mad rampage.. and *everyone* around is vulnerable to his unpredictable slaughterings.. even himself! Abominus strikes you with ABOMINUSFALLDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWN! for 5 points of damage. Abominus unleashes his ABOMINUSFALLDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWN! attack on Soundwave, Scrapper, Slingshot, Snarl, Scourge, Warmonger, Breakneck, Abominus and Blaster, striking Snarl, Blaster, Soundwave, Breakneck, Abominus and Warmonger. Snarl is struck again by the falling jet, this time it actually pierces his armored hide. "Hur hur hur, jet can't even stay in air." Though, karma rears it's ugly head, and Abominus literally backhands the Dino onto his side. "Me Snarl sick tired of dis stupid slag!" Before he is able to get back up...SNARL IS SENT FLYING INTO THE AIR by the explosion. "Me Snarl no fly in dino mode!!!!" He says, and dear primus if anyone is under him! Snarl strikes F-14 Tomcat with crush. Breakneck falls to the ground unconscious. Right at ground zero, Warmonger begins to sing as well, trying to drown out the infernal noise coming from the computer. Still bracing the wildly-shaking C-Beam, his gruff voice rises to dominate the battlefield. "DEEEE! CEP! TICONS! WE RULE THROUGH POWER AND FEAR! TRUE PATRIOT STRENGTH! WE FIGHT TO DOMINAAATE! WE DESTROY ALL THOSE WHO STAND IN OUR WAY, WITH BEAMS OF RIGHTEOUS DOOOOOOM!" KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMM! goes the reactor. And Warmonger, caught directly in the heat of the blast, disappears into the blinding light of the explosion. His words ring out through the stratosphere. "WARRRRRRMONNGGGGERRRRRRRRRR!" Scourge keeps firing, and he joins in with Warmonger singing, his coarse bellow hideously off-key. As the explosion hits, his armor is fried to a crisp and he's launched into the sky, to land god knows where, a burning husk flying into the horizon with a contrail of napalmic flame. Once Blitzwing was off his back, Slingshot started to get his tail away from this place--only to be nearly shot down by Scourge. He's gonna be limping back, but man... he TOOK that shot, and survived. . . The only thing he's doing now is Am-Scraying. Abominus stepping on Breakneck then Snarl's fatass -falling- onto Breakneck is not the best of things. Because it effectively turns the jet into a flattened pile of scrap that is temporarily sculpted and stuck to the back of Snarl's ass. How humiliating. Abomninus suddenly grabs Slingshot. he clutches the tinier than him bot, through TF dynamics. Which is to say even if Slingshot were say, the same size as Abominus (WHICH HE MOST SURELY IS NOT) then in this shot suddenly he will fit in the palm of his hand. And Abominus clutches the autobot like a microphone in both hands, including the slimey E.T. (eddie torres the extra testicle) hand. Abominus has become enamored of a billboard he can see that has not been destroyed yet. It is for SingStar 3(D And he begins to sing his favourite song. it goes like this. o/~ o/~ o/~"ABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooyodeladyhoooooOOOOOooooooOOOOoooOOOOooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooominuuuuuuuussss!!!!!!!!111eleven You strike Snarl with Wailing Doom . Snarl is struck by Abominus' loud horrid voice, which causes the Dinobot to start walking away. "Me Snarl need new aft...." He says, and raises his back leg. Slowly he scratches at his rear-end and -fwump- comes the flattened wreckage of Breakneck. "Hur hur hur, Aft-flat..." He says, then waddles off. Snarl begins retreating, leaving itself vulnerable to parting shots from Abominus, F-14 Tomcat , Grimlock, MiG-25 "Foxbat", Soundwave, Blaster, Warmonger, AV-8B Harrier II , Scrapper, Cybertronian Starfighter , Scourge. Just like in the cartoons, Breakneck's flattened F-14 frame floats back and forth down to the ground in his perfect imprint of Snarl's ass. Someone will need to come collect him.
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